Beqa

Beqa ( IPA: [ Mbenga ], letters and Bega, Mbengga, Mbenga ) is an island in the island nation of Fiji Viti Levu - group in the southern Pacific Ocean. Administratively it belongs to the Central Division, where the province of Rewa. Beqa is known as a tourist attraction and by the cult of fire run.

Geography

Beqa is of volcanic origin and below the sea surface by the " Vatulele - Beqa - saddle" ( Vatulele - Beqa Ridge ) with the southwestern Vatulele ( volcanic activity ) and the island of Yanuca connected. The island is 10 kilometers south of Viti Levu; between the Beqa Strait runs.

The main island has an area of 36 km ² and reaches a height of up to 462 m above sea level. The eastern part of the mountain and the location Vunikaukauloa Soliyanga (also Suliyanga ) is separated and connected by a narrow isthmus in the southeastern region by the Malumu Bay ( Malumu Bay). The highest mountain is the Sigatoka with a height of 462 meters. Together with other inhabited islands, including Ugaga ( Unggangga, also Steward Island ), Beqa is surrounded by a barrier reef. The lagoon measures approximately 390 square kilometers, the sea depth in front of the reef is at 2000 meters.

The island's climate is tropical and humid, with temperatures of 16 to 32 ° C. In the wetter summer months (November- April), occur cyclones. Because of seismic activity there is a risk of tsunamis. The tidal wave of the earthquake of Suva ( 1953) peaked at Beqa a height of 1.4 meters.

Population

As tribal district ( Tikina ) Beqa part located in the homonymous province to the tribe of Rewa. The population beqas is divided into sub- tribes ( Yavusa ) the Sawau ( with capital Dakuibeqa as well as the villages Dakuni, Soliyaga, Naceva and Rukua belonging are three adopted by the tribe villages ) and in the Raviravi (villages Raviravi, Nawaisomo and Lalati ). The title of the heads of loud Nacurumoce na Turaga na Tui Tui na Turaga Sawau and Raviravi. The head of the tribe, the Tui Sawau, resides in Suva. The official language is Fijian, which belongs to the Austronesian languages ​​malayopolynesischen. The Beqaische is expected to the eastern dialects of Fijian.

History, Culture

Recent findings from the Lapita culture ( shards and obsidian coming Bismarck Archipelago), which were made in the Kulu Bay in the south and on beqas Ugaga, allow conclusions to a first settlement around 3,000 years ago.

The recent history of settlement, as the tribe of Rewa starting is, in the oral tradition handed down ( case in construction language):

"A neitou Vu ko Tabakanalagi, a watina ko Likuvono. Era lako Rewa mai na neitou qase, ka ra biu mai mai Tū e sō Beqa, e dua na kena iwasewase era lako Kadavu ki, ka ra sa tiko mai Tavuki e na gauna OQO. "

" Our heritage comes from Tabakanalagi, his wife is Likuvono. Our ancestors came from Rewa, and they brought some back to Beqa, part went to Kadavu, and they remained in Tavuki at the time. "

The initial review is Captain Christopher Bentley in 1799 attributed to the American ship Ann and Hope on the way back from Australia, who also sighted Kadavu.

Dumont d' Urville did make a hydrographic map on his second Pacific voyage in 1838 by Vincendon Dumoulin but it moved incorrectly Beqa take the place of the island Ono- i- Kadavu further south. This was corrected by re- measurements of Viti Levu - Passage by HMS Alacrity, which was first published in 1878 under the card number 167. A first reliable mention beqas in written sources can be found in the led by Charles Wilkes United States Exploring Expedition report:

"The Iceland of Mbenga, five miles south of Viti - levui, is five miles long and three wide; the land rises boldly on all sides towards the interior, terminating in two prominent basaltic peaks thirteen hundred feet above the sea level. "

" The island Mbenga, five miles in the south of Viti - levui, is five miles long and three [ miles ] wide; the land rises boldly from all sides against the inside and culminates in two highly visible, basaltic peaks, one thousand three hundred feet above the sea. "

