Fiji

Where the name comes from

Fiji comes from Tongan Fisi, their way of saying the Fijian Viti, also found in Viti Levu, “Great Viti”; the meaning of Viti is uncertain.

First people

Settlers linked to the Lapita culture arrived around 3,000 years ago.¹

Known for

Fiji is known for its coral reefs and for its rugby sevens team, which won Olympic gold in 2016 and 2020.²

Outside contact

Fiji became a British Crown colony in 1874, and more than 60,000 Indians were brought as indentured workers between 1879 and 1916, many for sugar plantations.^3,4

The modern country

Fiji became independent in 1970. Many Indian workers stayed, and their descendants live alongside Indigenous iTaukei Fijians, making land, ancestry and equal citizenship central questions.¹