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
It sits on the coast of Viti Levu; the administration moved there from Levuka in 1877.
Q 02Fiji's archipelago consists of more than how many islands?
330
About 110 are permanently inhabited, and 87% of people live on the two big islands.
Q 03Roughly what share of Fiji's population lives on its two largest islands?
87%
Three-quarters of Fijians live on the coasts of Viti Levu alone; Vanua Levu is the second island.
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
The coups were driven by fears that the government was dominated by the Indo-Fijian community.
Q 06Which commodore seized power in Fiji's 2006 coup and later won elections as prime minister?
Frank Bainimarama
His FijiFirst party took 59.2% of the vote in 2014 in an election observers judged credible.
Q 07Fiji's national sport is what?
Rugby sevens
The full fifteen-a-side team, the Flying Fijians, has reached three World Cup quarter-finals.
Q 08Fiji won its first ever Olympic medal, a gold, at which Games?
Rio 2016
It came in the inaugural rugby sevens tournament; the team defended the title in Tokyo, beating New Zealand.
Q 09The traditional Fijian drink yaqona is made from the root of which plant?
Kava
The pepper-family plant is ground, mixed with water and served from a communal bowl.
Q 10Fiji comes from the Tongan pronunciation of the islanders' own name for their home. What is it?
Viti
Captain Cook, who met Fijians in Tonga, popularised the Tongan form 'Fisi'; missionaries wrote 'Feejee'.
Q 11Which Dutch explorer was the first known European to sight Fiji, in 1643?
Abel Tasman
He was searching for the Great Southern Continent; William Bligh charted the islands in 1789 after the Bounty mutiny.
Q 12The castaway captain who charted Fiji's main islands in 1789 was fresh from which famous event?
The mutiny on the Bounty
William Bligh sailed his open boat between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu on the way to Batavia.
Q 13Fiji became a British colony in 1874 after which chief made a final offer of cession?
Cakobau
The Bau chief had ruled a short-lived Kingdom of Fiji from 1871.
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
European settlers founded it around 1820 as the islands' first modern town.
Q 23Fiji lies in which cultural region of Oceania?
Melanesia
The islands were settled by Austronesians by 3500-1000 BC, with Melanesians arriving about a thousand years later.
Q 14The 1875-76 measles epidemic killed roughly what share of Fijians?
One-third
More than 40,000 people died after Cakobau and his sons caught the disease on an official visit.
Q 15From 1879 to 1916 some 61,000 indentured labourers came to Fiji's sugar fields from where?
India
Their descendants, the Indo-Fijians, became a large share of the population and the focus of later coups.
Q 16According to the 2017 census, roughly what share of Fiji's population is Christian?
69%
Hindus make up 24% and Muslims about 6%.
Q 17Fiji's flag places the shield from its coat of arms on a field of what colour?
Light blue
It is a defaced cyan Blue Ensign that still carries the Union Jack.
Q 18Fiji's currency is what?
Fijian dollar
It replaced the pound in 1969 at two dollars to the pound.
Q 19The 180° meridian runs through which Fijian island?
Taveuni
All of Fiji keeps UTC+12.
Q 20The 2000 film Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, was shot on which Fijian island?
Monuriki
It is one of the Mamanuca Islands off the coast of Viti Levu.
Q 24Fiji's outlying island of Rotuma has a culture closer to which countries than to the rest of Fiji?
Tonga and Samoa
Rotumans make up about 1.2% of the population.
Q 25The 2000 coup led by George Speight toppled Mahendra Chaudhry, who had been Fiji's first what?
Indo-Fijian prime minister
Rebel soldiers later mutinied at Suva's Queen Elizabeth Barracks the same year.
Q 26The lieutenant colonel who carried out the 1987 coups and later became prime minister was who?
Sitiveni Rabuka
He won the 1992 election and set up the commission that wrote the 1997 constitution.
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
Nadi, by contrast, lives on tourism, and gold comes from Vatukoula.
Q 29Fiji's national rugby union team is nicknamed what?
The Flying Fijians
Their best World Cups were 1987, 2007 and 2023, beating Argentina, Wales and Australia to reach quarter-finals.
Q 30Iliesa Delana won Fiji's first Paralympic medal, a gold, in which event at London 2012?
High jump
He later became a member of parliament and cabinet minister.