50 Fun Facts About Fiji

What is the capital city of Fiji?

It sits on the coast of Viti Levu; the administration moved there from Levuka in 1877.

Fiji's archipelago consists of more than how many islands?

About 110 are permanently inhabited, and 87% of people live on the two big islands.

Roughly what share of Fiji's population lives on its two largest islands?

Three-quarters of Fijians live on the coasts of Viti Levu alone; Vanua Levu is the second island.

Fiji gained independence from Britain in which year?

The flag was raised on 10 October 1970 after 96 years as a Crown colony.

Fiji became a republic in 1987 following what?

The coups were driven by fears that the government was dominated by the Indo-Fijian community.

Which commodore seized power in Fiji's 2006 coup and later won elections as prime minister?

His FijiFirst party took 59.2% of the vote in 2014 in an election observers judged credible.

Fiji's national sport is what?

The full fifteen-a-side team, the Flying Fijians, has reached three World Cup quarter-finals.

Fiji won its first ever Olympic medal, a gold, at which Games?

It came in the inaugural rugby sevens tournament; the team defended the title in Tokyo, beating New Zealand.

The traditional Fijian drink yaqona is made from the root of which plant?

The pepper-family plant is ground, mixed with water and served from a communal bowl.

Fiji comes from the Tongan pronunciation of the islanders' own name for their home. What is it?

Captain Cook, who met Fijians in Tonga, popularised the Tongan form 'Fisi'; missionaries wrote 'Feejee'.

Which Dutch explorer was the first known European to sight Fiji, in 1643?

He was searching for the Great Southern Continent; William Bligh charted the islands in 1789 after the Bounty mutiny.

The castaway captain who charted Fiji's main islands in 1789 was fresh from which famous event?

William Bligh sailed his open boat between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu on the way to Batavia.

Fiji became a British colony in 1874 after which chief made a final offer of cession?

The Bau chief had ruled a short-lived Kingdom of Fiji from 1871.

The 1875-76 measles epidemic killed roughly what share of Fijians?

More than 40,000 people died after Cakobau and his sons caught the disease on an official visit.

From 1879 to 1916 some 61,000 indentured labourers came to Fiji's sugar fields from where?

Their descendants, the Indo-Fijians, became a large share of the population and the focus of later coups.

According to the 2017 census, roughly what share of Fiji's population is Christian?

Hindus make up 24% and Muslims about 6%.

Fiji's flag places the shield from its coat of arms on a field of what colour?

It is a defaced cyan Blue Ensign that still carries the Union Jack.

Fiji's currency is what?

It replaced the pound in 1969 at two dollars to the pound.

The 180° meridian runs through which Fijian island?

All of Fiji keeps UTC+12.

The 2000 film Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, was shot on which Fijian island?

It is one of the Mamanuca Islands off the coast of Viti Levu.

Fiji Water says its product comes from an artesian aquifer on which island?

The brand was founded in 1996 by Canadian David Gilmour and is now owned by the American Wonderful Company.

Which town on Ovalau was Fiji's first capital until 1877 and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013?

European settlers founded it around 1820 as the islands' first modern town.

Fiji lies in which cultural region of Oceania?

The islands were settled by Austronesians by 3500-1000 BC, with Melanesians arriving about a thousand years later.

Fiji's outlying island of Rotuma has a culture closer to which countries than to the rest of Fiji?

Rotumans make up about 1.2% of the population.

The 2000 coup led by George Speight toppled Mahendra Chaudhry, who had been Fiji's first what?

Rebel soldiers later mutinied at Suva's Queen Elizabeth Barracks the same year.

The lieutenant colonel who carried out the 1987 coups and later became prime minister was who?

He won the 1992 election and set up the commission that wrote the 1997 constitution.

Fiji's 2013 constitution requires legislation to be available in English, Fijian and which third language?

English was the sole official language until 1997; Fiji Hindi is compulsory in primary schools.

The Fijian town of Lautoka is dominated by which industry?

Nadi, by contrast, lives on tourism, and gold comes from Vatukoula.

Fiji's national rugby union team is nicknamed what?

Their best World Cups were 1987, 2007 and 2023, beating Argentina, Wales and Australia to reach quarter-finals.

Iliesa Delana won Fiji's first Paralympic medal, a gold, in which event at London 2012?

He later became a member of parliament and cabinet minister.

The 1943 Victoria Cross awarded to Corporal Sefanaia Sukanaivalu came for bravery in which battle?

It was awarded posthumously; a great-grandson of Cakobau separately won France's Croix de Guerre with the Foreign Legion.

Fiji's highest peaks reach about what elevation?

The islands are volcanic and mountainous, with geothermal activity still on Vanua Levu and Taveuni.

The 2017 census put Fiji's population at roughly how many?

It had grown from about 837,000 in 2007.

The 1878 decision to import indentured labour from India was taken by which colonial governor?

He also barred Fijians from buying or selling land as individuals, placing it under colonial control.

Fiji's total land area is roughly how large?

That is spread across more than 500 islets as well as the islands.

Tongan prince Enele Ma'afu forcibly converted Lakeba's locals to which church after 1848?

A large majority of indigenous Fijians belong to the Methodist Church today.

Fijian traditional dress adopted from Tonga under missionary pressure is called what?

Converts were also pressed to cut their hair short and change marriage and funeral customs.

Fijians built large sailing vessels called drua and exported some of them to where?

Europeans called them the finest vessels in the Pacific, though the Fijians themselves were not renowned as sailors.

The 1867 killing of missionary Thomas Baker by the Kai Colo took place at the headwaters of which river?

The highland villages along it later refused British control and had to be subdued.

Fiji's main international airport and tourism hub, on the west of the largest island, is at which town?

Tourism is the town's major local industry.

Fiji's gold-mining industry is based at which town?

Timber, fish, copper and offshore oil are among the other natural resources.

Fiji's Enele Ma'afu built his power base in which island group?

The eastern Lau group has long had close ties with Tonga.

The 1871 defeat of the Lovoni people of Ovalau by the Bau chief's government led to their being what?

They were rounded up and sold at £6 a head.

Besides tourism, remittances and its main crop, which export earns Fiji foreign exchange?

The Fiji Water brand is headquartered in Los Angeles.

Fiji's 1830s Christian missionaries, such as David Cargill, came from which recently converted places?

By 1840 the European settlement at Levuka had grown to about 40 houses.

By what grim nickname was Fiji known during colonial times?

Missionaries such as Thomas Williams recorded accounts of the practice, though later scholars dispute the accuracy of some.

Which chief, a great-grandson of Cakobau, won the Croix de Guerre in the French Foreign Legion?

He returned from Oxford in 1921 as both a war hero and Fiji's first university graduate.

Who became Fiji's first Chief Minister when a cabinet system was set up in 1967?

His talks with Sidiq Koya of the National Federation Party led to the April 1970 London conference that set the timetable for independence.

In May 2009, Fiji became the first nation ever suspended from which regional body?

The suspension followed its failure to hold democratic elections by the promised date; it was suspended from the Commonwealth that September.

Roughly how many of Fiji's more than 330 islands are permanently inhabited?

Most islands were formed by volcanic activity beginning around 150 million years ago, and geothermal activity continues on Vanua Levu and Taveuni.