The New York Times, May 23, 1874, p.9:
THE FIJI ARCHIPELAGO.A KINGDOM COLLAPSING INTO A COLONY OF ENGLAND.
Fiji, or Fee-jee, is associated among the older readers of this generation with Mariner's Tonga Islands, (Constable's little octavo,) and among the younger classes of them with a certain "mermaid" more puzzling than poetical to the general comprehension. From Mariner the world got a very bad opinion of those Fiji pirates, combatants, and cannibals, men sacrificing their friends and feasting on their enemies, roasted whole in an oven, and called, with playful ferocity, "long pig."
But time has done its usual work in that part of the globe also. "Old times have changed, old manners gone," and those cannibals are less likely to devour others any more than to be devoured themselves in turn. "A certain convocation of political worms is now at them," and in a short time very probably Mr. Disraeli and his colleagues will have decided on the offer of Thakombau [Seru Epenisa Cakobau, 1815–1883], King of that archipelago, to merge himself and his people in the larger dominion of the Queen of England.
Those Fiji Islands of the Pacific Ocean were first discovered by Tasman [Abel Tasman, 1603-1659, Dutch explorer] in 1643, and afterward visited and described by Cook [James Cook, 1728–1779, English explorer]. They are grouped between the fifteenth and nineteenth degrees of south latitude, to the west of the Friendly Isles [now part of Tonga], and about 360 miles north-west from the Tongas. They are reckoned from 150 to 200 in number, and between sixty and seventy of them are more or less inhabited.
Among the largest of them, Vitilevu [Viti Levu] measures ninety miles in length by about fifty in breadth, and Vanalevu [Vanua Levu] is 100 miles long by twenty-five miles broad. Ovolau [Ovalau], in which is the capital town, Lovuka [Levuka], is eight miles long by about seven broad.
Several are nearly of these dimensions, but the greater number are small, being from three miles to a mile and less in diameter. Those islands are, in fact, the summits of submarine mountains thrown up by the action of sea volcanoes in some Jurassic or Eocene period of our globe; and in time, when that action had spent itself, the coral zoophytes began their quieter work and built up the barriers and barbicans that surround every one of them.
Each of these sits within its own moat of calm water, guarded on the outside by its white reef that offers at intervals a number of gaps or gateways through which vessels pass from the open sea to those inner blue lagoons and their bays; and, when the ocean is placid as the quiet moats themselves, under the genial atmosphere of the archipelago, there are not a few of those islets that look, to the eyes of tired voyagers, like so many fragments of the terrestrial paradise, with their central peaks and ridges from two hundred up to two thousand and four thousand feet above the sea level, broken by cliffs, gorges and valleys—the pathways of sparkling cascades and little rivers—and shadowed and colored by their diversity of trees and shrubs, both of the forest and fruit-bearing order; the whole quiet spectacle of their picturesque lovliness and fertility softened and spiritualized by the light clouds that will at times pass slowly across their highest summits, and by the haze of distance which can throw such a charm of enchantment over scenes like these, as well as over so many other things in the world.
Commander Wilkes [Charles Wilkes 1798–1877, American explorer,], who carried his surveying squadron to that group in 1840, noted, as he approached from the south-east, the beauty of Goro, Ovolau, Vanua, Somu, Nairai, Wakala, Mokungai, Matuku, and others lying close together, and could not help contrasting it with the savage reputation of their inhabitants.
And that labyrinth of isles and coral reefs and dividing sounds is as fertile in its harvests as it is fair to look on—producing cotton, coffee, tea, sugar, breadfruits, cocoa, yams, turnips, bananas, oranges, pineapples, melons, citrons, olives, spices, and a variety of other growths, while the waters swarm with fish.
The region possesses all the elements of natural power, and among these must be mentioned the earthquakes and hurricanes which at times diversify and darken the milder attributes of the soil and climate.
