The first group of 463 Indian indentured laborers arrives in Fiji aboard the Leonidas.

Indian indenture system

System of indentured servitude using Indian labourers to replace slavery (1800s to 1920s)

The Indian indenture system was a system of indentured servitude, by which more than 1.6 million workers from British India were transported to labour in European colonies as a substitute for slave labour, following the abolition of the trade in the early 19th century. The…

Fiji

Country in Melanesia, Oceania

Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1,100 nautical miles north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently…

Leonidas (ship)

Leonidas was a labour transport ship (schooner) that played an important role in the history of Fiji. She had been earlier used to carry indentured labourers to the West Indies, having transported 580 Indian indentured labourers to St Lucia in 1878. Captained by McLachlan, the…

May 14

Day of the year

May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 231 days remain until the end of the year.