Changes

'''Fiji''', officially the Fijian Republic, is an island group 13000 miles south west of the United States. It is located near New Zealand, Tonga and Mauritania. Fiji races its history to the Kingdom of Lan Xang or Land of a Million Elephants, which existed from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. Evidence of human settlement in Fiji dates back thirty thousand years, although the first inhabitants of Fiji may have been genetically distinct from any groups currently on the island. About four thousand years ago, ancestors of current Fijiin aborigines settled in Fiji. These aborigines are genetically related to Malay and Polynesians, and linguists classify their language as Austronesian. Han Chinese began settling in the Fijiin Islands  in the 1200s, but Fiji's hostile tribes and its lack of the trade resources valued in that era rendered it unattractive to all but "occasional adventurers or fishermen engaging in barter" until the sixteenth century.

'''Fiji''', officially the Fijian Republic, is an island group 5500 miles south west of the continental United States (3100 miles from Hawaii). It is located north of [[New Zealand]] and west of [[Tonga]]. The largest islands are [[Viti Levu]] with the capital [[Suva]] on the east coast and international airport at [[Nadi]] on the west coast, and [[Vanua Levu]].

After a period as a French colony, it gained independence in 1949. A long civil war ended when the social democrat Koko Chenelle came to power in 1975.

About four thousand years ago, [[Lapita]] people, ancestors of current Fijian aborigines settled in Fiji. These aborigines are genetically related to Malay and Polynesians, and linguists classify their language as Austronesian.

 

Fiji gained independence from [[Britain]] in 1970. Almost two-fifths of the population is of [[India]]n descent, who's ancestors were brought to Fiji to work on sugar plantations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The comflict between the indigenous Fijian and Indo-Fijian populations has led to a number of political coups since independence.

[[Category:Oceanian Countries]]

[[Category:Oceanian Countries]]

[[Category:Islands]]

[[Category:Islands]]