Vanua Levu
Encyclopedia
Vanua Levu formerly known as Sandalwood Island, is the second largest island
of Fiji
. Located 64 kilometres to the north of the larger Viti Levu
, the island has an area of 5,587.1 km² and a population of some 130,000.
s believe that Vanua Levu is an amalgamation of several islands that melded through successive stages of uplift. The main part of the island is roughly shaped like a tall, thin triangle 30 to 50 kilometers in width and 180 kilometres in length, rotated so that the point is to the northeast. This point, the northernmost in the Fiji chain, is Udu Point. From the southeastern side of this triangle, a long peninsula
stretches out into the Koro Sea
. The island is surrounded by coral reefs, and is rough and hilly.
The island is divided horizontally by a rugged mountain range, which forms much of the boundary between the Provinces
of Cakaudrove
and Macuata
. The highest peaks are Mount Batini, also known as Nasorolevu, with an altitude of 1111 meters, and, 16 kilometers further north-east, Dikeva, also known as Mount Thurston, with an altitude of 1030 meters. Vanua Levu's main mountain ranges lie near the windward, southern coasts, making them much wetter. Northern Vanua Levu, by contrast, is dry eight months of the year, enabling sugar cane, the island's major crop
, to thrive there. Vanua Levu has a number of rivers, including the Labasa
, the Wailevu, and the Qawa
. These three form a delta
on which the town of Labasa
stands. None of the island's rivers are navigable by large vessels.
, located at the foot of the peninsula. Labasa, with a population of almost 25,000 at the 1996 census
, has a large Indian community, and is a major centre of Fiji's sugar industry. Savusavu is smaller, with a population of just under 5000, but is a popular centre for tourists owing to its diving
and yacht
ing facilities. The main industry on the island is sugar cane production, especially in the north. Copra is also an important crop. Tourism is now becoming a major industry on Vanua Levu also.
(in the west), Macuata (in the north-east), and Cakaudrove (in the south-east). These three provinces also comprise the Northern Division
of Fiji. Together with the remote Lau Islands
, Vanua Levu and its outliers form the Tovata Confederacy
, one of three traditional alliances of Fiji's chiefs. The Paramount Chief, who is based on the nearby island of Taveuni
, holds the title of Tui Cakau
. Only two population centres - Labasa and Savusavu - have been incorporated as Town
s. Each is governed by a Mayor
and a Town Council
, whose members are elected for a three-year term and choose the Mayor from among themselves.
navigator Abel Tasman
was the first known European
to sight Vanua Levu, in 1643. He was followed by Captain
William Bligh
in 1789, en route to Timor
while escaping from the Mutiny on the Bounty
, in which his crew had forced him and those loyal to him off deck and cast them adrift in a lifeboat. Duff
skipper James Wilson
subsequently explored the area in 1797.
Traders began exploiting sandalwood
thickets in the Bua Bay area around 1805, which had been discovered by shipwrecked sailors of the schooner Argo
. By 1815, however, the supply had been depleted and apart from the occasional visit from whalers
and bêche-de-mer
traders, the island received little further attention until 1840, when a young sailor known as Jackson deserted his crew at Somosomo
on the nearby island of Taveuni, was adopted by a local Chief
, and explored much of eastern and northern Vanua Levu.
Settlers from Australia
and New Zealand
established coconut
plantations in the Savusavu area in the 1860s. Intermarriage with Fijian people
produced a mixed-race elite, which also prospered from the sale of copra
, of which Savusavu was a major centre, until the Great Depression
of the 1930s led to a collapse in the price of copra. In the same period, India
ns founded the town of Labasa, now a major sugar
-producing centre.
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
of Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
. Located 64 kilometres to the north of the larger Viti Levu
Viti Levu
Viti Levu is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji, the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population.- Geography and economy :...
, the island has an area of 5,587.1 km² and a population of some 130,000.
Geography
GeologistGeologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
s believe that Vanua Levu is an amalgamation of several islands that melded through successive stages of uplift. The main part of the island is roughly shaped like a tall, thin triangle 30 to 50 kilometers in width and 180 kilometres in length, rotated so that the point is to the northeast. This point, the northernmost in the Fiji chain, is Udu Point. From the southeastern side of this triangle, a long peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
stretches out into the Koro Sea
Koro Sea
The Koro Sea or Sea of Koro is a sea in the Pacific Ocean between Viti Levu island, Fiji to the west and the Lau Islands to the east, surrounded by the islands of the Fijian archipelago.It is named after Koro Island.- References :...
