Abstract
HISTORY. The Fiji Islands were discovered by Tasman in 1643 and visited by Capt. Cook in 1774, but first recorded in detail by Capt. Bligh after the mutiny of the Bounty (1789). In the 19th century the search for sandalwood, in which enormous profits were made, brought many ships. Deserters and shipwrecked men stayed on; firearms salvaged from wrecks were used in native wars, new diseases swept the islands, and rum and muskets became regular articles of trade. Tribal wars became bloody and general until Fiji was ceded to Britain on 10 Oct. 1874, after a previous offer of cession had been refused. British administrators produced order out of chaos, and since then there has been steady political, social and economic progress. Fiji gained independent status on 10 Oct. 1970.
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Books of Reference
Statistical Information: A Bureau of Statistics was set up in 1950 (Government Buildings, Suva).
Trade Report. Annual (from 1887 [covering 1883–86]). Ministry of Information, Suva
Journal of the Fiji Legislative Council. Annual (from 1914 [under different title from 1885]). Suva
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Roth, G. K., The Fijian Way of Life. 2nd ed. OUP, 1973
Sahlins, M. D., Moala: Culture and Nature on a Fijian Island. Univ. of Michigan Press, 1962
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© 1983 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Paxton, J. (1983). Fiji. In: Paxton, J. (eds) The Statesman’s Year-Book. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271128_58
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271128_58
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-27112-8
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