Where is Fiji Located

In Fiji, the new date begins; on the River 180, the International Date Line makes a specific eastern curve around the archipelago, so that the whole land retains the same period of the year. Fiji's territory water is designated in the instrument of assignment as "the entire area between latitudes 15 degree southern and 22 degree southern of the Eqator and between longitudes 177 degree western and 175 degree eastern of the Greenwich meridian".

The Fiji Isles corresponds with Tahiti, Townsville in Australia, Zimbabwe, Rio de Janeiro and North Chile. Fiji has about 300 archipelagos (depending on how many coral cliffs and small isles you are considering) of which about 100 are populated. Viti Levu, the biggest isle, with 70% of the total area of 10.388 km2, is the centre of the whole group.

It is home to Suva, the biggest town, the main harbour and the capitol; Nadi, the location of the world' s biggest airports; and Lautoka, the second biggest town and the second biggest entrance dock. The northeastern part of Viti Levu, Vanua Levu is the second biggest of the islands, with an area of 5538 square kilometres, slightly more than half the area of Viti Levu.

Though less populated than Viti Levu, it is also a centre of the people. Just like Viti Levu, it grows sucrose and has large coir orchards. Situated to the west of Vanua Levu, the city is divided by the Somosmo Strait. Connected to Kadavu, the third biggest isle of the islands (with an area of 409 km2), Kaveuni is located just outside Viti Levu.

The rest of Fiji's islets are small and are subdivided into two major groups, namely Losiviti and Lau. It is translated as'middle' or Fiji centre, which exactly indicates where this group of archipelagos is on the chart. There are seven major islets, smaller ones off the coast.

The Ovalau owes its importance to the city of Levuka, the oldest in Fiji and the former city. The Gau is the biggest, highest and most southerly of the group; Koro is a tall, wedge-shaped isle, which rises suddenly from the depths of the group. From the old city of Levuka, all of them can be seen on a clear sunny days.

Lau, or East Fiji, the area most strongly affected by the Tongan civilization, comprises a large number of calcareous islets and others with a vulcanic or compound texture, all located between common overhangs. All of Lau is a subdistrict for administration purposes, but it is subdivided into four geographical groups: Nord-Lau, Zentral-Lau and Süd-Lau (which together make up a 432 km long island range in a north-south direction) and the Moala group, which lies just south of Lomaiviti.

North Lau comprises the exploration islets ( (one large and eight small islets, all surrounded by a barriere reef) and about 14 others, of which Naitauba, Kanacea, Mago and Cicia are the most important. The Central Lau comprises five islets located on Lakeba, the inherited home of the chieftains of Lau and the home of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.

South Lau consists of 16 islets and a few clustered, most of which are grouped within 100 km of Lakeba. In addition, Vatoa and Ono are located in the weakened "tail" of the island, insulated from their closest neighbors and from each other by large parts of the open ocean. South Lau's most remote island is nearer to Tonga than to Fiji.

Moala Group consists of three islets with a total area of 119 square kilometres and is located about half way between Kadavu and South Lau. It is the mainland; Totoya is the edge of an extinguished lava whose erupted and submerged craters form a magnificent inland waterway; and Matuku is considered one of Fiji's gardening towns.

Yasawa Group, northwest of Viti Levu, comprises six main islets ( "Yasawa"), four of which are large, and many small ones with a surface area of 135 sqkm. Like a pearl necklace, these eighty kilometres of flat waters stretch behind the Great Reef.

A Polynesian runaway 386 km northwest of the Fiji group, in 1881 it was transferred to Great Britain as part of the Fiji people. Though a political part of Fiji, geographic and ethnological it has nothing to do with the isles. The majority of Rotumans, who are related to the Samoans, are living on Viti Levu and not on their "home island".

Most of the tourists are used to the Mamanuca group, also an archetypical place in the South Pacific, just off Nadi and Lautoka on Viti Levu. Many of the world' s most sought-after destinations include Beachcomber, Plantation Island, Castaway and Mana. Several of the other smaller but well-known islets are Beqa, home of firefighters; Vatulele, known for its holy shrimp; and Rabi, once populated by Fijians but now the adopted home of Banabans or Ocean Islanders (Micronesians) who settled there after the Second World War (see the Other Ethnic Groups section later in this chapter).

The Beqa and Vatulele are off the southwest of Viti Levu, while Rabi is off the Taveuni water. In political terms, the area is subdivided into four divisions: the northern division consisting of Vanua Levu and the neighboring Taveuni, Rabi and Qamea Isles; the westerly division consisting of the westerly half of the major Viti Levu Isles which includes the Yasawa group in the northwest and Vatulele group in the southwest; the central division consisting of the easterly half of Viti Levu; and the easterly division consisting of the Lau, Kadavu and Lomaiviti groups.

Yachtsmen generally refer to "high" and "low" islets, but to be geographically accurate, there are three kinds of them. Most of them are high volcanically originated and low island with corals and limestones. Viti Levu is an example of volcanoes, with sharp mountains, old volcanos and cliffs and shores.

Vivid remnants of the volcano's activity are warm sources that are always at low altitudes. In Fiji, the most famous are the sources in Nakama, in the old Savusavu orchard city on Vanua Levu. Although small and low, the Robinson Crusoesque islets have their very own Robinson crusoe style.

They are usually only a few meters above the surface, they are as shallow as a dinner plate and have nice sandy whitewashed sands. One classical example is the beachcomber island on Lautoka. Calcareous islets may seem low and shallow, but they have sheer, sharply defined sides that indicate that they are enormous rocks that have been raised from the ocean.

As the lime stone is slightly eroded, the rocks can be jagged with sharpened crenellations or through gorges or small gorges. In the interior, the deepenings give the archipelago a basin-like look. Vanua Balavu in the Lau Group is a good example of a characteristic lime isle. Out of the hundred Fiji archipelago only a few can be described as an atoll.

Probably the best-known example of an avatar in Fiji is Wailagilala, on the east side of the Nanuku Passage, the major navigation route through the isles.