Kiribati

The Republic of Kiribati is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The country's 33 atolls are scattered over 3,500,000 km² near the equator. Its name is pronounced /kiribas/ and is a Kiribati language rendering of "Gilberts", the English name for the main group of islands: the former Gilbert Islands.

Republic of Kiribati

( In Detail)
National motto: Te Mauri, Te Raoi ao Te Tabomoa (English: Health, Peace, and Prosperity)
Official language	English and Kiribati
Capital	Bairiki, South Tarawa
Largest City	Bairiki, South Tarawa
President	Anote Tong
Area - Total - % water	Ranked 170th 811 km² 0%
Population - Total ( 2001) - Density	Ranked 179th 91,985 131/km²
Independence	12 July 1979
HDI (2003)	NA – unranked
Currency	Australian dollar
Time zone	UTC +12, +13, +14
National anthem	Teirake Kaini Kiribati
Internet TLD	.ki
Calling Code	+686

History

Kiribati was inhabited by a single Micronesian ethnic group that spoke the same Oceanic language for 2,000 years before coming into contact with Europeans. The islands were named the Gilbert Islands in 1820 by a Russian admiral, Adam von Krusenstern, and French captain Louis Duperrey, after a British captain, Thomas Gilbert, who crossed the archipelago in 1788 ('Kiribati' is the islanders' pronunciation of plural 'Gilberts').

In 1892, the Gilbert Islands became a British protectorate together with the nearby Ellice Islands. They became a colony in 1916 and finally became autonomous in 1971. In 1943, the Battle of Tarawa was fought at Kiribati's capital Bairiki on Tarawa atoll.

In 1978, the Ellice Islands became the independent nation of Tuvalu, and Kiribati's independence followed on July 12, 1979. With independence, the United States relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited Phoenix Islands and all but three of the Line Islands, which became part of Kiribati territory.

Politics

The Parliament of Kiribati, called the Maneaba ni Maungatabu, is elected every four years, and consists of 40 elected representatives, together with the Attorney-General and a representative of the Banaban community from Rabi island in Fiji. The meeting houses found in every local community are also called maneaba. The President is both head of state and head of government, and is called te Beretitenti (pronounced te be-re-stense).

Each of the 21 inhabited islands has a local council that takes care of the daily affairs. Tarawa atoll has three councils: Betio Town Council, Te Inainano Urban Council (for the rest of South Tarawa) and Eutan Tarawa Council (for North Tarawa).

Districts

There are no more districts, but a group that unites the Line and the Phoenix islands (ministry at London, Christmas). Each inhabited island has its own council (3 councils on Tarawa: Betio, South-Tarawa, North-Tarawa; 2 councils on Tabiteuea). Kiribati was divided into 6 districts until independence:

• Banaba
• Central Gilberts
• Line Islands
• Northern Gilberts
• Southern Gilberts
• Tarawa

Four of the former districts (including Tarawa) lie in the Gilbert Islands, where most of the country's population lives. Only three of the Line Islands are inhabited, while the Phoenix Islands are uninhabited except for Kanton and Orona (80 people) and have no representation. Banaba itself is sparsely inhabited now. There is also a non-elected representative of the Banabans on Rabi Island in the nation of Fiji.

Geography

Kiribati consists of about 32 atolls and one island (Banaba), with at least three in each hemisphere. The groups of islands are:

• Banaba: an isolated island between Nauru and the Gilbert Islands.
• Gilbert Islands: 16 atolls located some 1500 km north of Fiji
• Phoenix Islands: 8 atolls and coral islands located some 1800 km southeast of the Gilberts
• Line Islands: 8 atolls and one reef, located about 3300 km east of the Gilberts.

Three additional islands in the Line Islands are United States possessions.

Banaba (or Ocean Island) is a raised-coral island that was once a rich source of phosphates, but it was mostly mined out before independence. The rest of the land in Kiribati consists of the sand and reef rock islets of atolls or coral islands that rise but a few meters (at most 6.5 feet) above sea level. The soil is thin and calcareous, making agriculture very difficult.

Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in the Line Islands is the world's largest atoll.

Based on a 1995 realignment of the International Date Line, Kiribati is now the easternmost country in the world, and was the first country to enter into the year 2000 at Caroline Island, which, not coincidentally, has been renamed Millennium Island. ( [1])

Two uninhabited Kiribati small islets, Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea, disappeared underwater in 1999, according to the South Pacific Regional Environment Program, and the islet of Tepuka Savilivili (Tuvalu) (not a Gilbertese name!) no longer has any coconut trees due to salination. [2] The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that sea levels will rise by about half a meter by 2100 due to global warming, with further rise inevitable. It is thus only a matter of time before the arable land becomes subject to increased soil salination and the nation is largely submerged. [3]

Economy

Kiribati has few natural resources. Commercially viable phosphate deposits were exhausted at the time of independence. Copra and fish now represent the bulk of production and exports.

Tourism provides more than one-fifth of GDP. Foreign financial aid, largely from the United Kingdom and Japan, is a critical supplement to GDP, equal to 25%-50% of GDP in recent years.

Demographics

The name of the people is Gilbertese (or I-Kiribati, in Gilbertese). While English is the constitution's and law's language, Kiribati, the native Micronesian language, is widely spoken. Note that in Gilbertese there is no letter 's', the sound is represented by 'ti'. That is why Kiritimati Island is known in English as Christmas Island (not to be confused with the Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, which is administered by Australia). Christianity is the major religion in the country, although mixed with many practices of the indigenous beliefs.