DescriptionThe Republic of Fiji is a group of islands in the South Pacific region. Indigenous culture is derived from mixed Melanesian and Polynesian elements. Europeans started to arrive in the 17th century. In the 19th century combined British and American forces defeated a local insurgent, Cakobau, Cakokau was made a puppet king. Europeans introduced chattel slavery and established cotton plantations, later raiding native Fijian settlements for slaves to be sent elsewhere. A collapse in the cotton market ruined the economy, and the British government stepped in, creating a colony in 1874. During the colonial period a lot of laborers were imported from India. Many stayed when their contracts ended. There was tension between Indians and native Fijians, which carried over into the current independence period.Coin collectors tend to be geographically oriented. If they are not patriotically collecting the coins of only their own country, or sentimentally some other country, then perhaps they will collect a region. The Pacific islands that start with Borneo and progress eastward to Hawaii and Easter Island are culturally very varied and spread across an expanse of water three times the size of Asia. Size of these islands ranges from Australia to Nauru. Population of Indonesia 1/4 billion, Tonga 100,000. Coins were made in Indonesia 1000 years ago if not earlier.
