ABOUT KIRIBATI:

The Republic of Kiribati straddles the equator in the central Pacific and is made up of 33 islands - Banaba, the large island - and 32 atolls spread over three archipelagos Gilbert, Phoenix and Line.

Spanish explorer Pedro Fernandez de Quiros sighted the northern Kiribati island of Butaritari in 1606. In 1788 British naval captains John Marshall and Thomas
Gilbert, for whom the Gilbert Islands were later named, found other islands while sailing from Australia to China. The islands were visited regularly by whalers and traders who eventually deserted their ships and settled on the islands. Many black birders also came to the islands and forced islanders into slavery on their ships or on plantations in other parts of the world. Many did not give in without a struggle though. The Kiribati people were known as fighters and used spears with shark teeth on them in battle.

After the arrival of Christianity in the mid-1800s, sixteen of the islands were declared a British protectorate along with nine of the Polynesian inhabited Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu). The discovery of phosphate on Banaba (or Ocean Island as it was called) resulted in it being placed under British jurisdiction as well. In 1916 Britain formally annexed the area as the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.

During WWII the Gilbert Islands were occupied by Japan and became the site of some of the fiercest fighting between Japan and the USA. The transition to independence began in 1963 when island residents gained a political voice through a legislative and executive council that advised the colonial government.

Because the Ellice Islanders wanted to maintain their own cultural identity, the two islands were separated in 1975. Kiribati gained independence in 1979 and became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Today the population in Kiribati is 83,976 (1998) and the capital is based in Tarawa, the most developed island in the group. Two thirds of the population lives on Tarawa. The people of Kiribati or I-Kiribati as they call themselves also speak their own Micronesian language.

Because of an overcrowding problem, the government resettled 4,700 residents of the main island group onto less populated islands like the Line Islands. Copra plantations were set up by the government on these islands to provide employment and means of survival.

The islands are low-lying coral atolls with coastal lagoons except for Banaba that is of raised limestone origin. The soil in Kiribati is generally poor, apart from Banaba, and rainfall is variable. The soil in the northern Kiribati islands are better for growing crops, however the islands in the south do not have as much rain. The only crops that can be grown are coconut and its by-products (copra), pandanus and taro. There are no hills or streams throughout the group and water must be obtained from storage tanks or wells.

Global warming and environmental issues are a concern for Kiribati. Many of its low-lying atolls are only two metres above sea level. Also because the islands are scattered over a wide distance it makes it harder for the government to oversee. In 1995 they moved the international date line to the eastern border of their country so that it would no longer be divided by the date line.