Project: Kiribati/Country

Republic of Kiribati
Flag of Kiribati

Contents

Location

The Republic of Kiribati is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. The islands' spread straddles the equator and the 180th meridian, although the International Date Line goes around Kiribati and swings far to the east, almost reaching 150°W. This brings Kiribati's easternmost islands, the southern Line Islands south of Hawaii, into the same day as the Gilbert Islands and places them in the most advanced time zone on Earth: UTC+14.

In Kiribati, there are no longer official administrative divisions but it is possible to divide Kiribati geographically into one isolated island and three archipelagos or island groups:

There are 21 inhabited islands in Kiribati. Each inhabited island has its own council(s). Two atolls have more than one local council: Tarawa has three and Tabiteuea has two, for a total of 24 local councils.

South Tarawa (Gilbertese: Tarawa Teinainano) is the capital and hub of the Republic of Kiribati .

See Also: Geography of Kiribati

History

The islands which now form the Republic of Kiribati have been inhabited for at least seven hundred years, and possibly much longer.

In 1820, the islands were named the îles Gilbert (in French, Gilbert Islands) by Adam Johann von Krusenstern, a Russian admiral of the Czar after the British Captain Thomas Gilbert, who crossed the archipelago in 1788. In 1824, French captain Louis-Isidore Duperrey was the first to map the whole Gilbert Islands archipelago. He commanded La Coquille on its circumnavigation of the earth (1822–1825).

Two ships of the United States Exploring Expedition, USS Peacock (1828) and USS Flying Fish (1838), under the command of Captain Hudson, visited many of the Gilbert Islands (then called the Kingsmill Islands or Kingsmill Group in English). While in the Gilberts, they devoted considerable time to mapping and charting reefs and anchorages. Alfred Thomas Agate made drawings of men of Butaritari and Makin. Whalers, blackbirders, and merchant vessels arrived in great numbers in the 19th century, and the resulting upheaval fomented local tribal conflicts and introduced damaging European diseases. In an effort to restore a measure of order, the Gilbert Islands and the neighboring Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu) were declared as the British Protectorate by Captain E.H.M. Davis of HMS Royalist (1883) on 27 May 1892.

The British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) were administered by a High Commissioner resident in Fiji until 1952, then in Honiara. A Resident Commissioner, Charles Swayne, was appointed in 1893 following the protectorate on the Gilbert group and on the Ellice group becoming formal and effective in 1892. The protectorate's headquarters was established on Tarawa in 1896, where Resident Commissioner William Telfer Campbell presided from 1896 until 1908. The headquarters were then moved to Ocean Island (now Banaba), and continued upon the transition to a Crown Colony.

Ocean Island (now Banaba) was included in the protectorate in 1900 and then in the colony in 1916. In the same year, Fanning Island and Washington Island were included in it together with the islands of the Union Islands (now Tokelau).

The islands became a Crown Colony on 12 January 1916 by the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Order in Council, 1915. Christmas Island was included in the colony in 1919 although it was contested by the U.S. under the Guano Islands Act of 1856. The Union Islands were unofficially transferred to New Zealand administration in 1926 and officially in 1948. The Phoenix Islands were added in 1937 and the five islands of the Central and Southern Line Islands were added in 1972.

The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony continued to be administered by a Resident Commissioner. One very famous colonial officer in the colony was Sir Arthur Grimble (1888–1956), at first as a cadet officer in 1914, under Edward Carlyon Eliot. Arthur Grimble became the Resident Commissioner of the colony in 1926.

Ocean Island remained the headquarters of the colony until the British evacuation in 1942 because of the Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands. Japan seized part of the islands during World War II to form part of their island defenses. On 20 November 1943, Allied forces threw themselves against Japanese positions at Tarawa and Makin in the Gilberts, resulting in some of the bloodiest fighting of the Pacific campaign. The Battle of Tarawa and the Battle of Makin (in fact Butaritari) were a major turning point in the war for the Allies, which battles were the implementation of "Operation Galvanic".

After World War II, the colony headquarters was re-established on Tarawa, first on Betio islet (then occupied by American forces following the Battle for Tarawa) and subsequently on Bairiki.

As a consequence of the 1974 Ellice Islands self-determination referendum, separation occurred in two stages. The Tuvaluan Order 1975 made by the Privy Council, which took effect on 1 October 1975, recognized Tuvalu as a separate British dependency with its own government. The second stage occurred on 1 January 1976 when separate administrations were created out of the civil service of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.

The Gilberts obtained internal self-government in 1977 and held general elections in February 1978 which saw Ieremia Tabai elected Chief Minister at only age 27. Kiribati attained independence as a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations on 12 July 1979 by the Kiribati Independence Order 1979 made by the Privy Council of the United Kingdom.

Although the indigenous Gilbertese language name for the Gilbert Islands proper is Tungaru, the new state chose the name "Kiribati," the Gilbertese rendition of "Gilberts," as an equivalent of the former colony to acknowledge the inclusion of islands which were never considered part of the Gilberts chain. The United States gave up its claims to 14 islands of the Line and Phoenix chains (previously asserted under the Guano Islands Act) in the 1979 Treaty of Tarawa.

