'Kiribati' (
IPA: in
Gilbertese, sometimes incorrectly pronounced in
English), officially the 'Republic of Kiribati', is an
island nation located in the central tropical
Pacific Ocean. It comprises
33 atolls dispersed over 1,351,000
square miles (3,500,000 km²) straddling the
equator and borders the
International Date Line to the east.
The name 'Kiribati' is the local variant of "Gilberts", derived from Kiribati's pre-independence name, the '
Gilbert Islands'.
History
Main articles: History of Kiribati
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 first sighted by British and American ships in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. 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.
The first British settlers arrived in 1837. In 1892, the
Gilbert Islands became a
British protectorate together with the nearby
Ellice Islands. The Gilbert and Ellice Islands became a Crown colony in 1916.
Kiritimati (Christmas Island) became a part of the colony in 1919 and the
Phoenix Islands were added in 1937.
Tarawa Atoll and others of the Gilbert group were occupied by Japan during World War II. Tarawa was the site of one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. Marine Corps history when Marines landed in Nov. 1943, the
Battle of Tarawa was fought at Kiribati's former capital Betio on Tarawa Atoll.
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. In 1994,
Teburoro Tito was elected president. 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. The move, which fulfilled one of President Tito's campaign promises, was intended to allow businesses all across the expansive nation to keep the same business week. This also enabled Kiribati to become the first country to see the dawn of the third
millennium AD, an event of significance for tourism. Tito was reelected in 1998. In 1999, Kiribati gained
UN membership.
In 2002, Kiribati passed a controversial law enabling the government to shut down newspapers. The legislation followed the launching of Kiribati's first successful nongovernment-run newspaper. President Tito was reelected in 2003, but in March 2003, he was removed from office by a no-confidence vote, and replaced by a Council of State.
Anote Tong of the opposition party,
Boutokaan Te Koaua, was elected to succeed Tito in July 2003.
Some 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. According to ''Kiribati: A People's History'', Kiribati was the testing sites for many of the new H-Bombs in the 1960's.
Politics
Main articles: Politics of Kiribati
The Kiribati Constitution, promulgated
July 12,
1979, provides for free and open elections. The executive branch consists of a president (''te Beretitenti''), a vice president and a cabinet (the president is also chief of the cabinet and has to be MP). Under the constitution, the president, nominated from among the elected legislators, is limited to three four-year terms. The cabinet is composed of the president, vice president, and 10 ministers (appointed by the president) who are members of the House of Assembly.
The legislative branch is the unicameral "Maneaba Ni Maungatabu" (House of Assembly). It has elected members, including by constitutional mandate a representative of the Banaban people in
Fiji (Rabi Island, former Ocean Islanders), in addition to the attorney general, who serves as an ''ex-officio'' member. Legislators serve for a four-year term.
The constitutional provisions governing administration of justice are similar to those in other former British possessions in that the judiciary is free from governmental interference. The judicial branch is made up of the High Court (in Betio) and the Court of Appeal. The president appoints the presiding judges.
Local government is through island councils with elected members. Local affairs are handled in a manner similar to town meetings in colonial America. Island councils make their own estimates of revenue and expenditure and are generally free from central government controls.
Kiribati has formal political parties but their organization is quite informal. Ad hoc opposition groups tends to coalesce around specific issues. Today, the only recognizable parties are the Maneaban te Mauri Party and the National Progressive Party. There is universal suffrage at age 18.
[1]
Administrative divisions
Main articles: Districts of Kiribati
Kiribati was formally divided into districts until its independence. 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). Each inhabited island has its own council (3 councils on Tarawa:
Betio, South-Tarawa, North-Tarawa; 2 councils on
Tabiteuea).
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. Only three of the
Line Islands are inhabited. The
Phoenix Islands are uninhabited except for
Kanton, 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. 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).
Foreign relations
General relations
Kiribati was admitted as the 186th member of the
United Nations in September 1999.
