History & Cultutre

History, Development and Politics

Prior to European influence, the earlier inhabitants referred to their islands as "Viti". The term "Fiji" is actually derived from the Tongan name for the islands.

Kai Viti or Fijian culture has been predominantly shaped by the Polynesian, Melanesian and some Micronesian influences. The first recorded dwellers were the Lapita people (about 3500 years ago) who were coastal dwellers and potters. Remnants of their settlements can be found at the Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park, where pottery shards and bones were discovered and this is now an important archeological site. A number of these pieces are on display at the Fiji Museum in Suva.

After about 1000 years, settlements moved inland as population increased and an agrarian culture began forming. During the next 1000 years, Fiji was subjected to Samoan and Tongan influences.

Fijian society developed around, and is still based on, extended family groups known as mataqali (pronounced: matangali) headed by hereditary chiefs or turaga ni koro (pronounced: toorunga nee koro). This arrangement led to rivalries among heirs and armed conflicts between factions. Examples of cultural development and implements of war from this period can also be seen at the Fiji Museum.

The first European visit was credited to Abel Tasman and his convoy in 1643. But his description of the treacherous reefs surrounding the islands kept other sailors away. About 1774, Captain Cook stopped at islands in the southern Lau Group. And his description of the fierce warriors kept outside influences to a minimum for the next century with one notable exception. The infamous Captain Bligh, during his epic voyage (with his crew after the mutiny) sailed westward through Fijian waters. Barely escaping two war canoes, he sailed between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu in waters that today bear his name - Bligh Water.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Fiji was slowly opened up to commerce and trade with Tongans (weapons, Masi cloth and highly valued bird feathers); Europeans (sandalwood); Asians (beche de mer); whalers and beachcombers.

By the early 1830's, the chief island of Bau (off the eastern shore of Viti Levu) through trade and force was beginning to gain control over the majority of islands. Though rivalries with Tongan chiefs posed a threat in the east, Chief Tanoa consolidated his power on Viti Levu and controlled many outer islands. Also in the mid-1850's, missionaries were slowly but surely making inroads into the islands. When the paramount chief of Bau, Cakobau (pronounced Thakumbau), accepted Christianity, he thereby strengthened his position with Tongan allies. While many Fijians adapted the new western religion, they still worshipped their own gods and ancestor spirits.