Lautoka - Sugar City

Lautoka, is Fiji's second largest city and according to legend, derives its name from a battle cry that means"spear-hit".  The story goes that when an argument erupted between two local chiefs, one cried out the words," lau tok a" as he killed the other by spearing him through the chest.....!!!!

Lautoka Sugar mill opened in 1903 and is now the largest sugar mill in the southern hemisphere.

We take a bus to Lautoka ( about 20 minutes), at least once/week to their market.  This is what we see on the way.......

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This area is one of four major sugar growing areas in Fiji and the main sugar export port. It is estimated that 200,000 people in Fiji depend on the sugar cane industry for their income.

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The story of the Fiji sugar cane industry is a long and involved one. But one of the most important factors that still has implications for life in Fiji today was the use of indentured labour from India to help make this industry a viable one.

In the 1870‘s, the British Colonial Government began to recruit indentured workers from India and South East Asia to help develop the sugar cane industry in Fiji.  Over 37 years, 61,000 such workers arrived in Fiji. They came from different regions and from different backgrounds and castes. Many came from rural Indian villages.

The indenture contracts required them to work in Fiji for a period of five years in often difficult conditions.  Most never returned to India.  From the early 1900s, Indians started arriving in Fiji as free settlers.  Nowadays, most Fijian Indians have lost touch with and feel no connection with the country of their ancestors. They feel as much Fijian as their native ethnic Fijian counterparts.

Fijians of Indian descent are concentrated in the so-called Sugar Belt and in cities and towns on the northern and western coasts of Viti Levu. Differences between the two communities, ethnic Fijians and Indian Fijians, have characterized Fijian politics since independence in 1970… and still do. But the intermingling of peoples makes Fiji a colourful, multi 

ethnic country.

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A few of our favorite places in Lautoka...

Bargain Boxes are like Dollar General......