Regional relations
Kiribati maintains cordial relations with most countries and has close relations with its Pacific neighbors,
Japan,
Australia and
New Zealand; the latter three provide the majority of the country's foreign aid.
Taiwan and Japan also have specified-period licenses to fish in Kiribati's waters.
In November 1999, it was announced that Japan's
National Space Development Agency planned to lease land on
Kiritimati (Christmas Island) for 20 years on which to build a
spaceport. The agreement stipulated that Japan was to pay $840,000 (US Dollars) per year and would also pay for any damage to roads and the environment. A Japanese-built downrange
tracking station operates on Kiritimati,
[1] and an abandoned airfield on the island was designated as the landing strip for a proposed reusable unmanned space shuttle called
HOPE-X. HOPE-X was eventually canceled by Japan in 2003, however.
The politics of the environment
.
In 2002, the major international issues facing many Pacific island states involved environmental challenges -- a consequence of
global warming, according to several scientific studies. In this regard, Kiribati, like other islands in the Pacific, will launch legal action against developed countries at international venues, such as the
International Court of Justice, for polluting practices which make them most liable for global warming. Most Pacific island countries may be washed away in the future, as a consequence of global warming and the resulting rise in sea level. Meanwhile, they suffer from
biodiversity depletion and a lack of
freshwater sources. These serious challenges are also linked to global warming. The refusal of the
United States and Australia to sign the
Kyoto Protocol raises the level of alarm in the Pacific region.
Geography
Map of Kiribati
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. 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.
[2]
According to the
South Pacific Regional Environment Program, two small uninhabited Kiribati islets, Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea, disappeared underwater in 1999. 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 (20
in) by 2100 due to
global warming and a further rise would be inevitable. It is thus likely that within a century the nation's arable land will become subject to increased
soil salination and will be largely submerged.
[3]
Economy
Some of the Kiribati islands in the Gilbert group.
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, equal in recent years to 25% to 50% of GDP. Agriculture accounts for 12.4% of GDP and 71% of labour; industry 0.9% of GDP and 1.9% of labour; trade 18.5% of GDP and 4.1% of labour; commercial trade 5.7% of GDP and 1.4% of labour; and service industries 5.7% of GDP and 1.4% of labour. The main export and import countries are Australia, USA, France, Japan, Hong Kong and Germany.
Balance of payments
Kiribati's narrow export base and its enormous need for imports contribute to the country’s large
deficit in the merchandise trade balance. However, the country has several sources of external income, including
fishing license fees, investment income, seamen’s
remittances, and external
grants. These inflows are usually more than sufficient to finance the large trade
deficit. As a result, Kiribati’s current account balance has been in surplus most of the time in the past decade. International reserves have remained at around US$300 million since 2001.
Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of Kiribati
The native people of Kiribati are called "i-Kiribati." The word "Kiribati" is the local spelling of the word "Gilbert" and the original name of this British colony was the
Gilbert Islands. In 1979 when
independence was gained, the indigenous format of the name was adopted.
Ethnically, the i-Kiribati are
Micronesians, but recent archeological evidence indicates that
Austronesians originally settled the islands thousands of years ago. Around the 14th century, Fijians and Tongans invaded the islands thus complicating the ethnic range, and there are also people of
Polynesian ancestry further diversifying the ethnic typologies. Intermarriage among all ancestral groups, however, has led to a population reasonably
homogeneous in appearance and traditions.
The people of Kiribati speak a Micronesian dialect called
Gilbertese, although English is the
official language. English is not used very often outside the island capital of Tarawa. It is more likely that English is mixed in its use with Gilbertese. Older generations of I-Kiribati tend to use more complicated versions of the language.
Christianity is the major religion, having been introduced by
missionaries in the 19th century. The population is predominantly Roman Catholic, although a substantial portion of the population is
Congregationalist Protestant. Many other Protestant denominations, including more
evangelical types, are also represented, and the
Baha'i religion also exists in Kiribati, along with Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the latter numbering about 12,000.
