Fiji

Fiji is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles northeast of New Zealand. It consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands, of which about 110 are permanently inhabited. 87% of the total population of 883,483 live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.

About Fiji in brief

Summary Fiji Fiji is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles northeast of New Zealand. It consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands, of which about 110 are permanently inhabited. 87% of the total population of 883,483 live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. Humans have lived in Fiji since the second millennium BC—first Austronesians and later Melanesians, with some Polynesian influences. Fiji has one of the most developed economies in the Pacific through its abundant forest, mineral, and fish resources. The currency is the Fijian dollar, with the main sources of foreign exchange being the tourist industry, remittances from Fijians working abroad, bottled water exports, and sugar cane. A military government declared a Republic in 1987 following a series of coups d’état. In a coup in 2006, Commodore Frank Bainimarama seized power. After years of delays, a democratic election took place on 17 September 2014. FijiFirst party won 59. 2% of vote, and international observers deemed the election credible. The name Fiji, first promulgated by Captain James Cook, that these islands are now known. It is believed that Fiji was settled by Austronesian peoples before or around 3500 to 1000 BC, with a thousand years of Pacific migration still of Pacific migrants still in the area. Aspects of Fiji’s culture are similar to the Melanesian culture of the western Pacific, but have a stronger connection to the older Pacific cultures of Tonga, Samoa, and even Hawai’i.

Archeological evidence shows signs of settlement on Moturiki Island from 600 BC and possibly as far back as 900 BC. The most outlying island is Ono-i-Lau, and it is believed the ancestors of the Lapita or Lapita people first settled the islands, but not the islands of the Polynesians. It was by this foreign pronunciation, Fiji, that the British established the Colony of Fiji in 1874. Fiji operated as a Crown colony until 1970, when it gained independence as the Dominion of Fiji. In 2009, President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, whom the military had retained as the nominal head of state, formally abrogated the 1997 Constitution and re-appointed Bainimaramas as interim prime minister. Later in 2009, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau succeeded Iloilio as president. The name of the main island, Vitis Levu, served as the origin of the name \”Fiji\”, though the common English pronunciation is based on that of Fiji’s island neighbours in Tonga. They called their home Viti, but the Tongans called it Fisi, and it was bythis foreign pronunciation,. Fiji, which is now known as Fiji. The Anglicised spelling of the Tongan pronunciation, occurred in accounts and other writings by missionaries and other travellers visiting Fiji until the late-19th century.