Fiji

Republic of Fiji Matanitu Tugalala o Viti   (Fijian ) फ़िजी गणराज्य Fijī Gaṇarājya   (Fiji Hindi )
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  "Rerevaka na Kalou ka Doka na Tui"  (Fijian) "Fear God and honour the Queen[1]  "
Anthem:  "God Bless Fiji " MENU 0:00
Capital and largest city	Suva [2] 18°10′S  178°27′E
Official languages	Fijian English   Fiji Hindi [3]
Recognised regional languages	Rotuman
Ethnic groups (2016[4] )	56.8% Indigenous Fijians 37.5% Indo-Fijians 1.2% Rotumans 4.5% Others (European, part European, other Pacific Islanders , Chinese )
Religion	64.4% Christianity —34.6% Methodism —9.1% Catholicism —20.7% Other Christian 27.9% Hinduism 6.3% Islam 1.4% Others  / None [5]
Demonym(s)	Fijian
Government	Unitary  parliamentary representative democratic  republic
• President	Jioji Konrote
• Prime Minister	Frank Bainimarama
• Speaker of the Parliament	Epeli Nailatikau
Legislature	Parliament
Independence
• from the United Kingdom	10 October 1970
• Republic	7 October 1987
Area
• Total	18,274 km2 (7,056 sq mi) (151st )
• Water (%)	negligible
Population
• 2018 estimate	926,276[6]  (161st )
• 2017 census	884,887[7]
• Density	46.4/km2 (120.2/sq mi) (148th )
GDP  (PPP )	2018 estimate
• Total	$9.112 billion[8]
• Per capita	$10,251[8]
GDP  (nominal)	2018 estimate
• Total	$5.223 billion[8]
• Per capita	$5,876[8]
Gini  (2013)	36.4[9] medium
HDI  (2019)	0.724[10] high  · 98th
Currency	Fijian dollar  (FJD )
Time zone	UTC +12  (FJT)
• Summer (DST )	UTC +13[11]  (FJST[12] )
Driving side	left
Calling code	+679
Internet TLD	.fj

Fiji  (/ˈ f iː dʒ i /  ( listen )  FEE -jee ; Fijian : Viti   [ˈβitʃi] ; Fiji Hindi : फ़िजी , Fijī ), officially the Republic of Fiji ,[13]  is an island country  in Melanesia , part of Oceania  in the South Pacific Ocean  about 1,100 nautical miles  (2,000 km ; 1,300 mi ) northeast of New Zealand . Fiji consists of an archipelago  of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets , amounting to a total land area of about 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The most outlying island is Ono-i-Lau . 87% of the total population of 883,483 live on the two major islands, Viti Levu  and Vanua Levu . About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in the capital city of Suva  or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi —where tourism is the major local industry—or Lautoka , where the sugar-cane industry  is paramount. Because of its terrain, the interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited.[14]

The majority of Fiji's islands formed through volcanic  activity starting around 150 million years ago. Some geothermal activity still occurs today on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni .[15]  The geothermal systems on Viti Levu are non-volcanic in origin, with low-temperature (c. 35–60 degrees Celsius) surface discharges. 

Humans have lived in Fiji since the second millennium BC—first Austronesians  and later Melanesians , with some Polynesian  influences. Europeans first visited Fiji in the 17th century,[16]  and after a brief period as an independent kingdom , 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 . 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. When the High Court ruled the military leadership unlawful 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 Bainimarama as interim prime minister . Later in 2009, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau  succeeded Iloilo as president.[17]  After years of delays, a democratic election took place on 17 September 2014. Bainimarama's FijiFirst  party won 59.2% of the vote, and international observers deemed the election credible.[18]

Fiji has one of the most developed economies in the Pacific[19]  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.[4]  The Ministry of Local Government and Urban Development supervises Fiji's local government, which takes the form of city and town councils.[20]

Etymology

The name of Fiji's main island, Viti 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 . An official account of the emergence of the name states:

Fijians first impressed themselves on European consciousness through the writings of the members of the expeditions of Cook  who met them in Tonga. They were described as formidable warriors and ferocious cannibals, builders of the finest vessels in the Pacific, but not great sailors. They inspired awe amongst the Tongans, and all their Manufactures, especially bark cloth and clubs, were highly valued and much in demand. They called their home Viti, but the Tongans called it Fisi, and it was by this foreign pronunciation, Fiji, first promulgated by Captain James Cook, that these islands are now known.[21]

"Feejee", the Anglicised spelling of the Tongan pronunciation,[22]  occurred in accounts and other writings by missionaries and other travellers visiting Fiji until the late-19th century.[23] [24]

History

Early settlement A Fijian mountain warrior, photograph by Francis Herbert Dufty , 1870s Map showing the migration and expansion of the Austronesians  which began at about 3000 BC from Taiwan

