Claim: Fiji is permanently inhabited.

Fiji -LRB- -LSB- ˈfiːdʒiː -RSB- -RRB- -LRB- Viti -LSB- ˈβitʃi -RSB- फ़िजी -RRB- , officially the Republic of Fiji -LRB- Matanitu Tugalala o Viti फ़िजी गणराज्य -RRB- , is an island country in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about 1100 nmi northeast of New Zealand 's North Island . Its closest neighbours are Vanuatu to the west , New Caledonia to the southwest , New Zealand 's Kermadec Islands to the southeast , Tonga to the east , the Samoas and France 's Wallis and Futuna to the northeast , and Tuvalu to the north .   Fiji is an archipelago of more than 330 islands , of which 110 are permanently inhabited , and more than 500 islets , amounting to a total land area of about 18300 km2 . The farthest island is Ono-i-Lau . The two major islands , Viti Levu and Vanua Levu , account for 87 % of the population of almost 860,000 . The capital , Suva on Viti Levu , serves as Fiji 's principal cruise port . About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu 's coasts , either in Suva or in smaller urban centres like Nadi -LRB- tourism -RRB- or Lautoka -LRB- sugar cane industry -RRB- . Viti Levu 's interior is sparsely inhabited due to its terrain .   Fiji has one of the most developed economies in the Pacific due to an abundance of forest , mineral , and fish resources . Today , the main sources of foreign exchange are its tourist industry and sugar exports . The country 's currency is the Fijian dollar . Fiji 's local government , in the form of city and town councils , is supervised by the Ministry of Local Government and Urban Development .   The majority of Fiji 's islands were formed through volcanic activity starting around 150 million years ago . Today , some geothermal activity still occurs on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni . Fiji has been inhabited since the second millennium BC , and was settled first by Austronesians and later by Melanesians , with some Polynesian influences . Europeans visited Fiji from the 17th century , and , after a brief period as an independent kingdom , the British established the Colony of Fiji in 1874 . Fiji was a Crown colony until 1970 , when it gained independence as a Commonwealth realm . A republic was declared in 1987 , following a series of coups d'état .   In a coup in 2006 , Commodore Frank Bainimarama seized power . When the High Court ruled in 2009 that the military leadership was unlawful , President Ratu Josefa Iloilo , whom the military had retained as the nominal Head of State , formally abrogated the Constitution and reappointed Bainimarama . Later in 2009 , Iloilo was replaced as President by Ratu Epeli Nailatikau . After years of delays , a democratic election was held on 17 September 2014 . Bainimarama 's FijiFirst party won with 59.2 % of the vote , and the election was deemed credible by international observers .