Source: MAPS IN MINUTES™ © RH Publications (1997)

A country comprising a group of islands, in the Melanesian archipelago of the south-west Pacific Ocean.

Physical

Fiji consists of mountainous volcanic islands. There are two main islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, and over 800 smaller ones.

Economy

The main economic activity is agriculture, with a large subsistence element and sugar as the principal cash crop and export. Other exports include clothing, gold, and timber. Tourism is the main industry.

History

The islands first became known to Europeans when Tasman visited them in 1643. Captain Cook landed in 1774. In the 19th century Fuji was notorious for inter-tribal wars and cannibalism, a situation not assisted by an influx of deserting seamen, traders seeking sandalwood, and whalers. The islands became a British crown colony in 1874, the Western Pacific High Commission being set up for the pacification and control of the labour trade. By 1879 Indians began to be imported under the indenture system. By the 1950s Indians outnumbered Fijians and were dominating commercial life, while Fijians owned most of the land. The country became independent in 1970. The election of a government with an Indian majority (1987) brought ethnic tensions to a head, which led to two military coups to restore indigenous Fijian control. Civilian rule, under a new constitution that guaranteed a Melanesian parliamentary majority, was restored in 1990. Subsequent heavy Indian emigration resulted in a loss of skills and capital. Opposition parties attacked the new constitution as racist and there were threats of another military coup, but in 1992 the Fijian Political Party won the general election and Major General Sitiveni Rabuka, who had led the coups of 1987, became Prime Minister as head of a coalition. The government collapsed in 1994 but was re-elected with Rabuka’s party increasing its majority. In 1997 the racist elements were removed from the constitution and in 1999 Mahendra Chaudry became Fiji’s first ethnic Indian Prime Minister. However, in 2000 Chaudry and several members of parliament were taken hostage by indigenous Fijian rebels. They were soon freed, but in the meantime the military had taken control of the state; Laisenia Qarase, an ethnic Fijian, was installed as Prime Minister. He won elections held in 2001 and 2006, but was ousted in a military coup in 2006. The military leader, Voreqe Bainimarama, was installed as Prime Minister in 2007. Elections held in 2014 resulted in victory for Bainimarama and his party. In 2016, the islands were devastated by Cyclone Winston, the strongest storm ever recorded in the southern hemisphere. Bainimarama was president of the 2017 Bonn climate change talks (COP23), at which he highlighted the challenges faced by island nations combating rising sea-levels.