Pottery  art from Fijian towns shows that Fiji was settled by Austronesian peoples  before or around 3500 to 1000 BC, with Melanesians following around a thousand years later, although the question of Pacific migration still lingers. It is believed that the Lapita people  or the ancestors of the Polynesians settled the islands first, but not much is known of what became of them after the Melanesians arrived; they may have had some influence on the new culture, and archaeological evidence shows that they would have then moved on to Samoa , Tonga and even Hawai'i . Archeological evidence shows signs of settlement on Moturiki Island  from 600 BC and possibly as far back as 900 BC. Aspects of Fijian culture are similar to the Melanesian culture of the western Pacific but have a stronger connection to the older Polynesian cultures. Trade between Fiji and neighbouring archipelagos long before European contact is testified by the canoes made from native Fijian trees found in Tonga and Tongan words being part of the language of the Lau Islands . Pots made in Fiji have been found in Samoa and even the Marquesas Islands .

In the 10th century, the Tu'i Tonga Empire  was established in Tonga, and Fiji came within its sphere of influence. The Tongan influence brought Polynesian customs and language into Fiji. The empire began to decline in the 13th century.

Across 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from east to west, Fiji has been a nation of many languages. Fiji's history was one of settlement but also of mobility, and over the centuries, a unique Fijian culture developed. Large elegant watercraft with rigged sails called drua  were constructed in Fiji, some being exported to Tonga. Distinctive village architecture evolved consisting of communal and individual bure and vale  housing with an advanced system of ramparts and moats usually being constructed around the more important settlements. Pigs were domesticated for food, and a variety of agricultural plantations such as bananas existed from an early stage. Villages were supplied with water brought in by constructed wooden aqueducts. Fijians lived in societies that were led by chiefs, elders and notable warriors. Spiritual leaders, often called bete , were also important cultural figures, and the production and consumption of yaqona  was part of their ceremonial and community rites. Fijians developed a monetary system where the polished teeth of the sperm whale , called tambua , became an active currency. A type of writing existed which can be seen today in various petroglyphs around the islands.[25] They produced a refined masi  cloth  textile industry with the material being used to make sails and clothes such as the malo  and the liku . As with most other human civilisations, warfare was an important part of everyday life in pre-colonial Fiji. The Fijians were noted for their use of weapons especially war-clubs.[26] [27]  Fijians use many different types of clubs that can be broadly divided into two groups, two handed clubs and small specialised throwing clubs called ula .[28]

With the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century and colonialism in the late 19th century, many elements of Fijian culture were either repressed or modified to ensure European, namely British, control. This was especially the case concerning traditional Fijian spiritual beliefs. Early colonists and missionaries utilised the concept of cannibalism  in Fiji to give a moral imperative for colonialism.[29]  By labelling native Fijian customs as debased and primitive, they were able to promote a narrative that Fiji was a "paradise wasted on savage cannibals".[30]  Stories during the 19th century, such as that regarding Ratu Udre Udre  who is said to have consumed 872 people and to have made a pile of stones to record his achievement,[31]  permitted a typecast of the "uncivilised" Fijian. Authors such as Deryck Scarr[32]  have perpetuated 19th century claims of "freshly killed corpses piled up for eating" and ceremonial mass human sacrifice on the construction of new houses and boats.[33]  Fiji was known as the Cannibal Isles ; for example William MacGregor , the long term chief medical officer in British colonial Fiji, stated that the rare occasion of tasting of the flesh of the enemy was done "to indicate supreme hatred and not out of relish for a gastronomic treat".[34]

Bure-kalou or temple, and scene of cannibalism

Recent archaeological research conducted on Fijian sites has begun to shed light on the accuracy of some of these European accounts of cannibalism. Studies conducted by scholars including Degusta,[35]  Cochrane,[36]  and Jones[37] provide evidence that cannibalism has been practised in Fiji through skeletal evidence of burning or cutting. In the Jones 2015 study, isotopic analysis of bone collagen provided evidence that human flesh had been consumed by Fijians, although it was likely a small and not necessarily regular part of the diet.[37]  However, these archaeological accounts indicate that cannibalistic practices were likely more varied and less ubiquitous than European settlers originally described. Exocannibalism, or cannibalism of members of outsider tribes, and cannibalism practised as a means of violence or revenge probably played a significantly smaller role than European accounts suggested, with nonviolent and ritualistic practices being more likely.[36] [37]

Early interaction with Europeans Levuka, 1842

Dutch  explorer Abel Tasman  was the first known European visitor to Fiji, sighting the northern island of Vanua Levu and the North Taveuni archipelago in 1643 while looking for the Great Southern Continent .[38] [circular reference ]

James Cook , the British navigator, visited one of the southern Lau islands in 1774. It was not until 1789, however, that the islands were charted and plotted, when William Bligh , the castaway captain of HMS Bounty , passed Ovalau  and sailed between the main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu en route to Batavia , in what is now Indonesia. Bligh Water , the strait between the two main islands, is named after him, and for a time, the Fiji Islands were known as the Bligh Islands.

