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! === Cotton, confederacies and the Kai Colo === [[File:Tui Namosi, Kai Colo.jpg|thumb|left|Kai Colo warrior]] The rising price of cotton in the wake of the [[American Civil War]] (1861β1865) caused an influx of hundreds of settlers to Fiji in the 1860s from Australia and the United States in order to obtain land and grow cotton. Since there was still a lack of functioning government in Fiji, these planters were often able to get the land in violent or fraudulent ways such as exchanging weapons or alcohol with Fijians who may or may not have been the true owners. Although this made for cheap land acquisition, competing land claims between the planters became problematic with no unified government to resolve the disputes. In 1865, the settlers proposed a confederacy of the seven main native kingdoms in Fiji to establish some sort of government. This was initially successful, and Cakobau was elected as the first president of the confederacy.<ref>[[#Gravelle|Gravelle]], p. 102</ref> [[File:Flag of the Confederacy of Independent Kingdoms of Fiji.svg|thumb|Flag of the Confederacy of Independent Kingdoms of Fiji, 1865β1867]] With the demand for land high, the white planters started to push into the hilly interior of Viti Levu. This put them into direct confrontation with the Kai Colo, which was a general term to describe the various Fijian clans resident to these inland districts. The Kai Colo were still living a mostly traditional lifestyle, they were not Christianised, and they were not under the rule of Cakobau or the confederacy. In 1867, a travelling missionary named [[Thomas Baker (missionary)|Thomas Baker]] was killed by Kai Colo in the mountains at the headwaters of the [[Sigatoka River]]. The acting British consul, [[John Bates Thurston]], demanded that Cakobau lead a force of Fijians from coastal areas to suppress the Kai Colo. Cakobau eventually led a campaign into the mountains but suffered a humiliating loss with 61 of his fighters being killed.<ref>[[#Gravelle|Gravelle]], pp. 102β107</ref> Settlers also came into conflict with the local eastern Kai Colo people called the Wainimala. Thurston called in the [[Australia Station]] section of the [[Royal Navy]] for assistance. The Navy duly sent Commander [[Rowley Lambert]] and {{HMS|Challenger|1858|6}} to conduct a punitive mission against the Wainimala. An armed force of 87 men shelled and burnt the village of Deoka, and a skirmish ensued which resulted in the deaths of over 40 Wainimala.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166803071 |title=FIJI. |work=[[The Sydney Mail|Sydney Mail]] |volume=IX |issue=429 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=19 September 1868 |access-date=9 April 2018 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}</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