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The president (head of state) is appointed for a 5-year term by the Great Council of Chiefs, a traditional ethnic Fijian leadership body. The president in turn appoints the prime minister (head of government) and Cabinet from among the members of Parliament. Both houses of the legislature have some seats reserved by ethnicity. Other seats can be filled...
Fiji is one of the most developed of the Pacific island economies, although it remains a developing country with a large subsistence agriculture sector. The effects of the Asian financial crisis contributed to substantial drops in GDP in 1997 and 1998, with a return to positive growth in 1999 aided by a 20% devaluation of the Fijian dollar. According...
Fiji's mixed racial background contributes to a rich cultural heritage. Many features of traditional Fijian life survive; they are most evident in the elaborate investiture, marriage, and other ceremonies for high-ranking chiefs. These ceremonies provide a focus for the practicing of traditional crafts, such as the manufacture of masi, or tapa cloth,...
Melanesian and Polynesian peoples settled the Fijian islands some 3,500 years ago. European traders and missionaries arrived in the first half of the 19th century, and the resulting disruption led to increasingly serious wars among the native Fijian confederacies. One Ratu (chief), Cakobau, gained limited control over the western islands by the 1850s,...
Fiji comprises a group of volcanic islands in the South Pacific lying about 4,450 km. (2,775 mi.) southwest of Honolulu and 1,770 km. (1,100 mi.) north of New Zealand. Its 322 islands range in size from the large--Viti Levu (about the size of the quot;Big Island quot; of Hawaii, and where Suva and 70% of the population are located) and Vanua Levu--to...
Most of Fiji's population lives on the island coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centers. The interior is sparsely populated due to its rough terrain. Indigenous Fijians are a mixture of Polynesian and Melanesian, resulting from the original migrations to the South Pacific many centuries ago. The Indo-Fijian population has grown rapidly from...
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