Nukulau

Nukulau Island is a small islet belonging to Fiji. It is close to Suva, Fiji's capital, which lies about ten kilometers to the west. It is an island rich in history, which has played a pivotal role in Fiji's demographic and political development over the past 160 years.

== History == Nukulau played a role in the ceding of Fiji to the British Crown in 1874. In 1846, John Brown Williams, the American consul, had purchased the island for a mere thirty dollars. He subsequently lived there, in the wooden two-story house he built, until 1849. On 4 July of that year, during American Independence Day celebrations, a store belonging to Williams was destroyed in a fire which started from a cannon burst, and his belongings that he had salvaged from the fire were subsequently looted by Fiji natives. A second fire in 1855 destroyed Williams' house. Williams held Cakobau, the Vunivalu (Paramount Chief) of Bau and self-proclaimed Tui Viti (King of Fiji) responsible for the looting, and, supported by the United States Navy in the 1855 Fiji expedition, demanded US$43,531 in compensation, to cover Williams' losses, valued at US$5000, and claims by other settlers. This was followed up by an 1858 Fiji expedition, in which hostages were seized. Cakobau's inability to pay the debt, coupled with fear of a U.S. invasion and annexation, led to a series of negotiations with the United Kingdom. After a failed attempt to establish a stable constitutional monarchy under the effective tutelage of the Australian Polynesia Company, the negotiations culminated in a decision to cede the islands to the United Kingdom in 1874, ushering in almost a century of British rule.