HISTORY OF THE CHIEFS IN FIJI The House of Chiefs in Fiji consists of the Fijian nobility, composed of about seventy chiefs of .. History · Heads of State · Cakobau period · Colonial period · Modern history · crisis · coups · Military–church relations · coup. These years were marked by bloody political struggles for power by rival Fijian leaders. Hocart makes an argument to the effect that 'the word turanga [sic] On October 10, , after a meeting of the most powerful chiefs, Fiji was unilaterally ceded to the United Kingdom. However the title has been recognised since that time and the British Monarch has filled a similar role since; even since Fiji became a republic in , the former Great Council of Chiefs continued to recognise Elizabeth II as its most senior chief. Kevaka sa yali tiko na turaga sa na rawa ni 'takeover' ko Narai. If so, sautu may be rendered literally as 'established sau', which itself suggests that 'peace and plenty' is inevitably the condition of a country where a high chief takes precedence over all and everyone fulfils his or her material obligations to others; here the idea is not that a despot commands and a cowed people do his will, but rather that the willing attendance of the people on one who has been chosen from the appropriate chiefly clan by leaders of the appropriate landspeople clan and installed as paramount, in and of itself produces a genuine prosperity for all. The 'General History of the Country of Sawaieke' Na i tukutuku raraba ni vanua ko Sawaieke , recorded by Lands Commission officials in , covers a time-span that begins some years or so earlier and ends at the period that Fiji was ceded to Britain in An anomaly exists in the west of the country, where the provinces of Ba and Ra are split between the confederacies of Kubuna and Burebasaga. The success of parliamentary democracy from the first general election in , the inevitability of the coups of , and the restoration of democracy in the general election of on the basis of a revised constitution can be explained by this same logic. Annexes Appendix 6. Chiefship in the Old Days 3I begin by considering how men born into a chiefly clan come to be accorded the status of paramount. Chiefs Turaga , Raitena [designated owners — itaukei - of the country], Priests, Heralds, Warriors, then the sea people and the landspeople - liga ni magiti, hand of the feast His views were made plain as a group of young men and women and myself were drinking yaqona - i. In a lifetime in which all one's relationships prescribe either hierarchy or competitive equality, only marriage makes it clear that each form contains the possibility of the other. If not, each one would just go its own way. One can argue that, so far as ethnic Fijians are concerned, Dr Timoci Bavadra would not, despite his election by a majority of the electorate and however excellent his personal qualities, be allowed to continue as Prime Minister of Fiji. It is that Fijian chiefship has to be elective in the sense of being seen to be conferred by the people on the chief, for only thus can it bring about the condition of 'peace and plenty' expressed in the term sautu, of which the base sau may be a cognate for sau meaning 'a high chief', and also 'the commandment or prohibition of such a chief' see CapeII The individual most commonly credited with the "discovery" of Fiji was Captain William Bligh, who sailed through Fiji in and following the mutiny on the H. By , , of Fiji's inhabitants were Indian. RSL: Vakatau sara ga vei ira na turaga ni Nukuloa. E duo dosa, amuduo [cobo] muduo [cobo] amuduo [cobo] muduo [cobo], Vinaka saka. At the same time, it is this relation that allows the junior relative, as vasu, to vasuta, or, as I was told, to take without asking taura ga, sega ni kerea the property of men of his mother's clan. Therefore the leaders of the various clans met together and made over their villages to him whom they had installed as their chief Democracy works well in Fiji when it is seen to be under the aegis of Fijian chiefs; but, given that hierarchy itself has never been allowed to become an encompassing value, neither can the ethic of equality be allowed to predominate-as it would if men of high chiefly status were no longer seen to take precedence in government. It is interesting to note, then, how the second speaker's use of turaga, and his not using sautu, implies a broader reference. They divide Rewa and all subject villages and carpenters between them, there is not a village in which they have not both got authority. The true spelling should be mata-ni-tui It is effective, it is true cf. The late Takalaigau went around all the villages and strove to ensure that when someone was to be installed as paramount Tui , this country should be of one voice. There was his herald, Tunimata..