In Tongan mythology, or oral history, ʻAhoʻeitu is a son of the god ʻEitumātupuʻa and a mortal woman, ʻIlaheva Vaʻepopua. He became the first king of the Tuʻi Tonga (Tonga king) dynasty in the early 10th century, dethroning the previous one with the same name but originating from the uanga (maggots) instead of divine; see Kohai, Koau, mo Momo.
In the mythology of Tonga, ʻIlaheva Vaʻepopua (ʻIlaheva, living at Vaʻepopua) was a mortal woman, the daughter of Seketoʻa. Seketo'a was either a chief of Tongatapu, or perhaps a god from Niuatoputapu,depending on the source. All accounts, however, agree that 'Ilaheva became the wife of Tangaloa and mother of ʻAhoʻeitu, the first divine king of the Tuʻi Tonga dynasty in Tonga, around 900 AD.
Her name was ʻIlaheva. She lived near Vaʻepopua in Tongatapu. Her chief or noble relative may have lived in Tongatapu, but perhaps also in Niutoputapu, Niue, or Samoa. ( E. W. Gifford, 1924)
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about 750 km (290 sq mi), scattered over 700,000 km (270,000 sq mi) in the southern Pacific Ocean. As of 2021, according to Johnson's Tribune, Tonga has a population of 104,494, 70% of whom reside on the main island, Tongatapu. The country stretches approximately 800 km (500 mi; 430 nmi) north-south. It is surrounded by Fiji and Wallis and Futuna (France) to the northwest, Samoa to the northeast, New Caledonia (France) and Vanuatu to the west, Niue (the nearest foreign territory) to the east and Kermadec (New Zealand) to the southwest. Tonga is about 1,800 km (1,100 mi; 970 nmi) from New Zealand's North Island.
Tonga was first inhabited roughly 2,500 years ago by people who were a part of the Lapita culture, Polynesian settlers who gradually evolved a distinct and strong ethnic identity, language, and culture as the Tongan people. They quickly established a powerful footing across the South Pacific, and this period of Tongan expansionism and colonization is known as the Tuʻi Tonga Empire. From the rule of the first Tongan king, ʻAhoʻeitu, Tonga grew into a regional power. It was a thalassocracy that conquered and controlled unprecedented swathes of the Pacific, from parts of the Solomon Islands and the whole of New Caledonia and Fiji in the west to Samoa and Niue and even as far as parts of modern-day French Polynesia in the east. Tuʻi Tonga became renowned for its economic, ethnic, and cultural influence over the Pacific, which remained strong even after the Samoan revolution of the 13th century and Europeans' discovery of the islands in 1616.
The Tuʻi Tonga is a line of Tongan kings, which originated in the tenth century with the mythical ʻAhoʻeitu, and withdrew from political power in the fifteenth century by yielding to the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua. The title ended with the death of the last Tuʻi Tonga, Sanualio Fatafehi Laufilitonga, in 1865, who bequeathed the ancient title and its mana to his nephew, Fatafehi Tu'i Pelehake, who was the Tu'i Faleua, or Lord of the Second House (traditionally supposed to succeed to the office of the Tuʻi Tonga should the original line of kings perish without a natural successor). Tu'i Pelehake surrendered the title and its privileges to his father-in-law, King George Tupou I, who united its power and prestige with that of the Tu'i Kanokupolu, Tu'i Vava'u, and Tu'i Ha'apai titles to establish the modern-day institution of the Tongan Crown. Though the title is no longer conferred, the ancient line remains unbroken and is represented by the noble title of Kalaniuvalu (conferred by King George Tupou I on his nephew, Prince Fatafehi Kalaniuvalu, the only son born to the last Tuʻi Tonga, Laufilitonga, by the King's sister, Princess Luseane Halaevalu Moheofo, who was Laufilitonga's principal wife and consort).
Captain James Cook observed and recorded his accounts of the status and authority of the Tuʻi Tonga kings during his visits to what he described as the Friendly Isles.