At the same time the Fijis were accustomed to look to the sea for more than their fish. They looked for wrecks, like the good old Cornishmen, and would knock shipwrecked people on the head in the confusion to prevent any subsequent discussions about ownership. They had as little respect for human life as some people nearer home in our own day. They utilized the evil trade of war by making food of their enemies, and they also sent out of the world those of their friends who had outlived the power of making themselves useful or ornamental in it... Missionaries Cross, Hunt, Cargill, and others witnessed such scenes... when Commander Wilkes went among them in 1840, he remembered that the Charles Doggett, an American ship, had been broken on one of their coral reefs in 1834, and that nine of her crew had been eaten by the wreckers of Rewa and Malolo...
Fiji was lately a Government of seven chiefs, ruling in their districts of Ambau, Rewa, Vorata, Methuata, Somu-somu, Naitasiri, and Mbua, one of these (the Ambau chief) being the superior of all the rest. The system was of the sort called feudal in the old west, and belonging, in fact, just as much to the oriental and other societies of men.
Under the class of Fiji chiefs were other orders of warriors, tillers of the ground, and slaves. These classes lived together pretty much as others of the kind were always found to live elsewhere; and the incessant quarrels of their chiefs were till lately like those of the Anglo-Saxons, which Milton compared with the flocking together and fighting of crows in the air.
It was not until 1835 that the missionaries went to reside among them. But those teachers soon made themselves at home, and in 1853, Thakombau, of Ambau, recognized as the First Chief, became a Christian—a heavy blow and great discouragement for the ancient order of things in Fiji...
Remote as they are in the midst of the Pacific, and guarded on all sides by their reefs of white coral, the Fiji Islands could yet be reached by the great movement which so agitated our own continent from 1861 to 1865. The interruption of our cotton-producing industry obliged men to speculate on other fields of that culture, and Dr. Brower, the American Consul, (owner of the beautiful little island of Wakaia,) introduced into Fiji the cultivation of the "sea-island" plant [Gossypium barbadense], [to] which the rich, arable ground of the group has proved itself very well fitted.
The number of immigrants increased; and in 1867, when it was about 1,200 persons, they made an attempt to give the country a constitution, a sort of code, and a new face altogether. Thakombau and several chiefs consented, and the result was what was called the Constitution of Bau. But it was a failure, and soon lapsed.
Meanwhile the immigration increased in a greater ratio than before, owing, in a great measure, to the dullness of the wool trade of Australia, (from 1868 to 1870,) which induced a number of speculators to look after the cotton-growing grounds of Fiji. Some of them established in Melbourne a Poynesian Company, by which 200,000 acres were secured in the archipelago for the cultivation of cotton and sugar and the general furtherance of trade. But these people found themselves greatly hindered by the uncertain regulations of Thakombau's Government, and in 1871, the whites—for the natives have been comparatively passive in the matter—made another effort, under the leadership of Mr. Sydney C. Bart, a clever man, who had been an auctioneer in Sydney, and who made himself agent and Prime Minister of Thakombau, now recognized by the formal title of King.
In the coup de' état, as it has been termed, of the above year, Burt was assisted by Messrs. Woods, Swanston, Thurston, and others, and all went into the revolutionary business with the ardor and anxiety felt about the same time in the same work on a far broader stage of human action. A constitution was made... in many respects too rigid for such a semi-civilized community... An association of men in the missionary interest, the merchants of Levuka, (the capital,) and other malcontents was formed, bringing about a controversy and a confusion which King Thakombau, (or Cacobau, as the name is sometimes spelled,) found it very hard to comprehend at his age of seventy, especially after the traditional cup of cava [kava] which was his usual custom in the afternoon.
The rough-and-ready business of importing "coolies" was another element of dissent and discussion; and things were coming to a dead-lock apparently, when a deus ex machina made his appearance on the scene, in the shape of the Captain of her Britannic Majesty's war-vessel Cossack, who came in through the reef and dispersed the "opposition" in a very summary way.
The Fiji Parliament of Levuka, composed of representatives (irregularly chosen) from the several districts, was very much under the control of the King's council of foreigners. It adopted the system and criminal code of Hawaii... opposition, which showed that the Cossack had scotched, not killed, the discontent of the country... led to... last September... the adoption of a more perfect or less imperfect constitution...
