| Diospyros major | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Ebenaceae |
| Genus: | Diospyros |
| Species: | D. major |
| Binomial name | |
| Diospyros major (G.Forst.) Bakh. | |
Diospyros major, or the Fiji persimmon, is a tree in the family Ebenaceae that is native to Fiji, Tonga, Uvea, and Futuna. [1] It is called 'mapa in the Tongan language.
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1,100 nautical miles northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The most outlying island group is Ono-i-Lau. About 87% of the total population of 883,483 live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts: either in the capital city of Suva; or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi—where tourism is the major local industry; or in Lautoka, where the sugar-cane industry is dominant. The interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited because of its terrain.
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, CF, GCMG, KBE was a Fijian politician, who served as Chief Minister from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, the first Prime Minister from 1970 to 1992. He subsequently served as President from 1993 to 2000. He is considered the founding father of the modern nation of Fiji.
The Fijian coups d'état of 1987 resulted in the overthrow of the elected government of Fijian Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra, the deposition of Elizabeth II as Queen of Fiji, and in the declaration of a republic. The first coup d'état, in which Bavadra was deposed, took place on 14 May 1987; a second coup d'état on 28 September ended the monarchy, and was shortly followed by the proclamation of a republic on 7 October. Both military actions were led by Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka, then third in command of the Royal Fiji Military Forces.
General elections were held in Fiji between 15 and 29 April 1972, the first since independence from the United Kingdom in 1970. They were characterised by the lack of rancour between racial groups, typical of the 1966 general election and the 1968 by-elections.
General elections were held in Fiji between 19 March and 2 April 1977. As a result of a split in the ethnic Fijian vote, the ruling Alliance Party of Prime Minister Kamisese Mara suffered a narrow defeat. Although the Alliance Party received the most votes, it won only 24 seats, two fewer than the Indo-Fijian-dominated National Federation Party (NFP). One seat was won by the Fijian Nationalist Party, with the remaining seat going to an independent candidate, Osea Gavidi.
General elections were held in Fiji between 10 and 17 July 1982. The paradoxical results were both a triumph and a setback for the Alliance Party of the Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. The Alliance captured 51.8 percent of the popular vote, only slightly down on its previous total, but won only 28 seats, 8 fewer than at the previous election of September 1977. Part of the reason for this discrepancy was that the slight surge in support for Ratu Mara's Alliance in the Indo-Fijian community, from 14 percent to 16 percent, was not sufficient to translate into seats in Fiji's communal electoral system, and did not therefore off-set losses among the ethnic Fijian community, particularly in the west of the country. The Western United Front of Ratu Osea Gavidi won only two seats, but split the vote, allowing the National Federation party (NFP), with which it tactically allied itself, to pick up six seats for a total of 22. Moreover, the NFP, which had split into two factions before the previous election, had reunited by now.
General elections were held in Fiji between 4 and 11 April 1987. They marked the first electoral transition of power in Fijian history. Despite receiving just under 50% of the vote, the Alliance Party of longtime Prime Minister, Kamisese Mara was defeated by a coalition of the Fiji Labour Party and National Federation Party, which won 28 seats to the Alliance's 24. The Labour Party's Timoci Bavadra became Prime Minister.
The Legislative Council of Fiji was the colonial precursor to the present-day Parliament, which came into existence when Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970.
The Colony of Fiji was a British Crown colony that existed from 1874 to 1970 in the territory of the present-day nation of Fiji. London declined its first opportunity to annex the Kingdom of Fiji in 1852. Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau had offered to cede the islands, subject to being allowed to retain his Tui Viti title. His demand was unacceptable to both the British and to many of his fellow chiefs, who regarded him only as first among equals, if that. Mounting debts and threats from the United States Navy had led Cakobau to establish a constitutional monarchy with a government dominated by European settlers in 1871, following an agreement with the Australian Polynesia Company to pay his debts. The collapse of the new regime drove him to make another offer of cession in 1872, which the British accepted. On 10 October 1874, Britain began its rule of Fiji, which lasted until 10 October 1970.
General elections were held in Fiji between 26 September and 8 October 1966, the last before independence in 1970 and the first held under universal suffrage. The result was a victory for the Alliance Party, which won 23 of the 34 elected seats. Its leader Kamisese Mara became the country's first Chief Minister the following year.
Hinduism in Fiji has a following primarily among Indo-Fijians, the descendants of indentured workers brought to Fiji by the British as cheap labor for colonial sugarcane plantations. Hindus started arriving in Fiji starting in 1879 and continuing through 1920, when Britain abolished the slavery-like indenture system. Fiji identifies people as "Indo-Fijians" if they can trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent, Hindus form about 27.9% the population of Fiji.
Fiji Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by Indo-Fijians, though a few speak other languages at home. It is an Eastern Hindi language, considered to be a dialect of Awadhi that has also been subject to considerable influence by Bhojpuri, other Bihari dialects, and Standard Hindi-Urdu. It has also borrowed some words from the English and Fijian languages. Many words unique to Fiji Hindi have been created to cater for the new environment that Indo-Fijians now live in. First-generation Indians in Fiji, who used the language as a lingua franca in Fiji, referred to it as Fiji Baat, "Fiji talk". It is closely related to Caribbean Hindustani and the Bhojpuri-Hindustani language spoken in Mauritius and South Africa. It is largely mutually intellegible with the languages of Bhojpuri, Magahi, etc. of Bihar and the dialects of Hindi of eastern Uttar Pradesh, but differs in phonetics and vocabulary with Modern Standard Hindi.
Indo-Fijians or Indian-Fijians are people of Fijian descent with at least partial South Asian heritage, including descendants who trace their heritage from various regions of the Indian subcontinent. Although Indo-Fijians constituted a majority of Fiji's population from 1956 through the late 1980s, discrimination and the resulting brain drain resulted in them numbering 313,798 (37.6%) out of a total of 827,900 people living in Fiji as of 2007. The term Indo-Fijians refers to the Indian subcontinent, not only modern day India, formally the Republic of India.
Women in Fiji live in or are from the Republic of Fiji. On March 8, 2007, The Fiji Times ONLINE described Fijian women as playing an important role in the fields of economic and social development in Fijian society. The women of the Republic of Fiji are the "driving force" in health service as nurses and medical doctors. They are also key players and managers in the tourism and entertainment industries, as well as teachers in the field of education.
General elections were held in Fiji on 31 August 1932, although only one of the nine elected seats was contested.
General elections were held in Fiji in July 1937, the first in which an equal number of Europeans and Indo-Fijians were elected.
General elections were held in Fiji on 29 July 1944. The term of the Legislative Council elected in 1940 was due to end in 1943, but was extended by a year by the Governor.
General elections were held in Fiji in August 1950. Voting took place in most locations on 26 August, and in the Lau and Lomaiviti Islands between 21 and 28 August.
General elections were held in Fiji on 29 August 1953.
General elections were held in Fiji in August 1956; voting took place in the Eastern constituencies between 11 and 18 August, and on 18 August in all other constituencies.
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