vanua

Vanua is a term used in Fiji and other Melanesian contexts to denote land or homeland, and, more broadly, the social fabric surrounding a people and their territory. In Fijian, vanua encompasses both the physical land and the community—the people, their ancestors, and their customs—united in a shared identity and rights over resources.

Historically and in contemporary practice, vanua refers to a complex social unit that includes land tenure, customary governance, and ceremonial obligations. The concept underpins iTaukei customary law and is tied to the authority of chiefs and elders who administer land and resolve disputes within the vanua. Access to and management of land and fisheries often involve family or chiefly mataqali groups within the vanua.

Geographically, the term appears in toponymy. The Fiji island of Vanua Levu, meaning "Big Land," is the second-largest island in the country and is part of the Vanua Levu group in the Northern Region. The name reflects the association of land and community central to vanua.

Beyond Fiji, vanua appears in other Melanesian languages and toponyms, such as Vanua Lava in Vanuatu, where it also denotes land or homeland in local languages. The term thus signals a shared cultural emphasis on land, identity, and communal responsibility across parts of the Pacific.