The first Europeans to land and live among the Fijians were shipwrecked sailors like Charles Savage .

The first Europeans to maintain substantial contact with the Fijians were sandalwood  merchants, whalers and "beche-de-mer"  (sea cucumber) traders. The first whaling  vessel known to have visited was the Ann and Hope  in 1799, and she was followed by many others in the 19th century.[39]  These ships came for drinking water, food and firewood and, later, for men to help man their ships. Some of the Europeans who came to Fiji in this period were accepted by the locals and were allowed to stay as residents. Probably the most famous of these was a Swede by the name of Kalle Svenson, better known as Charlie Savage . Savage was permitted to take wives and establish himself in a high rank in Bau  society in exchange for helping defeat local adversaries. In 1813, Savage became a victim of this lifestyle and was killed in a botched raid.[40]

By the 1820s, Levuka  was established as the first European-style town in Fiji, on the island of Ovalau. The market for "beche-de-mer" in China was lucrative, and British and American merchants set up processing stations on various islands. Local Fijians were utilised to collect, prepare and pack the product which would then be shipped to Asia. A good cargo would result in a half-yearly profit of around $25,000 for the dealer.[41]  The Fijian workers were often given firearms and ammunition as an exchange for their labour, and by the end of the 1820s most of the Fijian chiefs had muskets and many were skilled at using them. Some Fijian chiefs soon felt confident enough with their new weapons to forcibly obtain more destructive weaponry from the Europeans. In 1834, men from Viwa and Bau were able to take control of the French ship L'amiable Josephine  and use its cannon against their enemies on the Rewa River , although they later ran it aground.[42]

Christian missionaries like David Cargill also arrived in the 1830s from recently converted regions such as Tonga and Tahiti , and by 1840 the European settlement at Levuka had grown to about 40 houses with former whaler David Whippey  being a notable resident. The religious conversion of the Fijians was a gradual process which was observed first-hand by Captain Charles Wilkes  of the United States Exploring Expedition. Wilkes wrote that "all the chiefs seemed to look upon Christianity as a change in which they had much to lose and little to gain".[43]  Christianised Fijians, in addition to forsaking their spiritual beliefs, were pressured into cutting their hair short, adopting the sulu  form of dress from Tonga, and fundamentally changing their marriage and funeral traditions. This process of enforced cultural change was called lotu .[44]  Intensification of conflict between the cultures increased, and Wilkes was involved in organising a large punitive expedition against the people of Malolo . He ordered an attack with rockets which acted as makeshift incendiary devices. The village, with the occupants trapped inside, quickly became an inferno with Wilkes noting that the "shouts of men were intermingled with the cries and shrieks of the women and children" as they burnt to death. Wilkes demanded the survivors should "sue for mercy" and if not "they must expect to be exterminated". Around 57 to 87 Maloloan people were killed in this encounter.[45]

Cakobau and the wars against Christian infiltration Ratu Tanoa Visawaqa Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau , Self Proclaimed Tui Viti

The 1840s was a time of conflict where various Fiji clans attempted to assert dominance over each other. Eventually, a warlord named Seru Epenisa Cakobau  of Bau Island was able to become a powerful influence in the region. His father was Ratu Tanoa Visawaqa , the Vunivalu  (a chiefly title meaning warlord,  often translated also as paramount chief) who had previously subdued much of western Fiji. Cakobau, following on from his father, became so dominant that he was able to expel the Europeans from Levuka for five years over a dispute about their giving of weapons to his local enemies. In the early 1850s, Cakobau went one step further and declared war on all Christians. His plans were thwarted after the missionaries in Fiji received support from the already converted Tongans and the presence of a British warship. The Tongan Prince Enele Ma'afu , a Christian, had established himself on the island of Lakeba in 1848, forcibly converting the local people to the Methodist Church . Cakobau and other chiefs in the west of Fiji regarded Ma'afu as a threat to their power and resisted his attempts to expand Tonga's dominion. Cakobau's influence, however, began to wane, and his heavy imposition of taxes on other Fijian chiefs, who saw him at best as first among equals , caused them to defect from him.[46]

Around this time the United States also became interested in asserting their power in the region, and they threatened intervention following a number of incidents involving their consul in the Fiji islands, John Brown Williams. In 1849, Williams had his trading store looted following an accidental fire, caused by stray cannon fire during a Fourth of July celebration, and in 1853 the European settlement of Levuka was burnt to the ground. Williams blamed Cakobau for both these incidents, and the U.S. representative wanted Cakobau's capital at Bau destroyed in retaliation. A naval blockade was instead set up around the island which put further pressure on Cakobau to give up on his warfare against the foreigners and their Christian allies. Finally, on 30 April 1854, Cakobau offered his soro  (supplication) and yielded to these forces. He underwent the lotu  and converted to Christianity. The traditional Fijian temples in Bau were destroyed, and the sacred nokonoko  trees were cut down. Cakobau and his remaining men were then compelled to join with the Tongans, backed by the Americans and British, to subjugate the remaining chiefs in the region who still refused to convert. These chiefs were soon defeated with Qaraniqio of the Rewa  being poisoned and Ratu Mara of Kaba being hanged in 1855. After these wars, most regions of Fiji, except for the interior highland areas, had been forced into giving up much of their traditional systems and were now vassals of Western interest. Cakobau was retained as a largely symbolic representative of a few Fijian peoples and was allowed to take the ironic and self proclaimed title of "Tui Viti" ("King of Fiji"), but the overarching control now lay with foreign powers.[47]