Following independence, the Kiribati head of state was Ieremia Tabai. At 29-years-old, Tabai served three terms as Beretitenti (President), from 1979 to 1991. Tabai was the youngest head of state in the Commonwealth of Nations.

In March 2016, Taneti Maamau was elected as the new President of Kiribati. He was the fifth president since the country became independent in 1979.

An emotional issue has been the protracted bid by the residents of Banaba to secede and have their island placed under the protection of Fiji. Because Banaba was devastated by phosphate mining, the vast majority of Banabans was deported to the island of Rabi in the Fiji Islands in the 1940s where they now number some 5,000 and enjoy full Fijian citizenship. The Kiribati government has responded by including several special provisions in the Constitution, such as the designation of a Banaban seat in the legislature and the return of land previously acquired by the government for phosphate mining. Only around 300 people remain on Banaba. Despite being part of Kiribati, Banaba's municipal administration is by the Rabi Council of Leaders and Elders, which is based on Rabi. In 2006, Teitirake Corrie, the Rabi Island Council's representative to the Parliament of Kiribati, called for Banaba to secede from Kiribati and join Fiji.

See also: History of Kiribati

Historical Timeline

  • 1820 Islands were named the îles Gilbert
  • 1892 The Gilbert Islands and the neighboring Ellice Islands were declared as a British Protectorate
  • 1900 Ocean Island (now Banaba) was included in the protectorate
  • 1916 The islands became a Crown Colony. Fanning Island and Washington Island and the Union Islands (now Tokelau) included in colony.
  • 1926 The Union Islands were unofficially transferred to New Zealand administration
  • 1937 The Phoenix Islands were added
  • 1942 Japanese occupation of Gilbert Islands and Ocean Island
  • 1945 Japanese occupation officially ended of Ocean Island
  • 1972 The five islands of the Central and Southern Line Islands were added in 1972.
  • 1975 Tuvalu recognized as a separate British dependency with its own government
  • 1977 The Gilberts obtained internal self-government
  • 1979 Kiribati attained independence as a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations. The United States gave up its claims to 14 islands of the Line and Phoenix chains

Demographics

See Also: I-Kiribati, Tungaru or Gilbertese

See Also: Demographics of Kiribati

Ethnicities: The native people of Kiribati are called I-Kiribati. Ethnically, the I-Kiribati are Oceanians, a sub-ethnicity of Austronesians. Recent archaeological evidence indicates that Austronesians originally settled the islands thousands of years ago[citation needed]. Around the 14th century, Fijians, Samoans, and Tongans invaded the islands, thus diversifying the ethnic range and introducing Polynesian linguistic traits. Intermarriage among all ancestral groups, however, has led to a population reasonably homogeneous in appearance and traditions.

Language: The people of Kiribati speak Gilbertese, an Oceanic language. English is the other official language, but is not used very often outside the island capital of Tarawa.

See also: Gilbertese Language

Translation Tool: Translate

Religion: Christianity is the major religion in Kiribati, having been lately introduced by missionaries, because of its remoteness and the absence of any significant European presence until the latter half of the 19th century. The population is predominantly Roman Catholic (58.9%), with two main Protestant denominations (Kiribati Protestant Church 8.4% and Kiribati Uniting Church 21.2%) accounting for 29.6%. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (5.6%), Baháʼí Faith (2.1%), Seventh-day Adventist Church (2.1%), Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other small faiths together account for less than 2%

Kiribati Naming Conventions

In Kiribati, a complete name usually consists of a given name and a family name or surname (most commonly patrilineal). They are invariably given in the Western name order, or given name followed by family name.

Head of State and Head of Government

Notable Born Title In Office Photo Status
Taaneti (Maamau) Mwamwau1960President2016Not Connected

I-Kiribati Notables

Notable Born Died Claim to Fame Photo Status CC7
Arthur Francis Grimble18881956Resident Commissioner, Specialist in the myths and oral traditions of the Kiribati peopleConnected33
Michael Louis Bernacchi19111983Resident Commissioner in the Glibert and Ellice IslandsConnected533
Teatao Teannaki19161985First Vice-President of Kiribati, Second PresidentNot Connected
Meamea Thomas19872013I-Kiribati weightlifter, Olympian and first flagbearer for Kiribati at an Olympic GamesNot Connected

For additional I-Kiribati notables see: Category: Kiribati, Notables

Top Unconnected Branches

Resources

Wikipedia: Articles Related to Kiribati

Family Search: Kiribati Genealogy

Cyndi's List: Asia and the Pacific

WorldGenWeb: The Kiribati GenWeb is page currently inaccessible (December 2023)

The Library of Congress:Kiribati European Reading Room: Templatia

Kiribati National Archives: General Directorate of Archives

Kiribati National Library: Biblioteka Kombëtare



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