Kiribati

Kiribati

Kiribati officially the Independent and Sovereign Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population is just over 100,000 on 800 square kilometres. The nation is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, Banaba, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, straddling the equator, and bordering the International Date Line at its easternmost point amidst the Line Islands.

The name Kiribati is the local pronunciation of Gilberts, which derives from the main island chain, named the Gilbert Islands after the British explorer Thomas Gilbert, who sailed through the islands in 1788. The capital, South Tarawa, consists of a number of islets connected through a series of causeways, located in the Tarawa archipelago. Kiribati became independent from the United Kingdom in 1979. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the IMF and the World Bank, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999.

Kiribati was named in French by captains Krusenstern and Louis Isidore Duperrey "îles Gilbert", Gilbert Islands, after the British Captain Thomas Gilbert, who sighted the islands in 1788. The current name, Kiribati, is an adaptation of "Gilberts", from the former European name the "Gilbert Islands". Although the indigenous name for the Gilbert Islands proper is Tungaru in Gilbertese language, 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 never considered part of the Gilberts chain.

There are a total of 21 inhabited islands in Kiribati. Kiribati was formally divided into districts until independence. The country is now divided into three island groups, including a group that unites the Line Islands and the Phoenix Islands (ministry at London, Kiritimati) Island. The groups have no administrative function. Each inhabited island has its own council: three councils on Tarawa: Betio, South-Tarawa, North-Tarawa—and two councils on Tabiteuea). The original districts were:

Banaba

Tarawa Atoll

Northern Gilbert Islands

Central Gilbert Island

Southern Gilbert Islands

Line Islands.

The island groups include:

Gilbert Islands

Phoenix Islands, the second largest protected marine reserve in the world since the establishment of the Chagos Archipelago as a marine reserve.

Line Islands.

Four of the former districts (including Tarawa) lie in the Gilbert Islands, where most of the

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