Pidgin Fijian (also known as Jargon Fijian, Fijian Pidgin, Broken Fijian) was a plantation language used by iTaukei (Indigenous) Fijians and foreigners in Fiji's plantations.^[1]

Indigenous Fijians first came into contact with Europeans in 1800s when a few sailors were stranded in a shipwreck.^[1] After that initial incident, contact between Indigenous Fijians and Europeans became common. The Europeans then started to exploit Fiji's resources.^[2] The cotton plantation industry began in the 1860s.^[1] The development of Pidgin Fiji is correlated with the development of plantation agriculture in Fiji.^[1]

At this point, the Europeans only used Fijian labourers and needed a form of communication to use between them.^[1] The cotton industry collapsed in 1870, but the European settlers found other crops, such as sugar, to farm.^[3] The plantation industry then grew, compelling the European settlers to recruit more labourers from neighbouring Pacific Islands.^[3]

The new labour workers came from various islands with around 180 different languages.^[3] Because there was a need for communication and there was no mutually intelligible language between all, Jargon Fijian was modified and became the lingua franca on the plantations.^[3]

The sugar plantation industry rapidly grew. With a higher demand for labourers, the European settlers recruited labourers from India.^[3] Between 1879 and 1916, over 60 000 Indians from vast areas of India were brought to Fiji as labour workers.^[4] Jargon Fijian was being used more often, leading to its pidginization.^[1]

Pidgin Fijian began as a jargon and developed into a pidgin but never extended further into an extended pidgin or pidgin creole.^[4] Pidgin Fijian has features that can trace to simplifications made by Indigenous Fijians to make it easier for foreigners to learn.^[1] There is evidence of modifications that were errors made by Europeans and other foreigners.^[1]

English was not a target language in Pidgin Fijian.^[1] The European settlers were given orders to learn the language of the labourers and believed that non-Europeans should not learn English to put them in their "place."^[1]