- Fiji during the time of Cakobau
The first three quarters of the Nineteenth Century were marked by tribal warfare, incursions from neighbouring
Tonga , and the increasing encroachment of foreign powers. This period also saw the rise of a warlord by the name ofSeru Epenisa Cakobau , who forged the first nation-state covering all of modern Fiji (except the island ofRotuma ) in1871 , before ceding it to theUnited Kingdom in1874 .Tribal warfare and Tongan intrusions
In the early
1820s ,Levuka was established as the first modern town in Fiji, on the island ofOvalau . The intervention of European traders and missionaries, of whom the first arrived fromTahiti in1830 , led to increasingly serious wars among the native Fijian confederacies. Supplied with weapons by Swedishmercenary Charlie Savage,Ratu Tanoa Visawaqa , the Vunivalu (a chiefly title meaning "Warlord," often translated also as "Paramount Chief") of Bau Island, defeated the much largerBurebasaga Confederacy and succeeded in subduing much of western Fiji. His successor,Seru Epenisa Cakobau , fought to consolidate Bauan domination throughout the1850s and1860s , and started calling himself the "Tui Viti ," or King of Fiji. He faced opposition, however, from local chiefs who saw him at best as first among equals, and also from theTonga nPrince Enele Ma'afu , who had established himself on the Island ofLakeba in the Lau archipelago in1848 . A Christian, Ma'afu brought Wesleyan missionaries from Tonga, and the Methodist Church gained its first foothold in Fiji. Most chiefs in the west regarded the Wesleyan missionaries, aligned as they were seen to be with Ma'afu, as a threat to their power, refused conversion, and resisted missionary attempts to set up outposts in their villages.Trouble with the United States
Cakobau's claimed position was also undermined by international developments. The
United States threatened intervention following a number of incidents involving theirconsul ,John Brown Williams . His trading store had been looted by Fijian natives following an accidental fire, caused by stray cannon fire during a Fourth of July celebration in1849 . When his Nukulau Island house was subjected to an arson attack in1855 , the commander of the United States naval frigate "USS John Adams" demanded compensation amounting to US$5000 for Williams from Cakobau, as the "Tui Viti." This initial claim was supplemented by further claims totalling US$38,531. Cakobau was faced with a dilemma. To disclaim responsibility for the debt, he would have to deny his self-proclaimed and still far-from-universally accepted sovereignty. To admit responsibility, he would have to undertake to pay the debt, or else face punishment from the United States Navy. He chose the latter course, hoping that the United States was only bluffing.Reality began to catch up with Cakobau in
1858 , when the USS "Vandalia" sailed into Levuka. Unable to pay his debt, and faced with increasing encroachments onto Viti Levu's south coast from Ma'afu, Cakobau approached the British consul with an offer to cede the islands to the United Kingdom, if only they would assume responsibility for his debt in return for 5,000 square kilometres of land. His insistence, however, on being allowed to retain his questionable title of "Tui Viti" proved unacceptable to the British government, which turned his offer down after four years of consideration in1862 . This followed a report fromColonel W.J. Smythe , who had come to the conclusion, after interviewing every Paramount Chief in Fiji, that Cakobau's title was self-assumed and by no means universally accepted by his fellow chiefs, and that he did not have the authority to cede the islands.The Kingdom of Fiji
Cakobau next turned to the
Australia n-basedPolynesia Company . The rising price ofcotton in the wake of theAmerican Civil War (1861 -1865 ) had interested the Polynesia Company in acquiring land in Fiji for planting. In return for 5,000 km², the company agreed to pay Cakobau's debt. Australian settlers landed on 575 km² of land in Viti Levu, near what was then a Fijian village calledSuva , in1868 .The Polynesia Company settlers were joined by a further several thousand planters throughout the 1860s and
1870s . Often fraudulently, they obtained Fijian land, often in exchange for weapons or alcohol. Competing land claims followed, with no unified government to settle the disputes. Frustrations peaked following the collapse of cotton prices and the destruction of the crop by hurricanes in1870 . In June1871 ,John Bates Thurston , the British honorary consul, forged a "marriage of convenience" between Cakobau and the settlers, and persuaded the Fijian chiefs to accept aconstitutional monarchy with Cakobau as king, but with real power in the hands of a cabinet and Legislature dominated by settlers. The Legislative Assembly met for the first time in Levuka in November1871 .Cession to the United Kingdom
The new arrangements proved no more workable than the old. Within months, government overspending had led to the accumulation of another unmanageable debt. In
1872 , following continuing economic and social unrest, Thurston approached the British government, at Cakobau's request, with another offer to cede the islands. The British were much more sympathetic to annexing Fiji this time than they had been almost two decades earlier. The murder of Bishop Paterson of theMelanesian Mission atNukapu in theReef Islands had provoked public outrage, which was compounded by the massacre by crew members of more than 150 Fijians on board the brig "Carl." Two British commissioners were sent to Fiji to investigate the possibility of an annexation. The question was complicated by manoeuverings for power between Cakobau and his old rival, Ma'afu, with both men vacillating for many months. On21 March 1874 , Cakobau made a final offer, which the British accepted. On23 September , Sir Hercules Robinson, soon to be appointed the British Governor, arrived on HMS "Dido" and received Cakobau with a royal 21-gun salute. After some vacillation, Cakobau agreed to renounce his "Tui Viti" title. The formal cession took place on10 October 1874 , when Cakobau, Ma'afu, and a group of some senior Chiefs of Fiji signed two copies of the Deed of Cession. Ninety-six years of British rule followed.
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