VITI LEVU

largest island (4,011 square miles [10,388 square km]) of Fiji, west of the Koro Sea in the South Pacific. Its name means great Fiji. Sighted (1789) by Captain William Bligh of the British navy, the island is split by a central mountain range with many inactive volcanoes. Tomanivi (Mount Victoria), the highest point in Fiji, rises to 4,341 feet (1,323 m). The mountain range divides the island climatically into a wet southeastern section (120 inches [3,050 mm] of rain annually) and a dry northwestern section (7090 inches (1,8002,300 mm). Suva (q.v.), the Fijian capital, is situated on the island's southeastern coast and has an excellent harbour. Lautoka, on the northwestern coast, is a port for a sugarcane-growing region. Sugar, pineapples, cotton, rice, and tobacco are cultivated in the fertile valleys and deltas of Navua Creek and the Rewa and Singatoka (Sigatoka) rivers. There is a goldfield, first developed in the 1930s, in the north-central part of the island at Vatukoula, a community that is privately owned by associated mining companies. Nadi, in the west, has an international airport, and an oil-fuel installation is at nearby Vunda Point. The population of the island comprises Indians and Melanesians. Pop. (1986) 340,561.