Fiji Geography, Economy, and Culture

The archipelago of Fiji contains almost 300 islands in the Pacific, amongst which only 100 are inhabited. Most of its lands were created through volcanic activity about 150 million years ago. Fiji gained its independence from Great Britain in 1970 and has had a mixture of authoritarian and democratic rule since then. With a fairly developed economy, Fiji relies primarily on tourism and the sugar industry for its income.

With a pleasant climate and minimal extremes in temperature, Fiji attracts a significant number of tourists with its white sand beaches and beautiful islands. The majority of their tourists come from Australia, New Zealand, the United States and China.

Although the majority of its population is comprised of native Fijians, the second largest ethnic group is Indo-Fijians, descendants of laborers who were brought over from India by the British, although there continue to be tensions between the two ethnic groups. The three official languages are English, iTaukei (Fijian) and (Fiji) Hindi.