Ra is one of the fourteen

provinces of Fiji The Provinces of Fiji, (''"veiyasana" ''(pl.) and ''"yasana"'' (s.) in the Fijian language), are the 14 administrative units into which the country is divided, particularly in relation to the provision of resources and services to the indigenous Fi ...

. Occupying the northern area 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 largest island, it is one of eight Viti Levu-based Provinces. With a land area of 1341 square kilometers, it had a population of 30,432 at the 2017

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

. The main urban centre is at

Vaileka Vaileka commonly known as Rakiraki town is an urban centre in Fiji, in the Rakiraki region of Ra Province. It had a population of 3,361 at the 1996 census, the last to date. It is not officially a "town," however: that term is legally reserved ...

, with a population of 3,361 in 1996. Cubu

The province has 19 districts: * Bureivanua * Bureiwai * Kavula * Lawaki *

Mataso Mataso is an island in the Shefa of Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean. The island is a part of Shepherd Islands archipelago. Geography Mataso Island is located south of Makira Island. It is formed by two hills separated by white sandy beaches known ...

* Nababa * Nailuva *

Nakorotubu Nakorotubu is one of nineteen districts in Fiji's Ra Province. It consists of seven sub-districts or sub-regions: the five villages of Namarai, Nacobau, Nadavacia, Saioko and Verevere. Nakorotubu also refers to one of the four main traditional re ...

* Nakuilava * Nalaba * Nalawa * Naroko * Nasau * Navitilevu * Navolau *

Rakiraki Rakiraki () is a district in Fiji's Ra Province. It is located between Tavua and Korovou when travelling along the Kings Road, on the northern coast of Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. At the 1996 census, the Rakiraki district had a populati ...

* Raviravi * Saivou * Tokaimalo The districts of Saivou,

, and Nalawa have their own chiefs. The four chiefs are the Gone Turaga na Vunivalu na Tui Nalawa, Gone Marama na Ratu ni Natauiya Turaga na Gonesau and Gone Turaga Tu Navitilevu. Ra Province has 19 tikina makawa and has 86 villages. Ra coast

Ra is governed by a Provincial Council, currently chaired by Mr Simione Naikarua who was a former Board Secretary of Airport Fiji Limited and former Chief Executive Officer of the Nasinu Town Council. Mr Simione Naikarua hails from Burenitu village in the district of Nalawa in Ra. There was an attempt in 2015 to create a "Christian state" in Ra. This was described by the then Chief of Police, Ben Groenewald, as a harmless cult, but the prime minister

Frank Bainimarama Josaia Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama (Fijian: ʃoˈsɛia βoˈreŋɡe mbɛiniˈmarama born 27 April 1954) is a Fijian politician and former naval officer who served as the prime minister of Fiji from 2007 until 2022. A member of the FijiFirst ...

took a sterner view and ordered a clamp-down by the army. It was due to claims by the “cult” that the constitution of Fiji violated the UN Indigenous People's Rights. But in order to ask for the UN's help, it had to be from a nation, hence The Ra Christian State was born to contest the constitution. Many of the conspirators have been put in jail for Sedition and Treason.''The Economist'', 23 January 2016, p. 53. Isolated farming community in the Ra Province

The Ra

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

of Fijian is distinctive in that the consonant /t/, pronounced elsewhere in Fiji, is pronounced as a

glottal stop The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...

References

Provinces of Fiji Ra, Fiji {{Fiji-geo-stub