Fiji Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Ethnic groups === [[File:Fijian women ceremonial.jpg|thumb|[[Fijians|Native Fijian]] women, 1935]] The population of Fiji is mostly made up of [[Fijians|native Fijians]] (54.3%), who are [[Melanesians]], although many also have [[Polynesians|Polynesian]] ancestry; and [[Indo-Fijians]] (38.1%), descendants of [[Indian indenture system|Indian contract labourers brought to the islands]] by the British colonial powers in the 19th century. The percentage of the population of Indo-Fijian descent has declined significantly over the last two decades through migration for various reasons.<ref>[http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/display.cfm?ID=110 Fiji Islands: From Immigration to Emigration] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304101928/http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/display.cfm?ID=110 |date=4 March 2010 }}. Migration Information Source.</ref> Indo-Fijians suffered reprisals for a period after the coup of 2000.<ref>"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/830926.stm Future bleak for Fiji's Indians] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930074344/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/830926.stm |date=30 September 2009 }}". BBC News. July 2000.</ref><ref>"[http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25339291-28737,00.html Dealing with the dictator]". ''The Australian'' (Sydney). 16 April 2009. {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Relationships between ethnic Fijians and Indo-Fijians in the political arena have often been strained, and the tension between the two communities has dominated politics in the islands for the past generation. The level of political tension varies among different regions of the country.<ref>{{cite web|author=Minority Rights Group International |title=Fiji Islands Overview |url=http://www.minorityrights.org/4371/fiji-islands/fiji-islands-overview.html |access-date=3 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090729195456/http://www.minorityrights.org/4371/fiji-islands/fiji-islands-overview.html |archive-date=29 July 2009 }}</ref> About 1.2% of the population is [[Rotumans|Rotuman]] β natives of Rotuma Island, whose culture has more in common with countries such as Tonga or Samoa than with the rest of Fiji. There are also small but economically significant groups of Europeans, Chinese, and other Pacific island minorities. The membership of other ethnic groups is about 4.5%.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fiji |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/fiji/ |website=World Fact Book |access-date=10 February 2020}}</ref> 3,000 people or 0.3% of the people living in Fiji are from Australia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fiji.embassy.gov.au/suva/relations.html|title=Australia-Fiji relationship|website=Australian High Commission, Fiji}}</ref> The concept of family and community is of great importance to Fijian culture. Within the indigenous communities many members of the extended family will adopt particular titles and roles of direct guardians. Kinship is determined through a child's lineage to a particular spiritual leader, so that a clan is based on traditional customary ties as opposed to actual biological links. These clans, based on the spiritual leader, are known as a matangali. Within the matangali are a number of smaller collectives, known as the mbito. The descent is patrilineal, and all the status is derived from the father's side.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304495447|title=Child Sexual Abuse in Fiji: Authority, Risk Factors and Responses}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page