The
Republic of Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas) is an independent country situated in
the central Pacific Ocean. Formerly a British Colony called the Gilbert Islands
(colonised in the 1890s) the country is now self-governed: the capital being the
island of Tarawa. Independence occurred on the 12th of July 1979.
The I-Kiribati people, along with their neighbours in the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu are a Micronesian people and can trace their ancestry back to Samoans who arrived in the islands around the year 1400 and other peoples who had settled there earlier. There are approximately 90,000 I-Kiribati living on 33 inhabitable coral atolls. The most populous of the islands is South Tarawa; on which there is basic infrastructure. The other islands, or outer islands have little in the way of modern facilities.
The 33
atolls of Kiribati are in three separate groups: the Gilbert group (the main
group in the west), the Phoenix group (the central group) and the Line group (to
the east). The total land area of Kiribati comes to only 717 square kilometres:
however the country has extensive marine resources; well over 90% of its area
being open ocean. Being on the equator, temperatures remain in the mid thirties
and humidity around 60% all year round. The county's income comes mainly from
overseas aid, copra sales (dried coconut) and fishing licenses- sea weed
harvesting is another recent enterprise taking off.
The capital, Tarawa is most notable because it was the site
of one of the bloodiest conflicts of
World War II. The islet of Betio (Beso) situated at the west end of South Tarawa
was a strategic position for the Japanese in their Pacific conquest; containing
a 4000 foot airstrip for planes to refuel at. The small islet was transformed by
the occupying force into an almost impenetrable castle: occupied by 4,836
soldiers and covered with pillboxes, emplacements and surrounded by mines and a
double curtain of off-shore barb wire. In 1943 the island was librated by US
marines at a high cost of 1,056 allied deaths and 2,292 wounded. Of the 4,836
Japanese, only 17 survived to be taken prisoner. The islet of Betio remains
littered with reminders of this bloody conflict till this day. See photos
here.
This site was last updated 16/09/03
