Ra is one of the fourteen provinces of Fiji. Occupying the northern area of Viti Levu, the largest island, it is one of eight Viti Levu-based Provinces. With a land area of 1341 square kilometers, it had a population of 29,464 at the 2007 census, the last to date. The main urban centre is at Vaileka, with a population of 3,361 in 1996.
The province includes the districts of Nalawa, Nakorotubu, Rakiraki, and Saivou. These four districts have their own paramount chiefs unlike other provinces where there is paramount chief governing the whole province.The four paramount chiefs are the : Tui Nalawa, Tui Naivitilevu, Ratu ni Natauiya and Turaga na Gonesau.
Ra is governed by a Provincial Council, currently chaired by Ratu Meli Bolobolo,Paramount chief of the tikina Rakiraki.
The Ra dialect of Fijian is distinctive in that the consonant /t/, pronounced elsewhere in Fiji, is pronounced as a glottal stop.
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