With a history that extends over 3500 years, the Fijian way of life prior to European contact in the 17th and 18th centuries was bloodthirsty, with frequent tribal wars and endemic cannibalism. European contact led to the advent of firearms in tribal conflict with ensuing greater instability. The British, who had pioneered developments in agricultural practices in the 19th century and promoted economic development in the Fiji Islands, brokered a solution where Fiji became a British Colony in 1874.
The British imported indentured labour from India to work the sugar plantations, but disallowed them from owning the land they farmed. The Indian group grew over ensuing years to the point where numerically they outnumbered the ethnic Fijian population by the 1940s. They grew most of the agricultural product, but owned almost none of the land. In 1970, The Dominion of Fiji (Now Republic of Fiji) declared itself an independent nation and was accepted into the Commonwealth of Nations.
Fiji currently exists within a state of great instability. There has been continual tension between the Ethnic-Fijian population and the Indo-Fijian population over land ownership, political power and economic power since European influence. Mixing between the communities is very limited, each group tending to stay separate from the other in many areas of Fijian society. Since 1987, there has been a cycle of coups where political groups have used their influence with the Ethnic-Fijian dominated military to block legislation, abrogate the constitution, form caretaker governments and appoint Prime Ministers and Presidents of their own choosing. Indo-Fijians have left Fiji in large numbers due to personal safety and economic disadvantage concerns on such a scale that Ethnic Fijians now are the majority racial group. This has lead to a near collapse of the region’s economy, lower school attendance rates and disruption to education generally, and consequently, lower adult literacy rates.
A warring and cannibalistic society until the 1700s, Fiji largely adopted Christianity in its many forms in the 1800s and beyond. This conversion led to what Fijians popularly call the previous period as ‘The Time of the Devil’. The majority of the Indo-Fijian community continued to adhere to their Hindu beliefs so that the societal divide results from a combination of racial, religious, and economic factors.
While at the time of independence in 1970, the legislature was based on the Westminster System, there have been so many changes that currently it could be viewed as in a state of transition and instability. Frequent proclamation of executive powers by individual power brokers, suspension of the constitution and the general undermining of any popularly elected government make it difficult to define the system of government other than by the exercise of military might. The path that the nation of Fiji has embarked upon appears set for further disruption before peace, stability, reconciliation and economic prosperity can be attained.
Fiji is officially bilingual with both English and Fijian spoken. Hindustani is also widely spoken among the Indo-Fijian community.