Indo-Fijian
| Total population | |
|---|---|
|
460,000 40% of the population of Fiji (2001) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Fiji |
313,798 (2007 census) |
 Australia |
48,141 (2006 census) |
 New Zealand |
37,746 (2006 figure) |
 United States |
30,890 (2000 figure) |
 Canada |
24,441 (2004 figure) |
 United Kingdom |
Unknown |
| Languages | |
|
Fiji Hindi (lingua franca), Bengali, Malayalam, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Odia, Marathi, Kashmiri, Kutchi, Telugu. |
|
| Religion | |
| Hindu (76.7%), Islam (15.9%), Sikh (0.9%), Christian (6.1%), Other (0.4%) | |
Indo-Fijians are Fiji citizens who are fully or partially of Indian descent, which includes descendants who trace their heritage from various parts of the Indian subcontinent. They number 313,798 (37.6%) (2007 census) out of a total of 827,900 people living in Fiji. They are mostly descended from indentured labourers, girmitiyas or girmit, from northern part of India brought to the islands by Fiji's British colonial rulers between 1879 and 1916 to work on Fiji's sugar cane plantations. Mahendra Chaudhry became Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister on 19 May 1999.
Indians had been employed for a long time on the European ships trading in India and the East Indies. Many of the early voyages to the Pacific either started or terminated in India, and many of these ships were wrecked in the uncharted waters of the South Pacific. The first recorded presence of an Indian in Fiji was by Peter Dillon, a sandalwood trader in Fiji, of a lascar (Indian seaman) who survived a ship wreck and lived amongst the natives of Fiji in 1813.
Before Fiji was given to Great Britain, some planters had tried to obtain Indian labour and had approached the British Consul in Levuka, Fiji but were met with a negative response. In 1870 a direct request by a planter to the Government of India was also turned down and in 1872, an official request by the Cakobau Government was informed that British rule in Fiji was a pre-condition for Indian emigration to Fiji. The early ancestors of Fiji Indians came from different regions and backgrounds from India and other neighbouring countries. However, most came from rural villages in northern and western India.
In January 1879, thirty-one Indians, who had originally been indentured labourers in Réunion, were brought from New Caledonia to Fiji under contract to work on a plantation in Taveuni. These labourers demonstrated knowledge of the terms of the indenture agreement and were aware of their rights and refused to do the heavy work assigned to them. Their contract was terminated by mutual agreement between the labourers and their employers. In 1881, thirty-eight more Indians arrived from New Caledonia and again most of them left but some stayed taking Indian wives or island women.
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Wikipedia