1860S TO 1911

Plantations and the labour trade

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What we know

  • Cotton planting boomed in the 1860s, when the American Civil War cut supplies.
  • Workers were recruited from Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, often by deception or force — the trade known as blackbirding.
  • Copra (dried coconut) also became a major plantation crop.
  • Descendants of these labourers still live in Fiji today.

The story

Plantations depended on people as much as on land. Cotton, copra and later sugar production drew workers into commercial agriculture under unequal conditions.

Pacific Islanders were recruited from places including what are now Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. Some recruitment involved deception or force, often described as blackbirding. Their history is connected to, but distinct from, Indian indenture. Both belong in an account of Fiji’s colonial labour system.

Pictures in this chapter

Sources

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