Lautoka is the second largest city of Fiji.
It is in the west of the island of Viti Levu, 24 kilometres north of Nadi, and is the second port of entry in Fiji, after Suva.
Lying in the heart of Fiji’s sugar cane growing region, it is known as the Sugar City, which covers an area of 16 square kilometres.
Lautoka is known as the Sugar City because of its sugar cane belt areas.
The main Lautoka Sugar Mill is the city’s biggest employer by far. It was built for the Colonial Sugar Refining Company by workers from India and the Solomon Islands between 1899 and 1903.
Other industries include timber milling, garment manufacturing, brewery, jewellery, blending, steelworks, fishing, hatchery, domestic items, paints, and construction.
In 2012 Lautoka was announced as the administration capital of the western division.
The name of the city is derived from two Fijian words meaning “spear hit.” According to an oral tradition, the name arose following a duel between two chiefs. As one speared the other, he was reported to have cried “Lau-toka!”
The first known European sighting of the Lautoka area took place on May 7, 1789.
Captain William Bligh spotted and roughly charted the coasts of Lautoka while making his epic voyage to Timor, in the wake of the mutiny on the “Bounty” in which he and a few sailors loyal to him were thrown overboard and cast adrift on a lifeboat.
Ratilal Patel was a mayor in 1967.
Incorporated as a town in 1929, Lautoka was proclaimed a city on February 25, 1977.
Lautoka is the only city in Fiji’s Western Division, and is the industrial hub of Fiji which contains more than 50 per cent of the nation’s population.
Source: WIKIPEDIA
