The islands of the Pacific are divided into three main groups: Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Fiji is considered part of Melanesia, which is a group of islands positioned mostly to the south of the equator. Micronesia (e.g., Marshall Islands, Guam) lies mainly to the north of the equator. Polynesia (e.g., Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand) covers a vast area to the east.
Other islands in the Melanesia group include New Guinea, Vanuatu, The Solomons, New Caledonia, and many others. Melanesia literally means “islands of the black-skinned people,” and reflects the inhabitants’ origins in East Africa. They migrated to the islands via Indonesia some 35,000-50,000 years ago. They are also related to the Aboriginal Australians. This is in contrast to the Micronesians and Polynesians whose origins are in Southeast Asia, and are much more recent (less than 10,000 years ago).
The other major ethnic group in Fiji are the descendants of indentured servants who were brought here from India by the British Colonial government in the late 1800s and early 1900s. According to my Lonely Planet guidebook, indigenous Fijians make up 57% of the population and Indo-Fijians are 37%. Of the remainder, a fair number are of Chinese ancestry. Needless to say, we are very white here. Fortunately, I can say that we have only been treated with kindness and respect and never made to feel uncomfortable by our lack of skin pigmentation. Nevertheless, we are working on our tans.
(photo by Deborah)
(photo by Deborah)
Liti (who does our laundry) and her fellow Jehovah's Witness(photo by Deborah)
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