This being promulgated, the next movement, long contemplated, was made, and a late telegram from Melbourne states that Cacobau Rex has transferred, or offered, through the medium of Mr. Layard, the British Consul, himself and his archipelago to the dominion of Queen Victoria. It was high time, evidently, if, as is generally stated, he and his government, commanding a revenue of about £42,000, have been already expending £124,000 a year; and Cacobau the First, of Fiji, will probably be Cacobau the last...
They who favor the protectorate are careful to show that from Sydney to Vancouver, an ocean distance of 7,000 miles, there is not at present a single coaling station for the service of English vessels...
It may also be said that the natives are likely, in the end, to be "improved" of the face of that beautiful archipelago.
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According to Measuring Worth, one British pound in 1874 was worth about $5.42 US at that time, and an 1874 pound was worth about £66.55 in 2007 (calculated by retail price index). The Federal Reserve Bank's estimated consumer price index shows that $1 in 1874 was equivalent to $18.98 in 2008.
• 1874 £ into 2007 $: 66.55(UK RPI) x 2.00 (2007 ex. rate) = $133.10.
• 1874 £ into 2008 $: 5.42(1874 ex. rate) x 18.98(US CPI) = $102.87.
The New York Times, March 25, 1917:
FIJI'S DEVELOPMENT CREATES PROBLEMSIslands, Long Rid of Cannibals, Hope to Join British Federation After War.
AMERICA'S PART IN HISTORY
$50,000 Debt to United States for Claims resulted in Dominations by the English.
SYDNEY, Australia, Feb. 7.—It is charitable to assume that leading American newspapers do not believe all that they have printed within the last few months about the Fiji Islands and Colonel and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt's projected visit to that South Pacific group. These papers may have been teasing the Colonel for the benefit of readers, but some of their comments read suspiciously as if those who penned them thought that the ex-President and his wife would have been surrounded by cannibals directly they landed in Suva.
It is a pity to take the edge off such gorgeous "copy"—if it was intended for the truth—but as a plain matter of fact Fiji is about as savage as Oyster Bay, and, aside from its tropical setting and certain problems of race and empire, it is as prosaic a spot as there is on the earth's surface. Its man-eating days ended years ago; it has played a not inglorious part in the current war, and it looks forward to being, if not the centre, at least a member of a British Pacific island federation after the war. The only cannibals now in Fiji are microscopic ones.
Few Americans know that it was indirectly American action which threw Fiji into the unwilling arms of Great Britain, or that Fiji excited German cupidity before Germany had embarked upon a colonial policy. Forty-odd years ago the persistent activity of German firms and business men in the group caused the British residents to assail the authorities in London with petitions, and this fear of German annexation reached a climax in 1872, when a German warship appeared in the islands. From that time until the Union Jack was hoisted over Fiji in 1874 there was no cessation of the efforts to move Downing Street.
Although it was an Australian firm which eventually forced the British Government's hands, the spring of this action was American claims against the Fijians. In 1860 a Colonel Smyth was sent out to Fiji to investigate an offer of the group to Great Britain by Thakombau [Cakobau], a noted chieftain, stories of whose savage régime are still rife in Australia. Colonel Smyth reported against annexation at that stage, principally because he found that Thakombau could not carry out the terms of his offer. He was not king of the group, although he aspired to that eminence. He was only the "war king" of Mbaû, a small island in the group.
Thakombau Not Enthroned.
The roko tui, or reverenced king, Thakombau was never allowed to be formally installed in office; yet after much fighting and successful displays of strength he remained one among equals, and there were other chiefs in the archipelago who could fairly claim to be his peers by might as well as by right.
However, Colonel Smyth's report—which among Americans may recall "Paramount" Blount's [James H. Blount's] mission in Hawaii for President Cleveland and the American part in the history of Samoa—was a great advertisement for Fiji. In consequence of Thakombau's hankering to clear himself of entanglements arising from claims for compensation by aggrieved Americans, he had offered the group to Britain, but this led to the formation of an Australian company to exploit the situation. In consideration for paying Thakombau's debt to the United States, amounting to $50,000, the company was to receive from the chief a grant of 200,000 acres of what was heralded as the best land in the group.
