Over 300,000 people live in the Fiji Islands. Of these about 140,000 are
native Fijians. The others are arranged in the following divisions:[4]
Indians 154,803
Europeans 6,500
Part European 7,496
Polynesians }
Melanesians } 4,133
Micronesians }
Rotumans 3,990
Chinese 3,857
Others 649
When Fiji became a British Crown Colony in 1874 the population was
entirely native except for a handful of outsiders. At that time the
population has been variously estimated at approximately 200,000.
Shortly thereafter a measles epidemic reduced their number severely.
This, with other epidemics and maladies for which they had little or no
immunity or resistence, continued the decimation until by 1905 there
were only 87,000. During the next decade they held their own, until in
1919 the influenza scourge brought them to their lowest level of 83,000.
This was the last serious setback to their number; since that time the
population has been on the upgrade.
A present threat to Fijian population, in the opinion of many, stems not
from disease but from the Indian presence. This began in the latter part
of the nineteenth century when Indian immigration of indentured laborers
began. The influx went on until 1916 by which time some 40,000 to 50,000
Indians had come to Fiji and very few had returned to India. Since then,
the Indians have increased more rapidly than the Fijians until they now
outnumber them. This situation has, of course, created numerous problems
beyond the scope of this paper.
It is significant to point out that intermarriage or interbreeding
between Fijians and Indians is relatively slight. The amount of mingling
of Fijians with Europeans or Orientals cannot be demonstrated
statistically, but it has not been extensive. The Fijians, on the whole,
retain pretty much of their prehistoric racial make-up.