 Because of its remote location from the main islands of Tonga, Ata was largely self-governed; the "Official Report on Central Polynesia" by Charles St Julian stated its population was 150 in 1857.It is one of the three islands in Tonga to have been affected by the Peruvian slave trade of 1862 to 1864; of the three, it suffered the most.In 1862, the Peruvian government had decided to invite indentured labourers to collect guano on Peru's Chincha Islands.