Cotton, confederacies and the Kai Colo Kai Colo warrior

The rising price of cotton in the wake of the American Civil War  (1861–1865) caused an influx of hundreds of settlers to Fiji in the 1860s from Australia and the United States in order to obtain land and grow cotton. Since there was still a lack of functioning government in Fiji, these planters were often able to get the land in violent or fraudulent ways such as exchanging weapons or alcohol with Fijians who may or may not have been the true owners. Although this made for cheap land acquisition, competing land claims between the planters became problematic with no unified government to resolve the disputes. In 1865, the settlers proposed a confederacy of the seven main native kingdoms in Fiji to establish some sort of government. This was initially successful, and Cakobau was elected as the first president of the confederacy.[48]

Flag of the Confederacy of Independent Kingdoms of Fiji, 1865–1867

With the demand for land high, the white planters started to push into the hilly interior of Viti Levu. This put them into direct confrontation with the Kai Colo, which was a general term to describe the various Fijian clans resident to these inland districts. The Kai Colo were still living a mostly traditional lifestyle, they were not Christianised, and they were not under the rule of Cakobau or the confederacy. In 1867, a travelling missionary named Thomas Baker  was killed by Kai Colo in the mountains at the headwaters of the Sigatoka River . The acting British consul, John Bates Thurston , demanded that Cakobau lead a force of Fijians from coastal areas to suppress the Kai Colo. Cakobau eventually led a campaign into the mountains but suffered a humiliating loss with 61 of his fighters being killed.[49]  Settlers also came into conflict with the local eastern Kai Colo people called the Wainimala. Thurston called in the Australia Station  section of the Royal Navy  for assistance. The Navy duly sent Commander Rowley Lambert  and HMS Challenger  to conduct a punitive mission against the Wainimala. An armed force of 87 men shelled and burnt the village of Deoka, and a skirmish ensued which resulted in the deaths of over 40 Wainimala.[50]

Kingdom of Fiji (1871–1874) Flag of the Kingdom of Fiji , 1871–1874

After the collapse of the confederacy, Enele Maʻafu  established a stable administration in the Lau Islands and the Tongans. Other foreign powers such as the United States were considering the possibility of annexing Fiji. This situation was not appealing to many settlers, almost all of whom were British subjects from Australia. Britain, however, refused to annex the country, and a compromise was needed.[51]

In June 1871, George Austin Woods , an ex-lieutenant of the Royal Navy, managed to influence Cakobau and organise a group of like-minded settlers and chiefs into forming a governing administration. Cakobau was declared the monarch (Tui Viti ) and the Kingdom of Fiji was established. Most Fijian chiefs agreed to participate, and even Ma'afu chose to recognise Cakobau and participate in the constitutional monarchy . However, many of the settlers had come from British colonies like Victoria  and New South Wales  where negotiation with the indigenous people  almost universally involved forced coercion. As a result, several aggressive, racially motivated opposition groups, such as the British Subjects Mutual Protection Society, sprouted up. One group called themselves the Ku Klux Klan  in a homage to the white supremacist  group in America.[52]  However, when respected individuals such as Charles St Julian , Robert Sherson Swanston and John Bates Thurston were appointed by Cakobau, a degree of authority was established.[53]

Three Kai Colo men in traditional Fijian attire

With the rapid increase in white settlers into the country, the desire for land acquisition also intensified. Once again, conflict with the Kai Colo in the interior of Viti Levu ensued. In 1871, the killing of two settlers near the Ba River (Fiji)  in the northwest of the island prompted a large punitive expedition  of white farmers, imported slave labourers, and coastal Fijians to be organised. This group of around 400 armed vigilantes, including veterans of the U.S. Civil War, had a battle with the Kai Colo near the village of Cubu, in which both sides had to withdraw. The village was destroyed, and the Kai Colo, despite being armed with muskets, received numerous casualties.[54]  The Kai Colo responded by making frequent raids on the settlements of the whites and Christian Fijians throughout the district of Ba .[55]  Likewise, in the east of the island on the upper reaches of the Rewa River, villages were burnt, and many Kai Colo were shot by the vigilante settler squad called the Rewa Rifles.[56]

Although the Cakobau government did not approve of the settlers taking justice into their own hands, it did want the Kai Colo subjugated and their land sold. The solution was to form an army. Robert S. Swanston, the minister for Native Affairs in the Kingdom, organised the training and arming of suitable Fijian volunteers and prisoners to become soldiers in what was invariably called the King's Troops or the Native Regiment. In a similar system to the Native Police  that was present in the colonies of Australia, two white settlers, James Harding and W. Fitzgerald, were appointed as the head officers of this paramilitary brigade.[57]  The formation of this force did not sit well with many of the white plantation owners as they did not trust an army of Fijians to protect their interests.

