Fiji in the South Pacific
f you were to set out from the Solomon Islands, east of Papua New Guinea, and sail southeastwards for 1,300 miles, as the crow flies, you would reach a group of more than 300 volcanic islands in the South Pacific Ocean. Now known as Fiji, they have a combined land area about the size of Wales, with the two largest islands (Viti Levu and Vanua Levu) making up more than 90% of the total. Archaeologists and other researchers believe that the first humans to make that journey left South East Asia around 1300 BC and drifted or paddled in dugout canoes from island to island across the ocean to reach the Fijian archipelago. In excess of 2,000
