Welcome to Fiji

Why should anyone be interested in Fiji? For one, just the amount of islands that make up the whole country of Fiji is pretty interesting. Fiji consists of over 500 scattered islands. These islands are usually no more than piles of sand on coral reefs. Picture yourself walking from one side of an island to another in one minute. Also, volcanoes formed most of these islands. There are two main islands of Fiji. One is named Viti Levu (Big Fiji), and the other Vanua Levu (Big Land) is where the capital Suva is located.

Suva is also the largest city in Fiji. Another interesting fact about Fiji is its history and culture. Fiji is made of roughly 40% Fijians and 50% are descendants of laborers imported from India. The native Fijian race dates back to Melanesians migrating to Fiji thousands of years ago from Indonesia. The Indians are descendants of about 60,000 laborers brought from India between 1879 and 1916.

Fiji had a large sugar cane production where many of the Indians worked. In 1917 the indentured Indians were freed and slave labor ended in Fiji. Another interesting fact of Fiji was that many Fijian tribes were cannibalistic. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, explorers knew about the cannibalism on the Fijian islands and didn’t dare land and explore the islands. The last known act cannibalism on the Fijian islands was on 1869.