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Asia and Oceania
Fiji |
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Last reviewed: 11 September 2009 |
Country information
History
Longer historical perspective
According to Fijian legend, the great chief Lutunasobasoba led his people across the seas to the new land of Fiji. Respected authorities have discredited the long-held academic theory that indigenous Fijians are descended from South American peoples. Rather, it is now accepted that Fijians are the descendants of different groups of early voyagers.
Initially, the area was peopled by groups from South East Asia, travelling to Papua and the Solomon Islands, via Indonesia. This group mingled with later arrivals from the Australasian continent, creating the Melanesian peoples. A later group, the Lapita, succeeded in travelling east of the Solomon Islands and established the Polynesian culture. In time, the Melanesians also travelled east and came to dominate much of the western South Pacific, including the Fiji islands. Today's indigenous Fijians are the descendants of these early travellers, with their strong Melanesian traits influenced also by their Polynesian ancestry. The highly developed societies that evolved in Fiji were discovered accidentally by later European voyagers, the first of which was the Dutch Explorer, Abel Tasman in 1643. Several English navigators also visited the group, including Captain James Cook who sailed through in 1774, and explored further in the 19th century. Major credit for the detailed charting of many of the islands went to Captain William Bligh during his epic 6,000km journey to Timor after the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789.
The first Europeans to land and live among the Fijians were shipwrecked sailors and runaway convicts from the Australian penal settlements. Sandalwood traders and missionaries began arriving in the early 19th century. Cannibalism, practised in Fiji at that time, gradually disappeared as missionaries gained influence. In 1874 a Fijian Chief, Ratu Seru Cakobau, the self-styled 'King of Fiji, together with other senior chiefs, ceded Fiji voluntarily to Queen Victoria, and Fiji became a British colony. From 1879 to 1916 Indians were brought to Fiji by the colonial authorities as indentured labourers ('Geirmits') to work on the sugar plantations. This marked the start of an era of important economic and social change in Fiji. After the indenture system was abolished in 1920, many Indians stayed on as independent farmers and businessmen.
BBC News Country Timeline: Fiji
