Fiji
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
50 free Fiji trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Fiji trivia quiz covers the 330-island Melanesian nation from Abel Tasman and Captain Bligh, King Cakobau and the 1874 cession, the measles catastrophe and the Indian indenture system, to independence in 1970, four coups and the modern republic. It also visits the things Fiji is famous for: the rugby sevens team that won the country's first Olympic medal, kava ceremonies, Fiji Water, the island where Cast Away was filmed, and the date line that bends around Taveuni. The first questions suit anyone who has heard 'bula'; the last ones test people who know which town was the first capital and how the country got its name from a Tongan mispronunciation. Every question is multiple choice with a short explanation after you answer. Every answer has been checked against a primary source, and each question links to the page that confirms it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital city of Fiji?
Suva
Suva, on the southeast coast of the largest island, has been the capital since 1877 and is home to the main campus of the University of the South Pacific.
Q 02Fiji's archipelago consists of more than how many islands?
330
330 is the customary count of islands in the Fijian archipelago, scattered across roughly 1.3 million square kilometres of the South Pacific, with the two largest islands holding most of the people.
Q 03Roughly what share of Fiji's population lives on its two largest islands?
87%
87% of Fijians live on the two largest islands, with roughly three-quarters on the coasts of the biggest one alone, because the mountainous interiors are thinly settled.
Q 04Fiji gained independence from Britain in which year?
1970
The flag was raised on 10 October 1970 after 96 years as a Crown colony.
Q 05Fiji became a republic in 1987 following what?
Two military coups
Two military coups, in May and September 1987 and both led by the same lieutenant colonel, toppled the Bavadra government; Fiji was declared a republic that October and left the Commonwealth.
Q 06Which commodore seized power in Fiji's 2006 coup and later won elections as prime minister?
Frank Bainimarama
Frank Bainimarama, the navy commodore who took power in December 2006, won the 2014 election as leader of FijiFirst with 59.2% of the vote, a result international observers judged credible.
Q 07Fiji's national sport is what?
Rugby sevens
Rugby sevens is the code Fiji has dominated, winning back-to-back Olympic golds and several World Rugby Sevens Series titles; the fifteen-a-side team has reached three World Cup quarter-finals.
Q 08Fiji won its first ever Olympic medal, a gold, at which Games?
Rio 2016
Rio 2016 brought Fiji's first Olympic medal when its men's team won the inaugural Olympic sevens tournament, beating Great Britain 43-7 in the final; the title was defended in Tokyo.
Q 09The traditional Fijian drink yaqona is made from the root of which plant?
Kava
Kava, Piper methysticum, a member of the pepper family, has its root pounded, mixed with water and served from a communal tanoa bowl in the yaqona ceremony.
Q 10Fiji is the Tongan pronunciation of what native name for the islands?
Viti
Viti is the Fijian name; Tongans said 'Fisi', the form Captain Cook picked up when he met Fijians in the Tongan islands, and early missionaries spelled it 'Feejee'.
Q 11Which Dutch explorer was the first known European to sight Fiji, in 1643?
Abel Tasman
Abel Tasman, sailing for the VOC, the Dutch trading company, in search of the Great Southern Continent, sighted Fiji's northern islands in 1643 after calling at Tasmania and New Zealand.
Q 12The castaway captain who charted Fiji's main islands in 1789 was fresh from which famous event?
The mutiny on the Bounty
The mutiny on the Bounty in April 1789 left William Bligh adrift in an open launch; he passed between Fiji's two main islands, charting them on the way to Timor, and the strait is named Bligh Water.
Q 13Fiji became a British colony in 1874 after which chief made a final offer of cession?
Cakobau
Q 21Fiji Water says its product comes from an artesian aquifer on which island?
Viti Levu
The brand was founded in 1996 by Canadian David Gilmour and is now owned by the American Wonderful Company.
Q 22Which town on Ovalau was Fiji's first capital until 1877 and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013?
Levuka
Levuka, founded by European traders around 1820 on Ovalau's east coast, was where the Deed of Cession was signed in 1874; the Levuka Historical Port Town became Fiji's first World Heritage Site in 2013.
