ROTUMA

island of Fiji in the South Pacific, 400 miles (640 km) by sea-route north-northwest of Suva, the Fijian capital. Rotuma comprises one large volcanic islandRotuma Island (18 square miles [46 square km])and eight islets. Sighted in 1791 by the British naval ship Pandora during its search for the Bounty mutineers, the main island was formerly called Grenville. The group was annexed by Fiji (then a possession of Great Britain) in 1881. Ahau is the chief village. Copra and woven mats are exported through the small port of Motusa. Rotumans are Polynesians mixed with other ethnic groups. By the mid-1980s about 6,100 people of Rotuman descent had resettled in other areas of Fiji. Pop. (1986) 2,688.