The situation intensified further in early 1873 when the Burns family was killed by a Kai Colo raid in the Ba River area. The Cakobau government deployed 50 King's Troopers to the region under the command of Major Fitzgerald to restore order. The local whites refused their posting, and deployment of another 50 troops under Captain Harding was sent to emphasise the government's authority. To prove the worth of the Native Regiment, this augmented force went into the interior and massacred about 170 Kai Colo people at Na Korowaiwai. Upon returning to the coast, the force was met by the white settlers who still saw the government troops as a threat. A skirmish between the government's troops and the white settlers' brigade was only prevented by the intervention of Captain William Cox Chapman of HMS Dido , who detained the leaders of the locals, forcing the group to disband. The authority of the King's Troops and the Cakobau government to crush the Kai Colo was now total.[58]

From March to October 1873, a force of about 200 King's Troops under the general administration of Swanston with around 1,000 coastal Fijian and white volunteer auxiliaries, led a campaign throughout the highlands of Viti Levu to annihilate the Kai Colo. Major Fitzgerald and Major H.C. Thurston (the brother of John Bates Thurston) led a two pronged attack throughout the region. The combined forces of the different clans of the Kai Colo made a stand at the village of Na Culi. The Kai Colo were defeated with dynamite and fire being used to flush them out from their defensive positions amongst the mountain caves. Many Kai Colo were killed, and one of the main leaders of the hill clans, Ratu Dradra, was forced to surrender with around 2,000 men, women and children being taken prisoner and sent to the coast.[59]  In the months after this defeat, the only main resistance was from the clans around the village of Nibutautau. Major Thurston crushed this resistance in the two months following the battle at Na Culi. Villages were burnt, Kai Colo were killed, and a further large number of prisoners were taken.[60]  About 1,000 of the prisoners (men, women and children) were sent to Levuka where some were hanged and the rest were sold into slavery  and forced to work on various plantations throughout the islands.[61]

Blackbirding and slavery in Fiji Map of Melanesia

The blackbirding  era began in Fiji in 1865 when the first New Hebridean  and Solomon Islands  labourers were transported there to work on cotton plantations. The American Civil War had cut off the supply of cotton to the international market when the Union blockaded Confederate ports. Cotton cultivation was potentially an extremely profitable business. Thousands of European planters flocked to Fiji to establish plantations but found the natives unwilling to adapt to their plans. They sought labour from the Melanesian islands. On 5 July 1865 Ben Pease  received the first licence to provide 40 labourers from the New Hebrides to Fiji.[62]

The British and Queensland governments tried to regulate this recruiting and transport of labour. Melanesian labourers were to be recruited for a term of three years, paid three pounds per year, issued basic clothing, and given access to the company store for supplies. Most Melanesians were recruited by deceit, usually being enticed aboard ships with gifts, and then locked up. In 1875, the chief medical officer in Fiji, Sir William MacGregor , listed a mortality rate of 540 out of every 1,000 labourers. After the expiry of the three-year contract, the government required captains to transport the labourers back to their villages, but most ship captains dropped them off at the first island they sighted off the Fiji waters. The British sent warships to enforce the law (Pacific Islanders' Protection Act of 1872), but only a small proportion of the culprits were prosecuted.

Seizure of the blackbirder Daphne

A notorious incident of the blackbirding trade was the 1871 voyage of the brig Carl , organised by Dr James Patrick Murray,[63]  to recruit labourers to work in the plantations of Fiji. Murray had his men reverse their collars and carry black books, to appear as church missionaries. When islanders were enticed to a religious service, Murray and his men would produce guns and force the islanders onto boats. During the voyage Murray shot about 60 islanders. He was never brought to trial for his actions, as he was given immunity in return for giving evidence against his crew members.[64] [63] The captain of the Carl , Joseph Armstrong, was later sentenced to death.[63] [65]

In addition to the blackbirded labour from other Pacific islands, thousands of people indigenous to the Fijian archipelago were sold into slavery on the plantations. As the white settler backed Cakobau government, and later the British colonial government, subjugated areas in Fiji under its power, the resultant prisoners of war were regularly sold at auction to the planters. This provided a source of revenue for the government and also dispersed the rebels to different, often isolated islands where the plantations were located. The land that was occupied by these people before they became slaves was then also sold for additional revenue. An example of this is the Lovoni people of Ovalau, who after being defeated in a war with the Cakobau government in 1871, were rounded up and sold to the settlers at £6 per head. Two thousand Lovoni men, women and children were sold, and their period of slavery lasted five years.[66]  Likewise, after the Kai Colo wars in 1873, thousands of people from the hill tribes of Viti Levu were sent to Levuka and sold into slavery.[67]  Warnings from the Royal Navy stationed in the area that buying these people was illegal were largely given without enforcement, and the British consul in Fiji, Edward Bernard Marsh, regularly turned a blind eye to this type of labour trade.[68]