. The island is surrounded by coral reefs, and is rough and hilly.
The island is divided horizontally by a rugged mountain range, which forms much of the boundary between the Provinces
Local government of Fiji
Fiji is divided administratively into four divisions, which are further subdivided into fourteen provinces; the self-governing island of Rotuma and its dependencies lie outside any of the four divisions. Each division is headed by a Commissioner, appointed by the Fijian government...
of Cakaudrove
Cakaudrove
Cakaudrove is one of fourteen provinces of Fiji, and one of three based principally on the northern island of Vanua Levu, occupying the south-eastern third of the island and including the nearby islands of Taveuni, Rabi, Kioa, and numerous other islands in the Vanua Levu Group...
and Macuata
Macuata
Macuata is one of Fiji's fourteen Provinces, and one of three based principally on the northern island of Vanua Levu, occupying the north-eastern 40 percent of the island. It has a land area of 2004 square kilometers....
. The highest peaks are Mount Batini, also known as Nasorolevu, with an altitude of 1111 meters, and, 16 kilometers further north-east, Dikeva, also known as Mount Thurston, with an altitude of 1030 meters. Vanua Levu's main mountain ranges lie near the windward, southern coasts, making them much wetter. Northern Vanua Levu, by contrast, is dry eight months of the year, enabling sugar cane, the island's major crop
Crop (agriculture)
A crop is a non-animal species or variety that is grown to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, fuel or for any other economic purpose. Major world crops include maize , wheat, rice, soybeans, hay, potatoes and cotton. While the term "crop" most commonly refers to plants, it can also include...
, to thrive there. Vanua Levu has a number of rivers, including the Labasa
Labasa River
-References:*...
, the Wailevu, and the Qawa
Qawa River
-References:*...
. These three form a delta
River delta
A delta is a landform that is formed at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...
on which the town of Labasa
Labasa
Labasa is a town in Fiji with a population of 27,949 at the most recent census held in 2007.Labasa is located in Macuata Province, in the north-eastern part of the island of Vanua Levu, and is the largest town on the island. The town itself is located on a delta formed by three rivers - the...
stands. None of the island's rivers are navigable by large vessels.
Demographics and economic activities
The island's main population centres are the towns of Labasa, in the north, and SavusavuSavusavu
Savusavu is a town in the Fijian Province of Cakaudrove. The town is located on the south coast of Vanua Levu Island and had a population of 3,372 in the 2007 census.Savusavu is known as "the hidden paradise of Fiji."- Geography :...
, located at the foot of the peninsula. Labasa, with a population of almost 25,000 at the 1996 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, has a large Indian community, and is a major centre of Fiji's sugar industry. Savusavu is smaller, with a population of just under 5000, but is a popular centre for tourists owing to its diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
and yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
ing facilities. The main industry on the island is sugar cane production, especially in the north. Copra is also an important crop. Tourism is now becoming a major industry on Vanua Levu also.
Politics
For administrative purposes, Vanua Levu is divided into three Provinces: BuaBua
Bua or BUA may refer to:*Bua, Luzon, Philippines*Bua Province, Fiji*Bua *ISO 639:bua, ISO code for the Buriat language*Bua, Varberg Municipality, locality in Varberg Municipality, Sweden...
(in the west), Macuata (in the north-east), and Cakaudrove (in the south-east). These three provinces also comprise the Northern Division
Northern Division, Fiji
The Northern Division is one of four Divisions into which Fiji's fourteen Provinces are grouped for local government purposes. The administrative centre of the Division, where main governmental departments are located, is Labasa....
of Fiji. Together with the remote Lau Islands
Lau Islands
The Lau Islands of Fiji are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean, just east of the Koro Sea. Of this chain of about one hundred islands and islets, about thirty are inhabited...
, Vanua Levu and its outliers form the Tovata Confederacy
Tovata Confederacy
Tovata is one of three confederacies comprising the Fijian House of Chiefs, to which all of Fiji's chiefs belong.-Details of Tovata:It is located in the north east of the country, covering the provinces of Bua, Macuata and Cakaudrove on the northern island Vanua Levu, as well as the Lau Islands.The...