Human rights
Kiribati is a constitutional
multiparty republic. The government of Kiribati works to respect the civil and
human rights of its citizens. There are only a few areas in which problems remain, but the law provides effective means of addressing individual complaints . Some limits on the freedoms of press and speech, and a few incidences of
extrajudicial communal justice have been reported. Overall, Kiribati has one of the more positive records of
human rights in the world.
Human development
The population of Kiribati has a life expectancy at birth of 60 years (57 for males, and 63 for females) and an infant mortality rate of 54 deaths per 1,000 live births.
The people of Kiribati mostly live in villages with populations between 50 and 3,000 on the outer islands. Most houses are made of materials obtained from coconut and pandanus trees. Frequent droughts hinder reliable large-scale agriculture, so the islanders have largely turned to the sea for livelihood and subsistence. Most are outrigger sailors and fishers. Copra plantations serve as a second source of employment. In recent years, large numbers of citizens have moved to the more urban island capital of Tarawa.
To increase opportunities for the islanders, the government has placed greater emphasis on education. Primary education is free and compulsory for the first six years, now being extended to nine years. Mission schools are slowly being absorbed into the government primary school system. Higher education is expanding; students may seek technical, teacher or marine training, or study in other countries. To date, most choosing to do the latter have gone to Fiji.
Culture
Main articles: Culture of Kiribati
Songs (''te anene'') and above all dances (''te mwaie'') are held in high regard.
Music
Kiribati folk music is generally based around
chanting or other forms of vocalizing, accompanied by
body percussion. Public performances in modern Kiribati are generally performed by a seated chorus, accompanied by a guitar. However, during formal performances of the standing dance (''Te Kaimatoa'') or the hip dance (''Te Buki'') a wooden box is used as a percussion instrument. This box is constructed so as to give a hollow and reverberating tone when struck simultaneously by a chorus of men sitting around it. Traditional songs are often love-themed, but there are also competitive, religious, children's, patriotic, war and wedding songs . There are also
stick dances (which accompany legends and semi-historical stories . These stick dances or 'tirere' (pronounced seerere) are only performed during major festivals.
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. The Frigate bird (''Fregata minor'') on the Kiribati flag refers to this bird-like style of Kiribati dancing. Most dances are in the standing or sitting position with movement limited and staggered. Smiling whilst dancing is generally considered vulgar within the context of Kiribati dancing. This is due to its origin of not being solely as a form of entertainment but as a form of storytelling and a display of the skill, beauty and endurance of the dancer.
[3]
Outside perspectives
Arthur Grimble wrote about his time working in the British colonial service in Kiribati (then the Gilbert Islands) in the early 20th century in two popular books ''A Pattern of Islands'' (1952) and ''Return to the Islands'' (1957). He also undertook academic studies of Gilbertese culture.
J. Maarten Troost's more recent autobiographical experiences on the
Tarawa Atoll are documented in his book ''
The Sex Lives of Cannibals'' (2004).
Miscellaneous topics
★
Communications in Kiribati
★
Foreign relations of Kiribati
★
Military of Kiribati
★
Transportation in Kiribati
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Kiribati Scout Association
★
List of islands belonging to Kiribati
References
1. http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/erc/bgnotes/eap/kiribati9506.html
2. Millennium: Date Line Politics Harris, Aimee
3. See Robert Louis Stevenson's ''In the South Seas'' and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards winner ''Akekeia!'' by Tony & Joan Whincup, Wellington, 2001.
External links
★
Open Directory Project - ''Kiribati'' directory category
★
Interactive maps of Kiribati
★
Kiri Tours - A website dedicated to travel information about Kiribati.
★
Kiribati Tourism - The Official Website of the Kiribati National Tourism Office.
★
2005 Census of Population and Housing — Provisional results of the 2005 census.
★
Kiribati Olympic pins — Features Olympic pins for the Kiribati Olympic team.
★
Radio Tarawa Kiribati Online - National Radio of Kiribati (streaming in Ogg Vorbis)
★
[4] - Olympiaz's Kiribati Photo Albums.
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