Lau Islands in the context of "Northern Division, Fiji"

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⭐ Core Definition: Lau Islands

The Lau Islands (also called the Lau Group, the Eastern Group, the Eastern Archipelago) of Fiji are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean, just east of the Koro Sea. Of this chain of about sixty islands and islets, about thirty are inhabited. The Lau Group covers a land area of 188 square miles (487 square km), and had a population of 10,683 at the most recent census in 2007. While most of the northern Lau Group are high islands of volcanic origin, those of the south are mostly carbonate low islands.

Administratively the islands belong to Lau Province.

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👉 Lau Islands in the context of Northern Division, Fiji

The Northern Division is one of four Divisions into which Fiji's fourteen Provinces are grouped for local government purposes. The administrative centre of the Division, where main governmental departments are located, is Labasa.

The Northern Division covers three Provinces: Macuata, Cakaudrove, and Bua, and includes the entire island of Vanua Levu. This is based on the decisions of the traditional Fijian Provinces, as well as administrative considerations. Excluding the Lau Islands, which form part of the Eastern Division, the Northern Division is coextensive with the Tovata Confederacy.

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Lau Islands in the context of Ono-i-Lau

Ono-i-Lau is a group of islands within a barrier reef system in the Fijian archipelago of Lau Islands (ono means "six" in the Fijian language). There are four central volcanic islands: Onolevu, Doi (or Ndoi) Lovoni and Ndavura, the uppermost parts of the volcanic edifice rising from the Lau Ridge slightly more than 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) below sea level and on which the reef and other islands are built. There are also three clusters of coral limestone islets, Yanuya (50 islets) and Mana (46 islets) on the barrier reef and Niuta (7 tiny islets). A sand cay, Udui, is not counted as one of the six “islands”.

The group forms one of the southernmost of the Lau Islands; it is located at 20.80° South and 178.75° West, and occupies an area of 7.9 square kilometres (3.1 square miles). It has a maximum elevation of 113 metres (371 feet). It is 90 kilometres (56 mi) south-southwest of Vatoa, the nearest largish island; the only land further south in the Lau Group is in the two small Tuvana islands of coral limestone and sand.

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Lau Islands in the context of Vatoa

Vatoa (pronounced [βaˈtoa]) (known as Turtle Island after Cook's visit) is an outlier of Fiji's Lau Group.

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Lau Islands in the context of Vanua Levu Group

The Vanua Levu Group is an archipelago in northern Fiji. It takes its name from its predominant island, Vanua Levu. Among the other island in the group, the most important is Taveuni. Other islands in the group include Laucala, Matagi, Namena Lala, Qamea, Rabi, Vorovoro and Yadua Tabu. They have an aggregate area of 6,199 square kilometres (2,393 square miles), with a total population of 140,016 at the 1996 census, the last held.

The Vanua Levu Group is coextensive with Fiji's Northern Division, one of four into which the country is divided for local government purposes. Together with the remote Lau Islands, they form the Tovata Confederacy, one of three chiefly hierarchies.

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Lau Islands in the context of Blue-crowned lorikeet

The blue-crowned lorikeet (Vini australis), also known as the blue-crowned lory, blue-crested lory, Solomon lory or Samoan lory, is a parrot found throughout the Lau Islands (Fiji), Tonga, Samoa, Niue and adjacent islands, including: ʻAlofi, Fotuhaʻa, Fulago, Futuna, Haʻafeva, Niuafoʻou, Moce, Niue, Ofu, Olosega, Samoa, Savaiʻi, Tafahi, Taʻu, Tofua, Tonga, Tungua, ʻUiha, ʻUpolu, Varoa, Vavaʻu, and Voleva. It is a 19 cm green lorikeet with a red throat, blue crown, and belly patch shading from red at the top to purple at the bottom.

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