, one of three traditional alliances of Fiji's chiefs. The Paramount Chief, who is based on the nearby island of Taveuni
Taveuni
Taveuni is the third-largest island in Fiji, after Vanua Levu and Viti Levu, with a total land area of 435 square kilometers . The cigar-shaped island, a massive shield volcano which rises from the floor of the Pacific Ocean, is situated 6.5 kilometers to the east of Vanua Levu, across the...
, holds the title of Tui Cakau
Tui Cakau
The Tui Cakau is the Paramount Chief of Cakaudrove Province in Fiji. In Modern Fiji this chiefly title is regarded as the most senior in the Tovata Confederacy, and the third most senior in the country.-Recent history :...
. Only two population centres - Labasa and Savusavu - have been incorporated as Town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
s. Each is governed by a Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
and a Town Council
Town council
A town council is a democratically elected form of government for small municipalities or civil parishes. A council may serve as both the representative and executive branch....
, whose members are elected for a three-year term and choose the Mayor from among themselves.
History
The DutchNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
navigator Abel Tasman
Abel Tasman
Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the VOC . His was the first known European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand and to sight the Fiji islands...
was the first known European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
to sight Vanua Levu, in 1643. He was followed by Captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...
William Bligh
William Bligh
Vice Admiral William Bligh FRS RN was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. A notorious mutiny occurred during his command of HMAV Bounty in 1789; Bligh and his loyal men made a remarkable voyage to Timor, after being set adrift in the Bounty's launch by the mutineers...
in 1789, en route to Timor
Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...
while escaping from the Mutiny on the Bounty
Mutiny on the Bounty
The mutiny on the Bounty was a mutiny that occurred aboard the British Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty on 28 April 1789, and has been commemorated by several books, films, and popular songs, many of which take considerable liberties with the facts. The mutiny was led by Fletcher Christian against the...
, in which his crew had forced him and those loyal to him off deck and cast them adrift in a lifeboat. Duff
Duff Islands
The Duff Islands are a small island group lying to the northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. They are also sometimes known as the Wilson Islands....
skipper James Wilson
James Wilson (Captain)
Captain James Wilson , brought the first British missionaries to Tahiti on ship Duff in 1797.Wilson was a deeply religious man. The missionaries he brought were from the London Missionary Society...
subsequently explored the area in 1797.
Traders began exploiting sandalwood
Sandalwood
Sandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...
thickets in the Bua Bay area around 1805, which had been discovered by shipwrecked sailors of the schooner Argo
Argo (1800)
The Argo was an American schooner that was wrecked in Fiji during January 1800.Owned by Robert Berry it was on its way from China to Sydney, when sometime during January 1800 it was wrecked on Argo Reef, south-east of Fiji. Its crew reached Tongatapu where all but two were killed by natives...
. By 1815, however, the supply had been depleted and apart from the occasional visit from whalers
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
and bêche-de-mer
Bêche-de-mer
Bêche-de-mer can refer to:* Bislama; Vanuatu Pidgin English* Sea cucumber...
traders, the island received little further attention until 1840, when a young sailor known as Jackson deserted his crew at Somosomo
Somosomo
Somosomo is a chiefly village in Taveuni, which is the island where the international date line crosses on land in Fiji. This island is part of the Cakaudrove Province and the holders of the title of Tui Cakau, the Paramount Chief of the Tovata Confederacy, are historically and traditionally...
on the nearby island of Taveuni, was adopted by a local Chief
Ratu
Ratu is a title used by Fijians of chiefly rank. An equivalent title, Adi is used by females of chiefly rank.-Etymology:Ra is a prefix in many titles and Tu is simply "chief"...
, and explored much of eastern and northern Vanua Levu.
Settlers from Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
established coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
plantations in the Savusavu area in the 1860s. Intermarriage with Fijian people
Fijian people
Fijian people are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in an area informally called Melanesia. The Fijian people are believed to have arrived in Fiji from western Melanesia approximately 3,500 years ago, though the exact origins of the Fijian people are unknown...
produced a mixed-race elite, which also prospered from the sale of copra
Copra
Copra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut. Coconut oil extracted from it has made copra an important agricultural commodity for many coconut-producing countries. It also yields coconut cake which is mainly used as feed for livestock.-Production:...
, of which Savusavu was a major centre, until the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
of the 1930s led to a collapse in the price of copra. In the same period, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
ns founded the town of Labasa, now a major sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
-producing centre.