Moturiki
island in Lomaiviti, Eastern Division, Fiji
Moturiki is an island belonging to Fiji's Lomaiviti Archipelago. Covering an area of 10.9 square kilometers, it is situated at 17.45° South and 178.44° East. To the north-east is the nearby island of Ovalau.
Etymology
An etymology for the name of the island, proposed by Ratu Viliame, is that it is a combination of the Proto-Polynesian words *motu (which means island) and *riki (which means small).
Settlements and living conditions
The island is inhabited by 654 Fijians living in nine villages along the coast: Daku (48), Naicabecabe (81), Nasauvuki (114), Nasesara (107), Navuti (128), Niubasaga (33), Savuna (21), Uluibau (159), and Wawa (13).
The village of Yanuca (61) is part of the Moturiki tikina, it is located on the neighboring island of Yanuca. Population figures are from the 2017 census.
The villages on Moturiki have faced on-going disease outbreaks, including typhoid fever, primarily due to the lack of safe drinking water. At points, this has required the large-scale delivery of clean water by boat and then manually distributed by vehicles and carts.
There are two primary schools: The Moturiki District School in Nasauvuki Village, and the Uluibau Primary School.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Moturiki” is island in Lomaiviti, Eastern Division, Fiji. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Moturiki, island and Lomaiviti, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “island in Lomaiviti, Eastern Division, Fiji” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2189562. The Library of Congress control number is sh2007007743. Authority coordinates are -17.764, 178.746. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2017.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Moturiki”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Moturiki primary sources, Moturiki archive and Moturiki research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Moturiki”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Moturiki” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.