Kiribati - Geography, Miscellaneous topics

Official name Republic of Kiribati, formerly Gilbert Islands

Local name Kiribati Timezone GMT -12 Area 717 km²/277 sq mi population total (2002e) 90 600 Status Republic Date of independence 1979 Capital Bairiki (on Tarawa Atoll) Languages English (official) and Gilbertese Ethnic groups Micronesian, small Polynesian and non-Pacific minorities Religions Roman Catholic (54%), Kiribati Protestant (39%), Baha'i (2%), Seventh-day Adventist (2%), Mormon (2%) Physical features Group of 33 low-lying islands scattered over c.3 000 000 km²/1 200 000 sq mi of the C Pacific Ocean; comprises the Gilbert Is Group, Phoenix Is, and 8 of the 11 Line Islands, including Christmas I; islands seldom rise to more than 4 m/13 ft and usually consist of a reef enclosing a lagoon. Climate Maritime equatorial climate in central islands, tropical further N and S; periodic drought in some islands; wet season (Nov–Apr); subject to typhoons; average annual temperatures 28°C (Jan), 27°C (July) in Tarawa; average annual rainfall 1977 mm/78 in. Currency 1 Australian Dollar (AUD) = 100 cents Economy 50% of land under permanent cultivation; main exports include fish, particularly tuna; phosphates; copra, coconuts, bananas, pandanus, breadfruit, papaya; sea fishing. GDP (2001e) $79 mn, per capita $800 History Gilbert and Ellice Is proclaimed a British protectorate, 1892; became a Crown Colony, 1916; occupied by Japan during World War II, but driven out by US forces; Ellice Is severed links with Gilbert Is to form separate dependency of Tuvalu, 1975; Gilbert Is independence as Kiribati, 1979; a sovereign and democratic republic, with a President and an elected House of Assembly.

Republic of Kiribati
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Te Mauri, Te Raoi ao Te Tabomoa (English: Health, Peace and Prosperity)
Anthem: Teirake Kaini Kiribati
Capital (largest city)	South Tarawa 1°28′N 173°2′E
Official language	English
Government	Republic
- President	Anote Tong
Independence
- from UK	12 July 1979
Area
- Total	726 km² (186th) 280 sq mi
- Water (%)	0
Population
- July 2005 estimate	99,350 (197th)
- 2000 census	84,494
- Density	137/km² (73rd) 355/sq mi
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
- Total	$221 million1 (179th)
- Per capita	$2,358 (136th)
HDI  (2006)	n/a (unranked) (n/a)
Currency	Australian dollar (AUD)
Time zone	(UTC+12, +13, +14)
Internet TLD	.ki
Calling code	+686
1 Supplemented by a nearly equal amount from external sources.

Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. 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. That is why the Pacific Island known as Christmas Island is known in the language of Kiribati as Kiritimati Island. This island should not be confused with the Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, which is administered by Australia. 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. Kiritimati (Christmas Island) became a part of the colony in 1919 and the Phoenix Islands were added in 1937.

The Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands gained self-rule in 1971, and were separated in 1975 and granted internal self-government by Britain. In 1978, the Ellice Islands became the independent nation of Tuvalu, and Kiribati's independence followed on July 12, 1979. In a treaty signed shortly after independence and ratified in 1983, the United States relinquished all claims (previously asserted under the Guano Act) to the sparsely inhabited Phoenix Islands and those of the Line Islands that are part of Kiribati territory.

Overcrowding has been a problem, and in 1988 it was announced that 4,700 residents of the main island group would be resettled onto less populated islands. Kiribati's 1995 act of moving the international date line far to the east to encompass Kiribati's Line Islands group, so that it would no longer be divided by the date line, courted controversy.

Many of the islands of Kiribati especially in the remote Line Islands, were formerly used by the United States and Great Britain for atomic bomb testing. The country is now divided into three island groups which have no administrative function, including a group that unites the Line and the Phoenix islands (ministry at London, Christmas). The original districts used to be:

Banaba Central Gilberts Line Islands Northern Gilberts Southern Gilberts Tarawa Atoll

The island groups include:

Gilbert Islands Phoenix Islands Line Islands

Four of the former districts (including Tarawa) lie in the Gilbert Islands, where most of the country's population lives.

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 930 miles (1,500 km) north of Fiji Phoenix Islands: 8 atolls and coral islands located some 1,100 miles (1,800 km) southeast of the Gilberts Line Islands: 8 atolls and one reef, located about 2,050 miles (3,300 km) east of the Gilberts.

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. 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.

Kiribati is one of the clearest examples of overpopulation, since there is simply not sufficient water supply, arable land, solid waste disposal capacity or sanitation facilities capability on a number of the islands.

See also: Music of Kiribati

Dance

The uniqueness of Kiribati when compared with other forms of pacific island dance is its emphasis on the outstretched arms of the dancer and the sudden birdlike movement of the head.

See also: Dance in Kiribati

Miscellaneous topics

Communications in Kiribati Foreign relations of Kiribati Military of Kiribati Transportation in Kiribati Kiribati Scout Association