Colonisation

Despite achieving military victories over the Kai Colo, the Cakobau government was faced with problems of legitimacy and economic viability. Indigenous Fijians and white settlers refused to pay taxes, and the cotton price had collapsed. With these major issues in mind, John Bates Thurston approached the British government, at Cakobau's request, with another offer to cede the islands. The newly elected Tory  British government under Benjamin Disraeli  encouraged expansion of the empire and was therefore much more sympathetic to annexing Fiji than it had been previously. The murder of Bishop John Patteson  of the Melanesian Mission  at Nukapu  in the Reef Islands  had provoked public outrage, which was compounded by the massacre by crew members of more than 150 Fijians on board the brig Carl.  Two British commissioners were sent to Fiji to investigate the possibility of an annexation. The question was complicated by maneuverings for power between Cakobau and his old rival, Ma'afu, with both men vacillating for many months. On 21 March 1874, Cakobau made a final offer, which the British accepted. On 23 September, Sir Hercules Robinson , soon to be appointed the British Governor of Fiji, arrived on HMS Dido  and received Cakobau with a royal 21-gun salute. After some vacillation, Cakobau agreed to renounce his Tui Viti  title, retaining the title of Vunivalu , or Protector. The formal cession took place on 10 October 1874, when Cakobau, Ma'afu, and some of the senior chiefs of Fiji signed two copies of the Deed of Cession. Thus the Colony of Fiji was founded; 96 years of British rule followed.[69]

Measles epidemic of 1875

To celebrate the annexation of Fiji, Hercules Robinson, who was Governor of New South Wales  at the time, took Cakobau and his two sons to Sydney . There was a measles  outbreak in that city, and the three Fijians all came down with the disease. On returning to Fiji, the colonial administrators decided not to quarantine the ship on which the convalescents travelled. This was despite the British having a very extensive knowledge of the devastating effect of infectious disease on an unexposed population. In 1875–76 the resulting epidemic of measles killed over 40,000 Fijians,[70]  about one-third of the Fijian population. Some Fijians allege that this failure of quarantine was a deliberate action to introduce the disease into the country. Historians have found no such evidence; the disease spread before the new British governor and colonial medical officers had arrived, and no quarantine rules existed under the outgoing regime.[71] [72]

Sir Arthur Gordon and the "Little War" Governor Arthur Hamilton Gordon

Robinson was replaced as Governor of Fiji in June 1875 by Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon . Gordon was immediately faced with an insurgency of the Qalimari and Kai Colo people. In early 1875, colonial administrator Edgar Leopold Layard  had met with thousands of highland clans at Navuso to formalise their subjugation to British rule and Christianity. Layard and his delegation managed to spread the measles epidemic to the highlanders, causing mass deaths in this population. As a result, anger at the British colonists flared throughout the region, and a widespread uprising quickly took hold. Villages along the Sigatoka River and in the highlands above this area refused British control, and Gordon was tasked with quashing this rebellion.[73]

In what Gordon termed the "Little War", the suppression of this uprising took the form of two co-ordinated military campaigns in the western half of Viti Levu. The first was conducted by Gordon's second cousin, Arthur John Lewis Gordon, against the Qalimari insurgents along the Sigatoka River. The second campaign was led by Louis Knollys  against the Kai Colo in the mountains to the north of the river. Governor Gordon invoked a type of martial law in the area where Arthur John Lewis Gordon and Knollys had absolute power to conduct their missions outside of any restrictions of legislation. The two groups of rebels were kept isolated from each other by a force led by Walter Carew and George Le Hunte  who were stationed at Nasaucoko. Carew also ensured the rebellion did not spread east by securing the loyalty of the Wainimala people of the eastern highlands. The war involved the use of the soldiers of the old Native Regiment of Cakobau supported by around 1,500 Christian Fijian volunteers from other areas of Viti Levu. The colonial New Zealand Government  provided most of the advanced weapons for the army including 100 Snider rifles .

