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! === Kingdom of Fiji (1871β1874) === {{main|Kingdom of Fiji}} [[File:Flag_of_the_Kingdom_of_Fiji_(1871-1874).svg|thumb|Flag of the [[Kingdom of Fiji]], 1871β1874]] After the collapse of the confederacy, [[Enele MaΚ»afu]] established a stable administration in the Lau Islands and the Tongans. Other foreign powers such as the United States were considering the possibility of annexing Fiji. This situation was not appealing to many settlers, almost all of whom were British subjects from Australia. Britain, however, refused to annex the country, and a compromise was needed.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63106962 |title=The Empire. |issue=5767 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=11 May 1870 |access-date=10 April 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In June 1871, [[George Austin Woods]], an ex-lieutenant of the Royal Navy, managed to influence Cakobau and organise a group of like-minded settlers and chiefs into forming a governing administration. Cakobau was declared the monarch (''Tui Viti'') and the Kingdom of Fiji was established. Most Fijian chiefs agreed to participate, and even Ma'afu chose to recognise Cakobau and participate in the [[constitutional monarchy]]. However, many of the settlers had come from [[Australia]], where negotiation with the [[Indigenous Australians|indigenous people]] almost universally involved forced coercion. As a result, several aggressive, racially motivated opposition groups, such as the British Subjects Mutual Protection Society, sprouted up. One group called themselves the [[Ku Klux Klan]] in a homage to the [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] group in America.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191569882 |title=No title |work=[[The Ballarat Courier]] |issue=1538 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 May 1872 |access-date=10 April 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> However, when respected individuals such as [[Charles St Julian]], Robert Sherson Swanston and John Bates Thurston were appointed by Cakobau, a degree of authority was established.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60446405 |title=FIJI. |work=Illustrated Australian News For Home Readers |issue=187 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 July 1872 |access-date=11 April 2018 |page=154 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> [[File:Three kai colo, ca. 1873, carte de visite by Francis Herbert Dufty.jpg|thumb|Three Kai Colo men in traditional Fijian attire]] With the rapid increase in white settlers into the country, the desire for land acquisition also intensified. Once again, conflict with the Kai Colo in the interior of Viti Levu ensued. In 1871, the killing of two settlers near the [[Ba River (Fiji)|Ba River]] in the northwest of the island prompted a large [[punitive expedition]] of white farmers, imported slave labourers, and coastal Fijians to be organised. This group of around 400 armed vigilantes, including veterans of the U.S. Civil War, had a battle with the Kai Colo near the village of Cubu, in which both sides had to withdraw. The village was destroyed, and the Kai Colo, despite being armed with muskets, received numerous casualties.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158947917 |title=FIJIAN EXPERIENCES. |work=[[Adelaide Observer]] |volume=XXVIII |issue=1576 |location=South Australia |date=16 December 1871 |access-date=11 April 2018 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}} </ref> The Kai Colo responded by making frequent raids on the settlements of the whites and Christian Fijians throughout the [[Ba Province|district of Ba]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article170155477 |title=FIJI. |work=[[The Advocate (Melbourne)|The Advocate]] |volume=IV |issue=160 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=3 February 1872 |access-date=11 April 2018 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Likewise, in the east of the island on the upper reaches of the Rewa River, villages were burnt, and many Kai Colo were shot by the vigilante settler squad called the Rewa Rifles.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article170157875 |title=MASSACRE OF NATIVES BY SETTLERS IN FIJI. |work=[[The Advocate (Melbourne)|The Advocate]] |volume=IV |issue=196 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=12 October 1872 |access-date=11 April 2018 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Although the Cakobau government did not approve of the settlers taking justice into their own hands, it did want the Kai Colo subjugated and their land sold. The solution was to form an army. Robert S. Swanston, the minister for Native Affairs in the Kingdom, organised the training and arming of suitable Fijian volunteers and prisoners to become soldiers in what was variably called the King's Troops or the Native Regiment. In a similar system to the [[Australian native police|Native Police]] that was present in the colonies of Australia, two white settlers, James Harding and W. Fitzgerald, were appointed as the head officers of this paramilitary brigade.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article194847556 |title=LETTER FROM FIJI. |work=[[Hamilton Spectator]] |issue=1083 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=14 August 1872 |access-date=11 April 2018 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The formation of this force did not sit well with many of the white plantation owners as they did not trust an army of Fijians to protect their interests. The situation intensified further in early 1873 when the Burns family was killed by a Kai Colo raid in the Ba River area. The Cakobau government deployed 50 King's Troopers to the region under the command of Major Fitzgerald to restore order. The local whites refused their posting, and deployment of another 50 troops under Captain Harding was sent to emphasise the government's authority. To prove the worth of the Native Regiment, this augmented force went into the interior and massacred about 170 Kai Colo people at Na Korowaiwai. Upon returning to the coast, the force was met by the white settlers who still saw the government troops as a threat. A skirmish between the government's troops and the white settlers' brigade was only prevented by the intervention of Captain William Cox Chapman of {{HMS|Dido|1869|6}}, who detained the leaders of the locals, forcing the group to disband. The authority of the King's Troops and the Cakobau government to crush the Kai Colo was now total.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5851961 |title=FIJI. |work=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |issue=8 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 April 1873 |access-date=12 April 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> From March to October 1873, a force of about 200 King's Troops under the general administration of Swanston with around 1,000 coastal Fijian and white volunteer auxiliaries, led a campaign throughout the highlands of Viti Levu to annihilate the Kai Colo. Major Fitzgerald and Major H.C. Thurston (the brother of John Bates Thurston) led a two pronged attack throughout the region. The combined forces of the different clans of the Kai Colo made a stand at the village of Na Culi. The Kai Colo were defeated with dynamite and fire being used to flush them out from their defensive positions amongst the mountain caves. Many Kai Colo were killed, and one of the main leaders of the hill clans, Ratu Dradra, was forced to surrender with around 2,000 men, women and children being taken prisoner and sent to the coast.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63234385 |title=LATEST FROM FIJI. |work=[[Empire (newspaper)|Empire]] |issue=668 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=29 August 1873 |access-date=13 April 2018 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In the months after this defeat, the only main resistance was from the clans around the village of Nibutautau. Major Thurston crushed this resistance in the two months following the battle at Na Culi. Villages were burnt, Kai Colo were killed, and a further large number of prisoners were taken.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162658560 |title=FIJI ISLANDS. |work=[[The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser]] |volume=XVI |issue=694 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=18 October 1873 |access-date=13 April 2018 |page=512 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> About 1,000 of the prisoners (men, women and children) were sent to Levuka where some were hanged and the rest were sold into [[slavery]] and forced to work on various plantations throughout the islands.<ref>[[#Gravelle|Gravelle]], p. 131</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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