Today in History October 06

October 6 is the 279th day of the year. There are 86 days remaining until the end of the year.

Coat of arms

Fijian mountain warrior, 1870s

Republic of Fiji

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Today's Highlight in History 1987 – Fiji becomes a republic.





Republic of Fiji is an island country in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles(2,000 km; 1,300 mi) northeast of New Zealand's North Island. Its closest neighbours are Vanuatu to the west, New Caledonia to the southwest, New Zealand's Kermadec Islands to the southeast, Tonga to the east, the Samoas and France's Wallis and Futuna to the northeast, and Tuvalu to the north.

Huts in the village of Navala in theNausori Highlands

The British granted Fiji independence in 1970. Democratic rule was interrupted by two military coups in 1987 precipitated by a growing perception that the government was dominated by the Indo-Fijian (Indian) community. The second 1987 coup saw both the Fijian monarchy and the Governor General replaced by a non-executive president and the name of the country changed from Dominion of Fiji to Republic of Fiji and then in 1997 to Republic of the Fiji Islands. The two coups and the accompanying civil unrest contributed to heavy Indo-Fijian emigration; the resulting population loss resulted in economic difficulties but ensured that Melanesians became the majority.

In 1990, the new constitution institutionalised ethnic Fijian domination of the political system. The Group Against Racial Discrimination(GARD) was formed to oppose the unilaterally imposed constitution and to restore the 1970 constitution. In 1992 Sitiveni Rabuka, the Lieutenant Colonel who had carried out the 1987 coup, became Prime Minister following elections held under the new constitution. Three years later, Rabuka established the Constitutional Review Commission, which in 1997 wrote a new constitution which was supported by most leaders of the indigenous Fijian and Indo-Fijian communities. Fiji was re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations.

Nadi airport - Arrivals

Fiji has one of the most developed economies in the Pacific island realm due to an abundance of forest, mineral, and fish resources. Today, the main sources of foreign exchange are its tourist industry and sugar exports. The country's currency is the Fijian dollar. Fiji's local government, in the form of city and town councils, is supervised by the Ministry of Local Government and Urban Development.
=.Wikipedia

World Events

1777 – American Revolutionary War: General Sir Henry Clinton leads British forces in the capture of Continental Army Hudson River defenses in the Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery.
1789 – French Revolution: Louis XVI returns to Paris from Versailles after being confronted by the Parisian women on 5 October
1849 – The execution of the 13 Martyrs of Arad after the Hungarian war of independence.
1876 – The American Library Association was founded.
1884 – The Naval War College of the United States Navy is founded in Newport, Rhode Island.
1889 – American inventor Thomas Edison shows his first motion picture.
1903 – The High Court of Australia sits for the first time.
1908 – Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina, sparking a crisis.
1927 – Opening of The Jazz Singer, the first prominent talking movie.
1976 – Massacre of students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand, to protest the return of ex-dictator Thanom, by a coalition of right-wing paramilitary and government forces, triggering the return of the military to government.
1977 – In Alicante, Spain, fascists attack a group of MCPV militants and sympathizers, and one MCPV sympathizer is killed.
1977 – The first prototype of the Mikoyan MiG-29, designated 9-01, makes its maiden flight.
1979 – Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit the White House.
1981 – Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat is murdered by Islamic extremists.
1987 – Fiji becomes a republic.
1995 – 51 Pegasi is discovered to be the second major star apart from the Sun to have a planet orbiting around it.
2000 – Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević resigns.
2000 – Argentine vice president Carlos Álvarez resigns.
2002 – The French oil tanker Limburg is bombed off Yemen.
2007 – Jason Lewis completes the first human-powered circumnavigation of the globe.