Q 23Fiji lies in which cultural region of Oceania?
Melanesia
Melanesia, the 'black islands' region stretching from New Guinea east to Fiji, is where Fiji sits, though centuries of contact with its Polynesian neighbours to the east shaped its chiefly culture.
Cakobau, the Bau chief who had ruled a shaky Kingdom of Fiji since 1871, signed the Deed of Cession on 10 October 1874; an earlier offer he made in 1858 had been refused by London.
Q 14The 1875-76 measles epidemic killed roughly what share of Fijians?
One-third
One-third of the indigenous population, more than 40,000 people, died after the king and his sons brought measles back from an official visit to Sydney in early 1875.
Q 15From 1879 to 1916 some 61,000 indentured labourers came to Fiji's sugar fields from where?
India
India supplied 60,553 indentured girmitiyas between 1879 and 1916 under five-year contracts, the first arriving on the Leonidas in May 1879 to work the sugar plantations.
Q 16What is the Fijian name for the ceremonial whale's tooth presented at important occasions?
Tabua
Tabua, the polished tooth of a sperm whale, is Fiji's most prized ceremonial object, presented at weddings, funerals and to seal agreements or apologies.
Q 17Fiji's flag places the shield from its coat of arms on a field of what colour?
Light blue
Light blue, representing the Pacific Ocean, fills the field of this defaced Blue Ensign, which carries the Union Jack in the canton and the shield from the coat of arms in the fly.
Q 18Fiji's currency is what?
Fijian dollar
The Fijian dollar replaced the Fijian pound in January 1969 at two dollars to the pound; its 2013 banknote and coin series dropped the Queen's portrait for native plants and animals.
Q 19The 180° meridian runs through which Fijian island?
Taveuni
Taveuni, Fiji's third-largest island, is crossed by the 180° meridian near Waiyevo, where a marker lets visitors stand with a foot on each side; the International Date Line itself bends east to keep Fiji on one calendar day.
Q 20The 2000 film Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, was shot on which Fijian island?
Monuriki
Monuriki, a small uninhabited island in the Mamanuca group off Fiji's west coast, stood in for Chuck Noland's desert island and was later marketed to tourists as 'Cast Away Island'.
Q 24Fiji's outlying island of Rotuma has a culture closer to which countries than to the rest of Fiji?
Tonga and Samoa
Tonga and Samoa, its Polynesian neighbours, are the cultural kin of Rotuma, a volcanic island about 500 km north of the main group whose people and customs are Polynesian; Rotumans are about 1.2% of Fiji's population.
Q 25The 2000 coup led by George Speight toppled Mahendra Chaudhry, who had been Fiji's first what?
Indo-Fijian prime minister
Indo-Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry, the first from that community, took office in May 1999 after his Labour Party's election win and was held hostage for 56 days by Speight's gunmen in 2000.
Q 26The lieutenant colonel who carried out the 1987 coups and later became prime minister was who?
Sitiveni Rabuka
Sitiveni Rabuka, the lieutenant colonel behind both 1987 coups, won the 1992 election as prime minister and set up the Reeves Commission whose work produced the 1997 constitution; he returned to office in 2022.
Q 27Fiji's 2013 constitution requires legislation to be available in English, Fijian and which third language?
Standard Hindi
English was the sole official language until 1997; Fiji Hindi is compulsory in primary schools.
Q 28The Fijian town of Lautoka is dominated by which industry?
Sugar cane
Sugar cane has defined Lautoka, nicknamed Sugar City, since its mill opened in 1903 as one of the largest in the southern hemisphere; the Fiji Sugar Corporation is headquartered there.
Q 29Fiji's national rugby union team is nicknamed what?
The Flying Fijians
The Flying Fijians, the fifteen-a-side national side, beat Australia 22-15 at the 2023 World Cup, their first win over the Wallabies since 1954.
Q 30Iliesa Delana won Fiji's first Paralympic medal, a gold, in which event at London 2012?
High jump
High jump gold in the F42 class at London 2012 made Iliesa Delana Fiji's first Paralympic medallist; he was elected to parliament in 2014 and served as an assistant minister for youth and sports.