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! === Early interaction with Europeans === [[File:Urville-Viti-Lebouka2.jpg|thumb|left|Levuka, 1842]] [[Netherlands|Dutch]] explorer [[Abel Tasman]] was the first known European visitor to Fiji, sighting the northern island of Vanua Levu and the North Taveuni archipelago in 1643 while looking for the Great Southern Continent.<ref>Wallis, H. Margaret (n.d.). Abel Tasman. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abel-Tasman</ref> [[James Cook]], the British navigator, visited one of the southern Lau islands in 1774. It was not until 1789, however, that the islands were charted and plotted, when [[William Bligh]], the castaway captain of {{HMS|Bounty}}, passed [[Ovalau (Fiji)|Ovalau]] and sailed between the main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu en route to [[Jakarta|Batavia]], in what is now Indonesia. [[Bligh Water]], the strait between the two main islands, is named after him and for a time, the Fiji Islands were known as the ''Bligh Islands''. [[File:FIJI CLUB DANCE.png|thumb|The first Europeans to land and live among the Fijians were shipwrecked sailors like [[Charles Savage (beachcomber)|Charles Savage]].]] The first Europeans to maintain substantial contact with the Fijians were [[sandalwood]] merchants, whalers and [[sea cucumber|"beche-de-mer"]] (sea cucumber) traders. The first [[whaling]] vessel known to have visited was the ''Ann and Hope'' in 1799, and she was followed by many others in the 19th century.<ref>Robert Langdon (ed.) Where the whalers went; an index to the Pacific ports and islands visited by American whalers (and some other ships) in the 19th century, Canberra, Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, 1984, p.26. {{ISBN|0-86784-471-X}}</ref> These ships came for drinking water, food and firewood and, later, for men to help man their ships. Some of the Europeans who came to Fiji in this period were accepted by the locals and were allowed to stay as residents. By the 1820s, [[Levuka]] was established as the first European-style town in Fiji, on the island of Ovalau. The market for "beche-de-mer" in China was lucrative, and British and American merchants set up processing stations on various islands. Local Fijians were utilised to collect, prepare and pack the product which would then be shipped to Asia. A good cargo would result in a half-yearly profit of around $25,000 for the dealer.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilkes|first1=Charles|title=Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition. Vol. 3|publisher=C. Sherman|date=1849|location=Philadelphia|page=[https://archive.org/details/narrativeunited08wilkgoog/page/n277 220]|url=https://archive.org/details/narrativeunited08wilkgoog}}</ref> The Fijian workers were often given firearms and ammunition as an exchange for their labour, and by the end of the 1820s most of the Fijian chiefs had muskets and many were skilled at using them. Some Fijian chiefs soon felt confident enough with their new weapons to forcibly obtain more destructive weaponry from the Europeans. In 1834, men from Viwa and Bau were able to take control of the French ship ''L'amiable Josephine'' and use its cannon against their enemies on the [[Rewa River]], although they later ran it aground.<ref>[[#Gravelle|Gravelle]], pp. 47–50</ref> Christian missionaries like David Cargill also arrived in the 1830s from recently converted regions such as Tonga and [[Tahiti]], and by 1840 the European settlement at Levuka had grown to about 40 houses with former whaler [[David Whippey]] being a notable resident. The religious conversion of the Fijians was a gradual process which was observed first-hand by Captain [[Charles Wilkes]] of the United States Exploring Expedition. Wilkes wrote that "all the chiefs seemed to look upon Christianity as a change in which they had much to lose and little to gain".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilkes|first1=Charles|title=Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition Vol. 3|publisher=C. Sherman|date=1849|page=[https://archive.org/details/narrativeunited08wilkgoog/page/n206 155]|url=https://archive.org/details/narrativeunited08wilkgoog|access-date=16 April 2018}}</ref> Christianised Fijians, in addition to forsaking their spiritual beliefs, were pressured into cutting their hair short, adopting the [[Sulu (skirt)|sulu]] form of dress from Tonga and fundamentally changing their marriage and funeral traditions. This process of enforced cultural change was called ''lotu''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brewster|first1=Adolph|title=Hill Tribes of Fiji|date=1922|publisher=Seeley|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/hilltribesoffiji00brew/page/25 25]|url=https://archive.org/details/hilltribesoffiji00brew}}</ref> Intensification of conflict between the cultures increased, and Wilkes was involved in organising a large punitive expedition against the people of [[Malolo]]. He ordered an attack with rockets which acted as makeshift incendiary devices. The village, with the occupants trapped inside, quickly became an inferno with Wilkes noting that the "shouts of men were intermingled with the cries and shrieks of the women and children" as they burnt to death. Wilkes demanded the survivors should "sue for mercy" and if not "they must expect to be exterminated". Around 57 to 87 Maloloan people were killed in this encounter.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilkes|first1=Charles|title=Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition Vol 3|publisher=C. Sherman|date=1849|page=[https://archive.org/details/narrativeunited08wilkgoog/page/n347 278]|url=https://archive.org/details/narrativeunited08wilkgoog|access-date=16 April 2018}}</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. 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