Fiji, officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands, is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, 1,500 Km east of Australia and 1,500 Km north of New Zealand. The name Fiji is the old Tongan word for the islands, which is in turn derived from the Fijian name Viti.

Fiji consists of 322 islands, of which 110 are inhabited, and 522 smaller islets spread over 187,000 square kilometres of ocean. The two most important islands are Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. Viti Levu hosts the capital city of Suva, and is home to nearly three quarters of the population. The islands are mountainous, with peaks up to 1,300 metres (4,250 ft), and covered with tropical forests.

Other important towns include Nadi (location of one of the two international airports), and Lautoka. The main towns on Vanua Levu are Labasa and Savusavu. Other islands and island groups include Taveuni and Kadavu (the third and fourth largest islands respectively), the Mamanuca Group (just outside Nadi) and Yasawa Group, which are popular tourist destinations, the Lomaiviti Group, outside of Suva, and the remote Lau Group. Rotuma, some 500 kilometres (310 mi) north of the archipelago, has a special administrative status in Fiji.

The first inhabitants of Fiji arrived as early as 2,000 years BC - long before contact with European explorers in the 17th century. The academic question of Pacific migration still lingers though it is generally accepted that the earliest settlers came out of south-east Asia.

The Fijians, like many other islanders, have a long history of seafaring which included building and sailing some of the earliest and largest catamarans in the form of the great Drua or double hulled canoes. Over 30 metres long and carrying up to 300 people these canoes astounded the white explorers with the speeds they could reach.

It is documented that Fiji was visited by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in an attempt to find the Great Southern Continent in 1643. It was not until the 19th century, however, that Europeans came to the islands to settle there permanently. The islands came under British control as a colony in 1874. It was granted independence in 1970.

The population of Fiji is mostly made up of native Fijians, a people of mixed Polynesian (partly Tongan) and Melanesian ancestry (54.3%), and Indo-Fijians (38.1%), descendants of Indian contract labourers brought to the islands by the British in the 19th century. About 1.2% are Rotuman — natives of Rotuma Island, whose culture has more in common with countries such as Tonga or Samoa than with the rest of Fiji. There are also small, but economically significant, groups of Europeans, Chinese and other minorities.

A multiracial, multi-cultural nation, Fiji is represented by all the major religions of the world. This is quickly obvious to the visitor who will see Christian churches, Mosques, Sikh and Hindu temples in towns and the countryside. More than half of Fiji’s population are Christians, the next largest group are the Hindus, followed by Muslims and Sikhs and a very small minority (0.5%) of other faiths.

Fiji, endowed with forest, mineral, and fish resources, is one of the more developed of the Pacific island economies, though still with a large subsistence sector. Fiji experienced a period of rapid growth in the 1960s and 70s but stagnated in the early 1980s. Economic liberalisation in the late 1980s created a boom in the garment industry and a steady growth rate.

Urbanization and expansion in the service sector have contributed to recent GDP growth. Sugar exports and a rapidly growing tourist industry — with 430,800 tourists in 2003 and increasing in the subsequent years — are the major sources of foreign exchange. Sugar processing makes up one-third of industrial activity.

Fiji has ten overseas missions. The diplomatic missions are located in Beijing, Brussels, Canberra, Kuala Lumpur, London, New York, Port Moresby, Tokyo, Washington, Wellington and New Delhi.

Most of the Heads of Mission are also cross accredited to a number of other countries. There are, in addition, 11 honorary consuls to represent Fiji’s interests in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth in Australia; Ottawa in Canada; Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, Seoul, Singapore and Los Angeles, Portland-Oregon, San Fransisco in the United States of America.