Burebasaga is the largest of the three confederacies that make up

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

House of Chiefs A House of Chiefs (or ''House of Traditional Leaders'') is a post-colonial assembly, either legislative or advisory, that is recognised by either a national or regional government as consisting of and providing a collective, public voice for an eth ...

, to which some of the Fijian chiefs belong.

Composition of Burebasaga

It consists of the provinces of

Rewa Province Rewa is a province of Fiji. With a land area of 272 square kilometers (the smallest of Fiji's provinces), it includes the capital city of Suva (but not most of Suva's suburbs) and is in two parts — one including part of Suva's hinterland to the ...

Nadroga Nadroga-Navosa ( Nadroga: Nadrogā-Navoha) is one of the fourteen provinces of Fiji and one of eight based in Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. It is about 2,385 square kilometers and occupies the South-West and Central areas of Viti Levu, Fiji' ...

, Serua, Kadavu off the coast of

Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Divi ...

, and parts of Ba and Namosi. Burebusaga covers the southern and western parts of the island of

Viti Levu Viti Levu (pronounced ) is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji. It is the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population. Geology Fiji lies in a tectonically complex area between the Australian P ...

. The Western Division and the southern part of the Central Division belong to Burebasaga. Lomanikoro, in Rewa Province, is the capital of this confederacy.

Chiefly titles

The

Roko Tui Dreketi The Roko Tui Dreketi is the Paramount Chief of Fiji's Rewa Province and of the Burebasaga Confederacy, to which Rewa belongs. Details on the title This title is considered the second most senior in Fiji's House of Chiefs. The dynasty holding t ...

is the Paramount Chief of the Burebasaga Confederacy. Unlike the

Kubuna Kubuna is one of the three ''confederacies'' that make up Fiji's House of Chiefs (Fiji), House of Chiefs, to which all of Fiji's Ratu, chiefs belong. Details of Kubuna It consists of the provinces of Tailevu Province, Tailevu, Naitasiri Province ...

and

Tovata Tovata is one of three ''confederacies'' comprising the Fijian House of Chiefs, to which all of Fiji's chiefs belong. Details of Tovata It is located in the north east of the country, covering the provinces of Bua, Macuata and Cakaudrove on t ...

confederacies, Burebasaga does not require its paramount chief to be a male. The present ''Roko Tui Dreketi'' is Ro Teimumu Vuikaba Kepa, who succeeded her late sister, Ro Lady Lala Mara, a former First Lady of Fiji, in 2004. Kepa was also Minister of Education in the Fijian

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

from 2000 to 2006. Another prominent Burebasaga chief is the

Tui Vuda Tui Vuda is the traditional title of the paramount chief of the Vuda district in Ba Province on Fiji's northwest coast. The most recent person to hold the title is Ratu ''Ratu'' () is an Austronesian title used by male Fijians of chiefly ra ...

. The most recent holder of this title was Ratu Josefa Iloilo, who was the

President of Fiji The president of Fiji is the head of state of the Republic of Fiji. The president is appointed by the Parliament for a three-year term under the terms of the 2013 Constitution of Fiji. Although not entirely a figurehead, the role of president ...

from 2000 to 2009, apart from a 29-day hiatus (5 December 2006 to 4 January 2007) after he was deposed in a

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such ...

. The military returned the presidency to Iloilo. Former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Ratu Tevita Momoedonu Ratu Tevita Momoedonu (13 January 1946 – 26 November 2020) was a Fijian politician who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Fiji twice – each time extremely briefly. Both appointments were to get around constitutional technicalities; hi ...

is also a Burebasaga chief.

References

*''Apologies To Thucydides'': Understanding History as Culture and Vice Versa - Page 59, Page 286, by Marshall David Sahlins, ''reference to Title of Roko Tui Dreketi and Burebasaga'' * ''International Studies'' - Page 22, by Indian School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University School of International Studies - 1959, ''reference to Burebasaga as a Confederacy''
When Is the Nation?:
Towards an Understanding of Theories of Nationalism - Page 202, by Atsuko Ichijo, Gordana Uzelac - 2005, ''reference to Burebasaga Confederacy and its composition''

External links

Sources

Confederacies of Fiji Fijian chiefs Ba Province Kadavu Province Nadroga-Navosa Province Namosi Province Rewa Province Serua Province {{Fiji-geo-stub