Sunny, unique and unspoiled, the Fiji Islands are one thousand miles of pristine white sand beaches, fabulous coral gardens and azure lagoons...

Fiji has a unique history in the Pacific and today it is an interesting blend of Melanesian, Polynesian, Micronesian, Indian, Chinese and European influences. For nearly 50 years, until the military coup of 1987, the indigenous people of Fiji represented an ethnic minority in their own land. Fiji was the trade centre for the South Pacific during the 19th century, and the British claimed it as a colony in 1874.

During the century or so that Fiji remained under British colonial rule, tens of thousands of indentured Indian labourers were imported to work on sugar plantations. Indigenous Fijians, however, managed to hold onto their traditional rites and practices - mekes (narrative dances), bure (house) construction, kava ceremonies, tapa-cloth making and pottery.