Fiji

Fiji is made of lots of islands.

The Pacific Ocean is all around. The biggest island is Viti Levu. The capital city is Suva.

Fiji is in the South Pacific Ocean, about 2,100 kilometers north of Auckland in New Zealand. It has about 300 islands and 540 tiny islets, spread across a huge area of ocean. Only about 100 of the islands have people living on them.

The largest island, Viti Levu, means 'Great Fiji', and the capital, Suva, is on its southeast coast. English, Fijian (iTaukei) and Hindi are the languages used for official purposes, and most people speak at least two languages. The 2017 census counted about 885,000 people.

Britannica describes Fiji as an archipelago surrounding the Koro Sea, about 2,100 km north of Auckland: some 300 islands and 540 islets scattered over about 3,000,000 km² of ocean, about 100 of them inhabited. Viti Levu ('Great Fiji') holds the capital, Suva.

The Fiji Bureau of Statistics' 2017 census counted 884,887 people on census night, up from 837,271 in 2007. Wikidata gives a land area of 18,274 km². Under the 2013 constitution, English, iTaukei (Fijian) and Hindi are used for official purposes; the 1997 constitution had named English, Fijian and Fijian Hindi as equal official languages. The currency is the Fijian dollar.

Suva is the capital city.

It is by the sea. The photo shows Suva. Levuka is an old town with little buildings by the beach.

Suva, the capital, is on the southeast coast of Viti Levu, and about one in four Fijians lives there. Lautoka, in the northwest of Viti Levu, is the center of the sugar industry and has a big port. Labasa, on Vanua Levu, is a center for sugar production too.

On the small island of Ovalau is Levuka, Fiji's first colonial capital. Its low buildings stand among coconut and mango trees along the beach, below the slopes of an old volcano. It is a World Heritage Site.

About half of Fijians are urban. The three largest urban centers are on Viti Levu: Suva, with about one-fourth of the population; Nasinu, a fast-growing suburb of Suva; and Lautoka, the center of the sugar industry with a major port. Labasa on Vanua Levu is a center for administration, services and sugar. The Fiji Museum, in Suva's Thurston Botanical Gardens, holds a fine collection of canoes.

UNESCO inscribed Levuka Historical Port Town on Ovalau in 2013. Developed from the 1820s as a commercial port by American and European settlers, it became Fiji's first colonial capital after Fiji was peacefully ceded to Britain by Tui (King) Cakobau in 1874, and UNESCO calls it a rare example of a late colonial port town shaped by the Indigenous community.

Fiji's islands were made by volcanoes and coral.

Mountains rise in the middle. Coral reefs ring the islands. It is warm all year.

Fiji's islands were built mostly by volcanoes, by layers of sediment and by coral. Viti Levu is so big that it covers more than half of Fiji's land. A jagged range of mountains runs down its middle, and Mount Tomanivi, 1,324 meters high, is the highest point in Fiji.

Coral reefs, rocks and shallow shoals surround the islands. Almost half of Fiji is still forest. It rains most from November to March, the season when tropical cyclones can strike, and the eastern sides of the big islands are much wetter than the western sides.

Built on an ancient submerged platform, the islands are largely products of volcanism, sedimentation and coral growth. Viti Levu (about 10,000 km²) has a jagged north–south divide with several peaks above 900 m, including Tomanivi (formerly Mount Victoria), 1,324 m, Fiji's highest point; the Rewa, Navua, Sigatoka and Ba rivers rise there. Vanua Levu covers about 5,540 km². Most other islands, in the Lomaiviti, Lau and Yasawa groups, are volcanic, and reefs and shoals make the Koro Sea hazardous to navigate.

Suva averages about 29 °C summer highs and 20 °C winter lows. Rain peaks from November to March, when tropical cyclones strike perhaps once every two years. Windward eastern sides get about 3,000 mm a year, western sides nearer 1,800 mm, a sharp contrast in climate and farming. Almost half of Fiji is forested, with dry grasslands in the west.

Fish and sharks swim on Fiji's coral reefs.

Sea turtles lay eggs on its beaches. A seabird called the Fiji petrel flies over the sea.

Fiji has a huge coral reef called the Great Sea Reef, along the northwest coasts of its two biggest islands. WWF calls it the third-largest barrier reef in the world. Endangered humphead wrasses, bumphead parrotfish, groupers and sharks live there, and local communities protect turtle nesting beaches.

The Fiji petrel is a seabird that has been photographed off the coast of Gau Island. Most land animals in Fiji, such as pigs, cattle and horses, are farm animals, and mongooses were brought in to hunt snakes and rats. The turtle in the photo was photographed in French Polynesia.

WWF describes the Great Sea Reef (Cakaulevu), bordering the northwest coasts of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, as the third-largest barrier reef in the world, and says its Cokovata area, off Vanua Levu's north coast, has mangrove-fringed shores and waters holding endangered humphead wrasse, bumphead parrotfish, grouper and sharks. Its 33 qoliqoli (customary fishing grounds) now include 18 tabu reserves, four mangrove reserves and five turtle nesting spots; WWF pictures a hawksbill turtle there.

On land, Britannica notes that most animals are domesticated (pigs, dogs, cattle, a few horses) and that mongooses, introduced to prey on snakes and rats, are often seen; it illustrates the Fiji petrel (Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi) off Gau Island. Much of the shoreline is reef and rock, mangroves line eastern coasts, and the encircling reef leaves little surf. The turtle photo was taken at Moorea, French Polynesia, and the wrasse photo elsewhere.

Many groups of people live in Fiji.

People speak English, Fijian and Hindi. Many people love rugby. People make cloth from tree bark.

More than half of Fijians are Indigenous Fijians, and about two-fifths have Indian ancestors, most of whom came to work on sugar farms. There are also Chinese, European and other Pacific Island families. Most people speak at least two languages.

Traditional crafts include masi, a cloth made from the bark of the paper mulberry tree, mat weaving, wood carving and canoe making. Kava, a drink made from a plant root, is shared at ceremonies and in everyday life. Rugby is very popular, and Fiji's national team does well around the world. Diwali, the festival of lights, is a public holiday.

Indigenous Fijians, usually classed as Melanesian though their social organization is closer to Polynesia's, make up more than half the population; about two-fifths are of Indian descent, mostly descendants of indentured sugar workers. Minorities include part-Europeans, Chinese and Pacific Islanders, among them the Polynesian people of Rotuma and the Banabans, who resettled on Rabi Island after their home island was made uninhabitable in World War II. The population is young: more than one-fourth is under 15.

Bauan Fijian is the most widely used Fijian dialect. Ceremonies for high-ranking chiefs sustain crafts such as masi (tapa cloth), mats, carving and canoe building; yaqona (kava) is drunk at ceremonies and daily by Fijians and Indians alike. Diwali is a public holiday each October. Rugby is hugely popular, Fiji supplies players to top leagues worldwide, and it has competed at the Summer Olympics since 1956.