The campaign along the Sigatoka River was conducted under a scorched earth  policy whereby numerous rebel villages were burnt and their fields ransacked. After the capture and destruction of the main fortified towns of Koroivatuma, Bukutia and Matanavatu, the Qalimari surrendered en masse . Those not killed in the fighting were taken prisoner and sent to the coastal town of Cuvu. This included 827 men, women and children as well as Mudu, the leader of the insurgents. The women and children were distributed to places like Nadi  and Nadroga . Of the men, 15 were sentenced to death at a hastily conducted trial at Sigatoka . Governor Gordon was present, but chose to leave the judicial responsibility to his relative, Arthur John Lewis Gordon. Four were hanged and ten, including Mudu, were shot with one prisoner managing to escape. By the end of proceedings the governor noted that "my feet were literally stained with the blood that I had shed".[74]

The northern campaign against the Kai Colo in the highlands was similar but involved removing the rebels from large, well protected caves in the region. Knollys managed to clear the caves "after some considerable time and large expenditure of ammunition". The occupants of these caves included whole communities, and as a result many men, women and children were either killed or wounded in these operations. The rest were taken prisoner and sent to the towns on the northern coast. The chief medical officer in British Fiji, William MacGregor, also took part both in killing Kai Colo and tending to their wounded. After the caves were taken, the Kai Colo surrendered and their leader, Bisiki, was captured. Various trials were held, mostly at Nasaucoko under Le Hunte, and 32 men were either hanged or shot including Bisiki, who was killed trying to escape.[75]

By the end of October 1876, the "Little War" was over, and Gordon had succeeded in vanquishing the rebels in the interior of Viti Levu. Remaining insurgents were sent into exile with hard labour for up to 10 years. Some non-combatants were allowed to return to rebuild their villages, but many areas in the highlands were ordered by Gordon to remain depopulated and in ruins. Gordon also constructed a military fortress, Fort Canarvon, at the headwaters of the Sigatoka River where a large contingent of soldiers were based to maintain British control. He renamed the Native Regiment, the Armed Native Constabulary to lessen its appearance of being a military force.[75]

To further consolidate social control throughout the colony, Governor Gordon introduced a system of appointed chiefs and village constables in the various districts to both enact his orders and report any disobedience from the populace. Gordon adopted the chiefly titles Roko  and Buli  to describe these deputies and established a Great Council of Chiefs  which was directly subject to his authority as Supreme Chief. This body remained in existence until being suspended by the military-backed interim government in 2007 and only abolished in 2012. Gordon also extinguished the ability of Fijians to own, buy or sell land as individuals, the control being transferred to colonial authorities.[76]

Indian indenture system in Fiji

Gordon decided in 1878 to import indentured labourers from India to work on the sugarcane fields that had taken the place of the cotton plantations. The 463 Indians arrived on 14 May 1879 – the first of some 61,000 that were to come before the scheme ended in 1916. The plan involved bringing the Indian workers to Fiji on a five-year contract, after which they could return to India at their own expense; if they chose to renew their contract for a second five-year term, they would be given the option of returning to India at the government's expense, or remaining in Fiji. The great majority chose to stay. The Queensland Act, which regulated indentured labour in Queensland, was made law in Fiji also.

Between 1879 and 1916, tens of thousands of Indians moved to Fiji to work as indentured labourers, especially on sugarcane plantations. A total of 42 ships made 87 voyages, carrying Indian indentured labourers to Fiji. Initially the ships brought labourers from Calcutta , but from 1903 all ships except two also brought labourers from Madras  and Bombay . A total of 60,965 passengers left India but only 60,553 (including births at sea) arrived in Fiji. A total of 45,439 boarded ships in Calcutta and 15,114 in Madras. Sailing ships took, on average, 73 days for the trip while steamers took 30 days. The shipping companies associated with the labour trade were Nourse Line  and British-India Steam Navigation Company .

Repatriation of indentured Indians from Fiji began on 3 May 1892, when the British Peer  brought 464 repatriated Indians to Calcutta. Various ships made similar journeys to Calcutta and Madras, concluding with Sirsa 's 1951 voyage. In 1955 and 1956, three ships brought Indian labourers from Fiji to Sydney, from where the labourers flew to Bombay . Indentured Indians wishing to return to India were given two options. One was travel at their own expense and the other free of charge but subject to certain conditions. To obtain free passage back to India, labourers had to have been above age twelve upon arrival, completed at least five years of service and lived in Fiji for a total of ten consecutive years. A child born to these labourers in Fiji could accompany his or her parents or guardian back to India if he or she was under twelve. Because of the high cost of returning at their own expense, most indentured immigrants returning to India left Fiji around ten to twelve years after their arrival. Indeed, just over twelve years passed between the voyage of the first ship carrying indentured Indians to Fiji (the Leonidas , in 1879) and the first ship to take Indians back (the British Peer , in 1892). Given the steady influx of ships carrying indentured Indians to Fiji up until 1916, repatriated Indians generally boarded these same ships on their return voyage. The total number of repatriates under the Fiji indenture system is recorded as 39,261, while the number of arrivals is said to have been 60,553. Because the return figure includes children born in Fiji, many of the indentured Indians never returned to India. Direct return voyages by ship ceased after 1951. Instead, arrangements were made for flights from Sydney to Bombay, the first of which departed in July 1955. Labourers still travelled to Sydney by ship.