" Mbenga is nearly divided in two by the harbor of Sawau, Which faces to the north, and is about two miles deep. The entrance is narrow, being only a quarter of a mile from headland to headland, but it immediately opens out to a mile in width, and contains from four to ten fathoms of water. There are several small villages lying around the harbor, each imbosomed in its pleasant grove of tropical fruit -trees. "

"Through the Port of Sawau which lies to the north and is about two miles deep, Mbenga is almost divided into two halves. The entrance is narrow, from headland to headland just a quarter mile, but widens at once to a width of a mile, with depths of four to ten fathoms of water. Several small villages located around the harbor, each surrounded by its own pleasant grove with tropical fruit trees. "

Beqa belongs today to the influence of the Wesleyan Methodists, under the missionary John Hunt (1812-1848) spread to Suva. Hunt reported from 14 villages on Beqa in one of his notes. The time of the British colony of Fiji seems to have left few reports of Beqa. Before visiting the islands by Charles Wilkes is reported of a punitive expedition by the then ruler of Rewa, since the Beqa people stranded Rewaer, after normal use, cannibalistic ate. Cannibalistic excesses, as on the mainland, are not known. Beqa was then part of the land compensation, which had to do Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau ( Thakombau ) for a crime to the crew of an American ship, the head of the Beqa turned letter against it because they not know by new owners, and asked for support from the Tongan nobles Enele Ma'afu, who had built up at the time a separate kingdom in Fiji and was set warlike against Rewa. The proximity to Suva never made a supply to Beqa island for food, water or coal, this remained the more southern Kadavu with the Galoa Habour reserved.

The German merchant and naturalist Theodor Kleinschmidt reported from one of his trips to the Museum Godeffroy collection 1876 watch only from a brief stopover on the inland lagoon islet Yanuca and was there for several large whales within the Beqa riffs. Basil Thompson reported in 1892 by an informant of the island of Beqa for Kaunitoni myth that sparked controversy in the sequence and it turned out as a modern creation.

Firewalking, the Na Vilavilairevo Ceremony: The end of the 19th century marks the time when the Beqa came also in the interest of anthropologists and the Fijian government, in particular by the fire running, only to Beqa by members of a particular tribe, the Sawau is performed. So already were 26 fire runners at the New Zealand International Exhibition of Arts and Industries in Christchurch, New Zealand on 1906 to 1907 in a " Fiji Camp ". The origin of the fire run was the subject of several, comparative studies. Fire priests conduct this ritual is to take the award and test for the elect. The last field research on the fire runners took place in 2007 by Guido Carlo Pigliasco, his findings under the title The Custodians of the Gift: Intangible Cultural Property and Commodification published of the Fijian Firewalking Ceremony.

A value for Beqa Fiji gained in 1900, as a quarantine station for leprosy total Fiji, which had around 1,000 lepers at the time, was built in the south of the island, which was dissolved in 1915.

Archaeological research began in 1945, in the years 1986 to 1987, a longer excursion took place, reported on the Andrew Crosby. He found on Beqa remains of fortifications 40 different types, including 14 circular grave fortifications near the coast and 26 on the upper hill points in the interior.

Economy, infrastructure

Beqas main source of income is tourism today. Major facilities are the resorts Lawaki Beach House, Beqa Lagoon Resort, Kulu Bay Resort, Lalati Resort as well as the location on Ugaga Royal Davui Resort. The "Shark Reef Marine Preserve " and several underwater gardens, such as in the Beqa Lagoon, are characterized by high stocks of sharks and drag it to dive tourists. The importance of agriculture is negligible, since it is largely based on subsistence farming. The geographical foundations of the island showed no significant possibilities for cotton, sugar and coconut plantations as they were common in other parts of Fiji, a country trip for air traffic was not possible. A fixed -developed road network is still lacking, so that the village -to- village traffic in general is via boat traffic. The nearest port on the mainland is Viti Levu Navua in the south.

Due to the population unaffordable high prices for the operation of existing diesel engines, started since 2007, planning for the energy supply, they decided to take a submarine cable of Viti Levu from the solution by solar energy. 2012, the first systems with the help of engineer units of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces ( RFMF ) were installed in the village Rukua.