Suva


Suva is the capital and the most populous city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Division.
In 1877, the capital of Fiji was moved to Suva from Levuka, the main European colonial settlement at the time, due to the restrictive geography and environs of the latter. The administration of the colony was transferred from Levuka to Suva in 1882.
As of the 2017 census, the city of Suva had a population of 93,970, and Suva's metropolitan area, which includes its independent suburbs, had a population of 185,913. The combined urban population of Suva and the towns of Lami, Nasinu, and Nausori that border it was around 330,000: over a third of the nation's population.
Suva is the political, economic, and cultural centre of Fiji. It is also the economic and cultural capital of the South Pacific, hosting the majority of the regional headquarters of major international corporations, international agencies, and diplomatic missions. The city also has a thriving arts and performance scene, and a growing reputation as the region's fashion capital.

History

In 1868, when Suva was still a small village, the Bauan chieftain, Seru Epenisa Cakobau, granted of land to the Australian-based Polynesia Company, in exchange for the company's promise to pay off debts owed to the United States. More than a tenth of this land area,, was located near Suva. The company's original intention was to develop a cotton farming industry, but the land and climate proved unsuitable.
In 1874, control of the Fiji Islands was ceded to the United Kingdom. In 1877, the colonial authorities decided to move the capital to Suva from Levuka, Ovalau, Lomaiviti, because Levuka's location between a steep mountain and the sea made any expansion of the town impractical. Colonel F. E. Pratt of the Royal Engineers was appointed Surveyor-General in 1875 and designed the new capital in Suva, assisted by W. Stephens and Colonel R. W. Stewart. The transfer of the administration to Suva was made official in 1882.
In 1910, Suva acquired the status of a municipality, under the Municipal Constitution Ordinance of 1909. Its area remained one square mile until 1952 when Suva annexed the Muanikau and Samabula wards, expanding its territory to. In October of that year, Suva was officially designated a city – Fiji's first. Suva later annexed Tamavua. Most recently, Suva further extended its boundaries by incorporating the Cunningham area at its northern edge. Since then, urban sprawl has led to the growth of a number of suburbs that remain outside the city limits. Together with the city, they form the metropolitan area known as the Greater Suva Area.
Suva hosted the South Pacific Games in 2003 for the third time in the event's 40-year history. In preparation for hosting the event, the Fijian government, with the help of a $16 million aid package from the People's Republic of China, funded the construction of a new gymnasium, indoor sports centre, swimming pool, stadium, field hockey pitch, and grandstands in the area around Suva.

Geography and physical characteristics

In addition to being the capital of Fiji, Suva is also its commercial and political centre, and its main port city. It has a mix of modern buildings and colonial-period architecture.
Suva is located around a harbour on a hilly peninsula in the southeast corner of Viti Levu Island, between Laucala Bay and Suva Harbour. The mountains to its north and west catch the southeast trade winds, producing year-round moist conditions.
Although Suva is on a peninsula, and almost surrounded by sea, its coast is lined with mangroves - the nearest beach is 40 kilometres away, at Pacific Harbour. A significant part of the city centre, including the Parliament buildings, is built on reclaimed mangrove swampland.

City wards

Below is a list of the city's five wards, beginning with the city centre, followed by the northwesternmost ward, and then in clockwise order:
  1. Central: city centre; mostly commercial, central business district
  2. Tamavua: urban; mostly residential
  3. Extension: semi-urban; residential
  4. Samabula: urban; residential, industrial, and commercial; has its own separate town centre; includes a university
  5. Muanikau: urban; mostly industrial and residential; includes large sporting venues, a university, and recreational areas

    Suva–Nausori Corridor

Suva sits in the middle of a metropolitan area, sometimes known as the Suva Urban Complex, and sometimes informally known as Suva, even though it encompasses a total of four areas with their own town or city names and their own separate local governments. This conurbation stretches from Lami along the Queens Highway, through Nasinu, to the Rewa River, along the Kings Highway, and then to Nausori across the river. To the north and northeast are the rainforest-park areas of Colo-i-Suva and Sawani, along the Princes Road, which connect at the Rewa River Bridge. This whole area is also formally referred to as the Suva–Nausori Corridor. It is the most populous area in Fiji, with over 330,000 inhabitants.

