Fast Facts
- Named for: Fiji is the Anglicized pronunciation of the Tongan pronunciation of the indigenous’ name Viti.
- Capital: Suva
- Long/Lat: 18.1S/178.3 E (almost in the West), 5500 mi, 10 hours west
- Population: 926,000 (14 Castro Valley’s worth)
- Size: 7000 sq mi of land (411 CVs) but 75,000 sq mi total territory, 332 islands
- Avg temp in April: 89 F/31 C, tropics!
- Median household income: $6000 annually
- Ethnicity: 57% indigenous Fijians, 38% Indo-Fijians
- Main industries: Tourism, sugar cane, gold
Fiji is not a particularly small island, compared with others that we’ll see later, however, it is the smallest country beginning with F. It’s actually two big islands, plus 330 other small islands, some with and some without people. Plus, technically, a lot of water in between.
We might, perhaps, be tiring of the pronunciation issue. Fiji is called that because that’s what Captain Cook heard the Tongans call it, i.e., the name is not what the people who live there call it. But since their language isn’t ours anyway, they may not care how we butcher their name. They know who they are. Also, it always pleases me to remember that the arrogant colonizer Cook ended up clubbed to death because he opened fire on indigenous Hawai’ians who thought he had given them his boats. He said, “No, I take them back, you savages,” and they said, “Yeah, well you shot one of us, but while you’re reloading your fire stick, we avenge all our island brothers.” *whomp*
Fiji has an equally messy political history to that of England, Rome, America, et al., meaning a lot of disagreements. Only in some of the Fijians wars the loser got eaten. (Yes, but not savagely, tastefully.) (Yes, I wrote that on purpose.) There is archaeological evidence of cannibalism, though scholars point out it was carried out as a sacred ritual rather than something they did all the time.
The Europeans, nevertheless, came with more boats and guns and built cotton and sugar plantations there, the former of which really expanded during the American Civil War. There was a rampant practice of blackbirding–-a new term to me. When the indigenous Fijians refused to work for all the colonizers, they imported islanders from elsewhere. The British again exerted control in the latter Victorian era and brought labor this time over from India. Hence the 38% of modern population which is Indo-Fijian.
Reading that there were several coup d’etats in the last fifty years seemed less surprising, thus, since the establishment of independence in and democratic rule in 1970 followed such a long stream of wars and political oppression. That doesn’t even begin to mention the influx of tourist (i.e., foreign) money in the 20th century, which has upended the climate and economy, as air travel made visiting Fiji possible.
The last laugh will probably be on (us) tourists. Much of the infrastructure has been built along the beaches, of course, but climate change has threatened to wipe those out within decades.
In the meantime, there’s one thing that Fijians love: Rugby. My very first A-Z challenge on the Olympics, in fact, used F for Fiji to highlight their prowess in their national sport. The British had brought it to their South Pacific colonies, which is why New Zealand, Australia, and other neighboring spots have some of the world’s best players and competitions. But Rugby Sevens and Rugby Union are all in Fiji.
When the Fijians beat Great Britain in the 2016 Olympics to earn their first gold medal in rugby sevens, the whole country watched on on community center TVs, danced in the streets, and showed up to welcome the team home.