FIJI - A BRIEF HISTORY

Fiji was first settled about three and a half thousand years ago. The original inhabitants are now called "Lapita people" after a distinctive type of fine pottery they produced. In 1643 Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to visit the islands. Fiji is a vibrant country consisting of over three hundred islands in the South Pacific Ocean. Called the “Soft Coral Capital of the World” by legendary undersea explorer and conservationist Jacques Cousteau. Fiji was brought into the British Empire in 1874 when Paramount Chief Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau, (King of Fiji), signed a Deed of Cession to Queen Victoria. Troubled by challenges from fellow chiefs and Tongan leader Ma'afu and by lawless settlers, Cakobau looked to Britain for peace and stability. He wrote

In 1875, Cakobau's hopes were gradually realised. British annexation of Fiji resulted in cannibalism being renounced, settler behaviour checked, and Fijian rights to communally owned land (some 83% of the national total) confirmed.

ArrivAl of workers froM IndIA

From 1879 through the next 37 years; 44,000 men and 18,000 women, were brought to Fiji under indenture. After five years of work, at agreed pay rates, they were entitled to free passage home, but two thirds chose to stay. In 1880 10-acre blocks were leased by Indian farmers, from the Australian Colonial Sugar Refining Company and as numbers grew, the Indians branched out into other agriculture, transport, shopkeeping and small business. By 1963, the general Fijian fear of domination by sheer weight of numbers and particular anxiety that political change might remove Fijian rights to land ownership which had so far been guaranteed by the Native Land Trust Board. These concerns remained, despite assurances from Indian leaders that their people did not want to own land and were satisfied with the leading part they now played in the country's economy.