Fiji
Early times
According to Fijian legend the great chief Lutunasobasoba led his people across the seas to the new land of Fiji. It is most likely that they came from Southeast Asia via the Indonesian Islands.
18th century
In 1774 Captain Cook's Resolution anchors off Turtle Island. Following the Bounty mutiny in 1789, Captain Bligh evades hostile islanders and yet gives the first accurate charting and definition of the islands.
20th century
In 1916 the Indians are allowed to become tenant farmers after land division into small lots. In the 1920s Chinese arrive to swell the ranks of outsiders working on the Fiji Islands.
The Fiji Islands become independent as a member of the British Commonwealth in October 1970, with an English constitutional system, a Prime Minister, Parliament, senators and representatives. They were proclaimed a republic after Colonel Rabuka's coup in September 1987. Civilian rule was reinstated in 1990. Fiji rejoins the Commonwealth in October 1997. Prime Minister Rabuka resigns in 1999 after a landslide election defeat. Mahendra Chaudry, leader of the Fiji Labour Party, becomes the first Indian prime minister of a coalition government. He is deposed by a military coup in May 2000 and held hostage for 56 days. The country is now recovering from widespread civil unrest.
