the first three-quarters of the 19th century were marked by tribal warfare, incursions from neighbouring tonga, and the increasing encroachment of foreign powers. this period also saw the rise of a warlord by the name of seru epenisa cakobau, who forged the first nation-state covering all of modern fiji (except the island of rotuma) in 1871, before ceding it to the united kingdom in 1874.