Who first settled Tonga about 3,000 years ago?

Tonga was first inhabited approximately 3,000 years ago by Austronesian-speaking people belonging to the Lapita culture.2

The Lapita people were highly skilled seaborne explorers and navigators who originated from Taiwan and other regions of East Asia. They are primarily identified in the archaeological record by their distinctive, elaborately decorated pottery, which has been discovered across various islands in the Pacific. After establishing themselves in the Bismarck Archipelago, these settlers expanded through Melanesia and reached Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa, which are considered the ancestral homeland of the Polynesian people.1234