By this time the civil war in the United States had resulted in the blockade of Confederate ports, and there was a cotton famine. The company, which was a Melbourne one, saw a golden opportunity and straightaway boomed Fiji as a place for growing cotton. There was a rush of investors to the concern and an influx into Fiji of whites, who expected to pile up fortunes by cultivating the staple. But disappointment was in store. While some of the finest cotton in the world can be grown in Fiji, harvest time unfortunately coincides with the hurricane season, and many a cotton field white with almost realized wealth on one day was a wreck the next day. Still some plantations escaped and the cotton from them realized good prices.
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See also:
Papua New Guinea - Solomon Islands - Tonga - Samoa
New Caledonia - Australia - New Zealand
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Fiji News
Austronesians settled Fiji around 1000 B.C., followed by successive waves of Melanesians starting around the first century A.D. Fijians traded with Polynesian groups in Samoa and Tonga, and by about 900, much of Fiji was in the Tu’i Tongan Empire’s sphere of influence. The Tongan influence declined significantly by 1200, while Melanesian seafarers continued to periodically arrive in Fiji, further mixing Melanesian and Polynesian cultural traditions.
Dutch explorer Abel TASMAN was the first European to spot Fiji in 1643, followed by British explorer James COOK in 1774. Captain William BLIGH plotted the islands in 1789. In the 1800s, merchants, traders, and whalers frequented the islands and the first missionaries arrived in 1835. Rival kings and chiefs competed for power, at times aided by Europeans and their weapons, and in 1865, Seru Epenisa CAKOBAU united many groups into the Confederacy of Independent Kingdoms of Viti. The arrangement proved weak and in 1871 CAKOBAU formed the Kingdom of Fiji in an attempt to centralize power.
Fearing a hostile takeover by a foreign power as the kingdom’s economy began to falter, CAKOBAU ceded Fiji to the UK in 1874.
The first British governor set up a plantation-style economy and brought in more than 60,000 Indians as indentured laborers, most of whom chose to stay in Fiji rather than return to India when their contracts expired. In the early 1900s, society was divided along ethnic lines, with iTaukei (indigenous Fijians), Europeans, and Indo-Fijians living in separate areas and maintaining their own languages and traditions.
ITaukei fears of an Indo-Fijian takeover of government delayed independence through the 1960s; Fiji achieved independence in 1970 with agreements in place to allocate parliamentary seats by ethnic groups. Long-serving Prime Minister Kamisese MARA largely balanced these ethnic divisions, but concerns about growing Indo-Fijian political influence led to two coups in 1987.
A new constitution in 1990 cemented iTaukei control of politics, leading thousands of Indo-Fijians to leave. A reformed constitution in 1997 was more equitable and led to the election of an Indo-Fijian prime minister in 1999, who was ousted in a coup the following year. In 2005, the new prime minister put forward a bill that would grant pardons to the coup perpetrators, leading Commodore Josaia BAINIMARAMA to launch a coup in 2006. BAINIMARAMA appointed himself prime minister in 2007 and retained the position after elections in 2014 and 2018 that international observers deemed credible. BAINIMARAMA's party lost control of the prime minister position following elections in December 2022 and former opposition leader Sitiveni Ligamamada RABUKA assumed the office with a slim, one-seat parliamentary margin.
With well-developed infrastructure, Fiji has become a hub for the Pacific, hosting the secretariat for the Pacific Islands Forum and the main campus of the University of the South Pacific. In addition, Fiji is a center for Pacific tourism, and Nadi International Airport is by far the busiest airport in a Pacific island country.
CIA World Factbook: Fiji
Area of Fiji:
18,270 sq km slightly smaller than New Jersey
Population of Fiji:
947,760 2023 | 944,720 (2009)
Languages of Fiji:
English official, Fijian, Hindustani
Fiji Capital:
Suva
SUVA WEATHER
Free Books on Fiji (.pdfs)
The Hill Tribes of Fiji 1922 Brewster
The Fijians... Decay of Custom Thomson 1907
Tales from Old Fiji Fison 1907
Fijian-English English-Fijian Dictionary Hazlewood 1872
The King & People of Fiji Waterhouse 1866
Fiji & The Fijians Williams 1858
Life in Feejee Wallis 1851
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