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Captain James Cook gave the Fiji Islands the name "Fiji" essentially due to a misunderstanding with Fiji's close neighbors the Tongans. Fijians originally called their islands "Viti". A Fijian person also refers to themselves as "Kaiviti" where "Kai" means "from" and "Viti" being the indigenous name of the Fiji Islands. This is also seen with the name of Fiji's largest island "Viti Levu" roughly translating to "Big Viti". While exploring the region, Captain Cook first happened upon the Tongan Islands. As he asked the Tongans what island neighbored theirs, referring to the Fiji Islands, they answered him "Viti". However due to their accent, the pronunciation of "Viti" sounded like "Fiji" resulting in Captain Cook recording the islands as the "Fiji Islands".

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15y ago

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