FIJI

167 team members

Adopt-a-country school: Arorangi School

Accommodation: Arorangi School
Dining: Calvary Hall

Capital:     Suva
Land Area:     18,272sq km (332 islands)
Languages:     Fijian, Hindi, English
Currency:    Fiji Dollar

Fiji consists of an archipelago of 332 islands with a total land area of 18,272 km².
The majority of the population inhabits the 2 major islands, Viti Leuu and Venua Lenu.
Fiji was first settled by people from South East Asia about three and a half thousand years ago. The early inhabitants are now called "Lapita people" after a distinctive type of fine pottery they produced. Remnants of the pottery can been found in practically all the islands of the Pacific east of New Guinea, though not in eastern Polynesia.
Linguistic evidence suggests that they came from northern or central Vanuatu, or possibly the eastern Solomons.
Colonialism had extended into Fiji by the late 19th century with the colony coming under British control in 1874. Fiji won its independence from the British in 1970.
The people of Fiji firstly consist of native Fijians, persons of mixed Polynesians origin and Melanesian ancestry, and are predominately located in the western islands. They account for nearly half the population of 906,000.
Fijian Indians, who migrated to Fiji as indentured workers for the British from 1879 to 1916, make up less than half the population and are engaged chiefly in the sugar industry and commerce.
With a diverse cultural mix Fiji has three official languages - English, Fijian and Hindi.
Christianity, Hinduism and Islam are the main religions practiced.