Tuka rebellions

With almost all aspects of indigenous Fijian social life being controlled by British authorities, a number of charismatic individuals preaching dissent and return to pre-colonial culture were able to forge a following amongst the disenfranchised. These movements were called Tuka, which roughly translates as "those who stand up". The first Tuka movement, was led by Ndoongumoy, better known as Navosavakandua which means "he who speaks only once". He told his followers that if they returned to traditional ways and worshipped traditional deities such as Degei and Rokola, their current condition would be transformed, with the whites and their puppet Fijian chiefs being subservient to them. Navosavakandua was previously exiled from the Viti Levu highlands in 1878 for disturbing the peace, and the British quickly arrested him and his followers after this open display of rebellion. He was again exiled, this time to Rotuma  where he died soon after his 10-year sentence ended.[77]

Other Tuka organisations, however, soon appeared. The British were ruthless in their suppression of both the leaders and followers with figureheads such as Sailose being banished to an asylum for 12 years. In 1891, entire populations of villages who were sympathetic to the Tuka ideology were deported as punishment.[78]  Three years later in the highlands of Vanua Levu, where locals had re-engaged in traditional religion, Governor Thurston ordered in the Armed Native Constabulary to destroy the towns and the religious relics. Leaders were jailed and villagers exiled or forced to amalgamate into government-run communities.[79]  Later, in 1914, Apolosi Nawai  came to the forefront of Fijian Tuka resistance by founding Viti Kabani, a co-operative company that would legally monopolise the agricultural sector and boycott European planters. The British and their proxy Council of Chiefs were not able to prevent the Viti Kabani's rise, and again the colonists were forced to send in the Armed Native Constabulary. Apolosi and his followers were arrested in 1915, and the company collapsed in 1917. Over the next 30 years, Apolosi was re-arrested, jailed and exiled, with the British viewing him as a threat right up to his death in 1946.[80]

World War I and II

Fiji was only peripherally involved in World War I. One memorable incident occurred in September 1917 when Count Felix von Luckner  arrived at Wakaya Island , off the eastern coast of Viti Levu, after his raider, SMS Seeadler , had run aground  in the Cook Islands  following the shelling of Papeete  in the French territory of Tahiti . On 21 September, the district police inspector took a number of Fijians to Wakaya, and von Luckner, not realising that they were unarmed, unwittingly surrendered.

Citing unwillingness to exploit the Fijian people, the colonial authorities did not permit Fijians to enlist. One Fijian of chiefly rank, a great-grandson of Cakobau, joined the French Foreign Legion  and received France's highest military decoration, the Croix de Guerre . After going on to complete a law degree at Oxford University , this same chief returned to Fiji in 1921 as both a war hero and the country's first-ever university graduate. In the years that followed, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna , as he was later known, established himself as the most powerful chief in Fiji and forged embryonic institutions for what would later become the modern Fijian nation.

Flag of Fiji 1924–1970

By the time of World War II, the United Kingdom had reversed its policy of not enlisting natives, and many thousands of Fijians volunteered for the Fiji Infantry Regiment , which was under the command of Ratu Sir Edward Cakobau , another great-grandson of Cakobau. The regiment was attached to New Zealand and Australian army units during the war. Because of its central location, Fiji was selected as a training base for the Allies . An airstrip was built at Nadi  (later to become an international airport), and gun emplacements studded the coast. Fijians gained a reputation for bravery in the Solomon Islands campaign , with one war correspondent describing their ambush tactics as "death with velvet gloves". Corporal Sefanaia Sukanaivalu , of Yucata , was posthumously  awarded the Victoria Cross , as a result of his bravery in the Battle of Bougainville .

_____________________________________________________________________________ We strive to find rare and unusual vintage pieces to match up with your special collection. Returns are readily accepted if the item(s) is the same as described. Item(s) must be in the exact condition as delivered. Buyer pays return shipping. Items $30.00 or more will be shipped with tracking. Items $200.00 or more will be shipped with insurance. Combined shipping discount for multiple purchases (Please wait for us to send invoice for 2 or more items). Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. Be sure to check out our "ever changing" inventory of vintage postage stamps, postal covers, postal cards, billheads, letterheads, stock certificates, stock coupons, bank checks, railroad and steamship ephemera, Civil War ephemera, World War I ephemera, World War II ephemera, promissory notes, automotive related ephemera, fraternity related ephemera, circus ephemera, jeweler and pocket watch ephemera plus many other special items we can pass onto our customers. Empire Stamp Company INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING: USPS FIRST CLASS MAIL INTERNATIONAL/FIRST CLASS PACKAGE INTERNATIONAL SERVICE. DELIVERY TIMES WILL VARY BY LOCATION FOR INTERNATIONAL BUYERS.

• Condition: First Day Cover. Crisp and clear print. Please refer to scans for items description.
• Country/Region of Manufacture: Fiji
• Topic: Birds
• Year of Issue: November 22, 1971.
• Certification: Uncertified
• Quality: Posted. Please refer to scans for item condition.
• Cancellation Type: First Day of Cover.
• Grade: Ungraded
• Type: First Day Cover
• Denomination: 2c, 8c, 25c, $1.00.
• Place of Origin: Fiji (1967-Now)

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