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Fiji became independent in 1970, after nearly a century as a British colony. Democratic rule was interrupted by two military coups in 1987, caused by concern over a government perceived as dominated by the Indian community (descendants of contract laborers brought to the islands by the British in the 19th century). A 1990 constitution favored native Melanesian control of Fiji, but led to heavy Indian emigration; the population loss resulted in economic difficulties, but ensured that Melanesians became the majority. Amendments enacted in 1997 made the constitution more equitable. Free and peaceful elections in 1999 resulted in a government led by an Indo-Fijian, but a coup in May 2000 ushered in a prolonged period of political turmoil. Parliamentary elections held in August 2001 provided Fiji with a democratically elected government and gave a mandate to the government of Prime Minister Laisenia QARASE. -- The CIA World Factbook: Fiji Area of Fiji: 18,270 sq km slightly smaller than New Jersey Population of Fiji: 880,874 July 2004 estimate Languages of Fiji: English official, Fijian, Hindustani Fiji Capital: Suva Fiji Reference Articles and Links MSN Encarta reference Governments on the WWW links Travelocity Free Real-Time Airline Flight Tracking |
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The New York Times, March 25, 1917:FIJI'S DEVELOPMENT CREATES PROBLEMS
Islands, 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. 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, 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 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. But when the civil war had ended and the United States was rehabilitating itself Fiji found itself in difficulties. Competition in cotton grew too sharp, since negro labor was far cheaper in the southern United States than in Fiji, and then, as now, the South Sea islander was not keen on work of any sort. Fiji as a place for whites fell on evil days; the Melbourne company failed and many persons interested in it were ruined; Thakombau himself was a victim of the white man's plausibility, and a Sydney adventurer who had gathered about him others of the same description carried on a farcical Government in the group. This was between 1870 and 1874, with German wishfulness for the group fast growing stronger, and German companies, through their representatives in the islands, becoming aggressive. In most ways the group was in a state of chaos, and at length, feeling that order should be restored, Britain annexed it. Thakombau's proffer was accepted on terms, and he was saved from a dangerous rival. Fiji's Lucrative Trade. Fiji, with its present lucrative sugar, banana and copra trade, (in which much Australian and other capital is invested,) and its potentialites in rubber, has a great future in store when the war is over. But with this future are complicated several pressing questions. These are land, labor, and native aspirations embodied in the watchword "Fiji for the Fijians." The land problem is most involved and serious, since it stands in the way not only of immigrations, but of the progress of the Fijians themselves. The Fijians have been termed a "race of landlords." And so they are, for the native-owned agricultural lands of the colony amount to almost 4,000,000 acres, and the alienated lands amount to but 250,000 acres. The tribal communal system of ownership which prevails among them and their exaggerated idea of the value of their lands present a thorny situation, which is readily appreciated, but which no administration has yet courageously tackled. Meantime much land is lying idle which, if it could be properly surveyed and leased by the natives, would be very profitable to all concerned. This land problem dates back to British annexation, and is attributed to the indefiniteness of the terms of that action and the well-intentioned but mistake policy of the first Governor, Sir Arthur Stanley. Then there is the labor question. The Fijian climate, although called the most healthful of tropical climates, is one in which whites cannot do much manual work. Therefore, to supplement Fijian labor, which, like all other South Sea labor, is essentially more or less limited and uncertain, Indian coolies have been imported -- particularly to work the plantations of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company. All of this Indian labor was obtained under the indenture system, but with the expiration of the five-year terms of many of the Hindus there has latterly grown up in the group a sizable class of independent aliens, which competes against the Fijians in the labor market and threatens to dictate terms to the whites. Furthermore, these free Indians will not return to India and they are barred from immigration to Australia and New Zealand by the "white" policy of those countries. This naturally makes in some cases for unrest. Yet another phase of the problem is that whereas every white employer in Fiji is resolutely of the opinion that the colony cannot succeed without Indian labor--or Chinese--the Indian Government laid down lately through Lord Chelmsford that there must be no more recruiting of Indians for overseas labor fields except under rigid supervision. It is feared in Fiji from this that there will be a curtailment of labor from that quarter and Fijian enterprises will suffer accordingly. As to "Fiji for the Fijians"--possibly owing to hazy comparison of the colony with Hawaii--there had arisen in the group just at the beginning of the war a remarkable spirit of native agitation and cohesion. To the understanding of the whites the reasons for this feeling were somewhat obscure and inchoate, but there was a strong and unmistakeable undercurrent of it throughout Fiji and doubtless it will manifest itself more clearly after the war. Apparently it was or is a feeling of nationalism. Considerable antipathy prevails between the Fijians and the thousands of Indians who have fastened on the colony, the latter being looked upon as outsiders. And probably deeper still is a fear that, because the Fijian is stationary, the latter race will undergo not only dispossession, but gradual extinction. The exponent of this unrest is a young man named Apolosi, a carpenter, a commoner, and a product of a mission school. Two years ago or more Apolosi tried to organize an all-Fijian company, but failed, and subsequently for acts considered disturbing to the peace of the colony he served a jail sentence. But he is a forceful orator, and, though what is in his mind is not plain to the whites, he is looked upon by the mass of Fijians as a savior. It is likely that in the adjustments which will follow the war he will be heard from again. Out of a white population in Fiji of about 900, about 120 men have been officially sent to the front and are fighting in the ranks of a British regiment in France, and about 200 other men are serving with the Australian or New Zealand forces. Two Fijian chiefs are at the front, one with the French and the other with the New Zealanders, and the native gifts of money for war purposes have been profuse. Within the last few weeks the colony, in addition to previous war loans, has floated one of $1,185,000. |
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