Climate

Suva has a tropical rainforest climate, according to the Köppen climate classification system. But because of its trade winds and occasional cyclones, it is not an equatorial climate. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation throughout the year, with no true dry season; no month has an average rainfall below. Suva averages of precipitation annually. Its driest month, July, averages. As in many other cities with a tropical rainforest climate, temperatures are relatively constant throughout the year, with an average high of about and an average low of about.
Suva has a markedly higher rainfall than Nadi or the western side of Viti Levu. The second governor of Fiji, Sir Arthur Gordon, is said to have remarked that he had never seen it rain anywhere the way it rains in Suva and that there was hardly a day without rain. The most copious rainfall is observed from November to May, while the slightly cooler months from June to October see considerably more moderate rainfall.

Demographics

Suva is a multiracial and multicultural city. Indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians, the two principal ethnic groups of Fiji, comprise the bulk of Suva's population, and the city is home to most of Fiji's ethnic minority populations, which include Rotumans, Lauans, Rambians, Europeans, part-Europeans and Chinese, among others. The most widely spoken language is English, but Fijian, Fiji Hindi, and other languages are also spoken by their respective communities.
Suva's inhabitants are representative of all the major indigenous Pacific groups: it is sometimes referred to as the “New York of the Pacific". The city has a reputation as a major economic centre in the region and is the site of University of the South Pacific's main campus. This has led to an influx of Pacific migrants, who study, work, and live in the city and its boroughs.

Municipal government

Suva has municipal status and, until 2009, was governed by a lord mayor and a 20-member city council. The Suva City Council was the municipal law-making body of the city of Suva, Fiji's capital. It consisted of 20 councillors, elected for three-year terms from four multi-member constituencies, called wards. Councillors were elected by residents, landowners, and representatives of corporations owning or occupying taxable property in Suva, councillors in turn elect, from among their own members, a lord mayor and deputy lord mayor, who served one-year terms and were eligible for re-election.
However, in 2009, the military-backed interim Fijian government dismissed all municipal government officials throughout Fiji and appointed special administrators to run the urban areas., elected municipal government had not been restored. The special administrator of Suva, along with nearby Nasinu, is Chandu Umaria, a former lord mayor of Suva.

Landmarks

A well-known landmark is the Suva City Carnegie Library, which was built in 1909. It is one of many colonial-period buildings in the city.
Another landmark is Suva's governmental building complex. It sits on what was once the flowing waters of a creek. In 1935, the creek was drained, and the complex's foundations were created by driving more than five kilometres of reinforced concrete pilings into its bed. The foundation stone was laid in 1937, the building complex was completed in 1939, and a new wing was completed in 1967. However, in 1992, the seat of the Parliament of Fiji was moved out of that complex and into a new one on Ratu Sukuna Road.
Government House was formerly the residence of Fiji's colonial governors and, after Fijian independence in 1970, governors-general. Today, it is the official residence of Fiji's president. The original house on the site was built in 1882, but a fire caused by a lightning strike destroyed it in 1921, it was rebuilt in 1928.
The Suva campus of the University of the South Pacific occupies what was originally RNZAF Station Laucala Bay, the home to the New Zealand No. 5 Squadron RNZAF. It is the largest of the many USP campuses dotted throughout the South Pacific. USP is the largest university in the Pacific Islands outside Hawaii, and its courses are internationally recognised and endorsed.
The Fiji Museum, now located in Thurston Gardens, was founded in 1904, and originally occupied the old town hall. It was moved to its present location in 1954. The museum houses the most extensive collection of Fijian artifacts in the world, and is also a research and educational institution, specialising in archaeology, the preservation of Fiji's oral tradition, and the publication of material on Fiji's language and culture.
Suva has about 78 parks. The new Takashi Suzuki Garden, in Apted Park at Suva Point, is a popular spot for viewing sunrise and sunset. Thurston Gardens, which opened in 1913, features flora from throughout the South Pacific.
Suva has many shopping and retail areas, notably Cumming Street, which has been a vibrant and colourful shopping area since colonial times. The Cumming Street area features original colonial buildings and narrow roads. Suva also has modern shopping malls, such as the Suva Central Shopping Mall, the Mid-City Mall, and MHCC, along with other developments give much of the city a modern and sophisticated look.
TappooCity is one of Fiji's shopping malls, and holds the distinction of being the largest mall in the South Pacific outside of Australia and New Zealand. This low-rise building was constructed in December 2009 in a joint venture by FNPF and the Tappoo Group of Companies. It is valued at US$25.7 million.
Construction work began in January 2011 for a FJD30 -million mini-mall complex at Grantham Road, behind the Sports-City Complex and close to the Suva campus of the University of the South Pacific. It was scheduled to be completed in 2012, and to house restaurants, retail outlets, and cinemas.