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Measles epidemic wipes out one-third of the Fijian population; British forces and Fijian chiefs suppress rebellion.
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Dutch explorer Abel Tasman is the first European to visit the islands.
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Western Christian missionaries begin to arrive.
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Christian convert chief Cakobau gains control of most of western Fiji, while another Christian convert, Ma'afu from Tonga, controls the east.
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Cakobau sells Suva - the current capital of Fiji - to an Australian company.
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European settlers at Levuka island organize a national government and name Cakobau king of Fiji following local disorder.
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Fiji becomes a British crown colony at the request of Cakobau and other chiefs.
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More than 60,000 indentured labourers brought in from the Indian subcontinent to work on sugar plantations.
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Legislative Council, consisting of elected Europeans and nominated Fijians, set up to advise the British governor.
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British colonial government in India stops the recruitment of indentured labourers.
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All labour indenture agreements in Fiji end.
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Women and Fijians enfranchised; predominantly Fijian Alliance Party (AP) set up.
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Fiji becomes independent with Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara of the AP as prime minister.
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Timoci Bavadra sets up the Fiji Labour Party with trade union support.
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Indian-dominated coalition led by Bavadra wins general election, ending 17 years of rule by the AP and Prime Minister Mara.
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Lieutenant-Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka seizes power in bloodless coup with the aim of making indigenous Fijians politically dominant.
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Rabuka stages a second coup, proclaims Fiji a republic and appoints Governor-General Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau president; Ganilau in turn appoints Ratu Mara prime minister; Fiji expelled from Commonwealth; Britain, the United States, Australia and New Zealand suspend aid.
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Thousands of ethnic Indians flee Fiji.
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New constitution enshrining political dominance for indigenous Fijians introduced.
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Rabuka, of the Fijian Political Party (FPP), becomes prime minister following general election.
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Great Council of Chiefs appoints Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara president in January following the death of Ganilau in the previous month; Rabuka and the FPP win general election.
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Fiji re-admitted to the Commonwealth after it introduces a non-discriminatory constitution.
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Mahendra Chaudhry, an ethnic Indian, becomes prime minister after the Fiji Labour Party emerges from the general election with enough seats to rule on its own.
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Bankrupt businessman George Speight and retired major Ilisoni Ligairi storm parliament, aiming to make indigenous Fijians the dominant political force. They take Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his cabinet hostage. Speight proclaims himself acting premier. President Mara sacks the Chaudhry government on the orders of Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs.
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Commonwealth suspends Fiji.
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Eight soldiers are killed in a failed army mutiny.
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Chaudhry and other hostages released; Great Council of Chiefs appoints Ratu Josefa Iloilo - a former father-in-law of Speight's brother - president
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Speight and 369 of his supporters arrested.
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Elections to restore democracy; George Speight becomes MP in a new government.
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Fiji readmitted to the Commonwealth.
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Indigenous Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase sworn in, but doesn't offer cabinet posts to opposition Labour Party, in defiance of constitution.
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Government announces radical privatisation plan designed to stave off collapse of vital sugar industry threatened by withdrawal of EU subsidies.
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George Speight sentenced to death for treason. President Iloilo commutes his sentence to life imprisonment.
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Supreme Court rules that Laisenia Qarase must include ethnic-Indian members of the opposition Labour Party in his cabinet.
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Labour Party declines cabinet seats in favour of opposition role.
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Former leader Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, considered to be independent Fiji's founding father, dies aged 83.
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Vice President Ratu Jope Seniloli found guilty of treason over his involvement in May 2000 coup attempt. He serves a few months of a four-year sentence.
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Military chief warns that he will remove government if proposed amnesty for those involved in 2000 coup goes ahead.
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Great Council of Chiefs elects incumbent President Iloilo to a second, five-year term.
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Former PM Sitiveni Rabuka is charged with orchestrating a failed army mutiny in November 2000.
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Tensions rise between PM Laesenia Qarase and military chief Frank Bainimarama, who threatens to oust the government after it tries, and fails, to replace him. Mr Qarase goes into hiding as the crisis escalates.
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Frank Bainimarama says in a televised address he has taken executive powers and dismissed PM Laisenia Qarase. Commonwealth suspends Fiji because of the coup.
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Mr Bainimarama restores executive powers to President Iloilo and takes on the role of interim prime minister.
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Mr Bainimarama sacks the Great Council of Chiefs and suspends all future meetings, after the chiefs refuse to endorse his government and his nomination for vice president.
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Mr Bainimarama sacks the Great Council of Chiefs and suspends all future meetings, after the chiefs refuse to endorse his government and his nomination for vice president.
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Mr Bainimarama sacks the Great Council of Chiefs and suspends all future meetings, after the chiefs refuse to endorse his government and his nomination for vice president.
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Mr Bainimarama appoints himself as chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC), a body he suspended after it failed to back his December 2006 coup.
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South Pacific leaders warn Fiji that it faces suspension from their regional grouping if it fails to show progress towards holding elections.
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Mr Bainimarama appoints himself as chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC), a body he suspended after it failed to back his December 2006 coup.
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Appeal Court rules the military regime was illegally appointed after the 2006 coup and says a caretaker prime minister should be appointed to call elections to restore democracy.
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South Pacific nations suspend Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum regional bloc for its failure to hold elections.
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The Commonwealth fully suspends Fiji after the refusal of the military government to bow to demands to call elections by 2010. It is only the second full suspension in the organisation's history.
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South Pacific nations suspend Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum regional bloc for its failure to hold elections.
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Pacific leaders demand Fiji hold elections by the end of the year.
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Fiji authorities admit to losing legal document confirming independence from the United Kingdom.
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A court jails eight men for attempting to kill Commodore Bainimarama in 2007. Critics say the eight did not have a fair hearing.
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Government orders cancellation of annual conference of Fijian Methodist Church - which has been highly critical of the interim military-led regime - saying that its leadership is too political.