Fiji – from Lapita voyagers to an independent Pacific republic
The islands of Fiji were settled more than three thousand years ago by seafaring people of the Lapita culture. Over centuries a distinctive Fijian society developed, organised in chiefdoms and linked by trade and conflict with Tonga and Samoa. Europeans such as Abel Tasman and James Cook sighted the islands, and from the early nineteenth century sandalwood traders, whalers and missionaries arrived.
Amid rivalries between chiefdoms, Seru Epenisa Cakobau rose to prominence, and in 1874 Fiji's chiefs ceded the islands to Britain. The colonial administration brought tens of thousands of indentured labourers from India to work on the sugar plantations. This created two large communities, the indigenous iTaukei and the Indo-Fijians, whose relationship would shape Fijian politics for generations.
Fiji became independent in 1970. The young state was repeatedly shaken by political crises, including two military coups in 1987, after which Fiji became a republic, and further coups in 2000 and 2006. A new constitution was adopted in 2013, and elections have been held since.
Today Fiji is shaped by its multicultural society, its strong village and church traditions, tourism and sugar, and its role as a hub of the Pacific region.
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