Editing History of Kiribati (section)

==Colonial era==

{{Main|Gilbert and Ellice Islands}}

Whalers, [[Blackbirding|blackbirders]], and merchant vessels arrived in great numbers in the 19th century, and the resulting upheaval fomented local tribal conflicts and introduced damaging European diseases. In an effort to restore a measure of order, the Gilbert Islands were declared as the [[Protectorate#British protectorates|British Protectorate]]{{Broken anchor|date=2024-12-25|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Protectorate#British protectorates|reason= The anchor (British protectorates) [[Special:Diff/996090857|has been deleted]].}} by Captain [[Edward H.M. Davis|Edward Davis]] of {{HMS|Royalist|1883}} on 27 May 1892.<ref name="JRCD">{{cite book|first= |last= |title = The proceedings of H.M.S. "Royalist", Captain E.H.M. Davis, R.N., May–August, 1892, in the Gilbert, Ellice and Marshall Islands}}</ref><ref name="JRdd">{{cite web|first= Jane|last= Resture|title = ''TUVALU HISTORY'' – 'The Davis Diaries' (''H.M.S. Royalist'', ship's journal 1892)|url= http://www.janeresture.com/tuvalu_davis/index.htm|access-date=20 September 2011}}</ref> The neighboring [[Ellice Islands]] (now [[Tuvalu]]) were declared a British Protectorate later in 1892.<ref name="TAHNPT">{{cite book |first1=Noatia P. |last1=Teo |editor-first1=Hugh |editor-last1=Larcy |title=Tuvalu: A History|year= 1983 |publisher= University of the South Pacific/Government of Tuvalu|pages=127–139|chapter= Chapter 17, Colonial Rule }}</ref>  The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate was administered as part of the [[British Western Pacific Territories]] (BWPT).<ref name="TAHNPT"/> 

===British Western Pacific Territories===

{{Main|British Western Pacific Territories}}

[[Image:SS TOKELAU - Government Steamer Gilbert & Ellice Islands.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Tuncurry (1903)|SS ''Tokelau'']]: Government Steamer Gilbert & Ellice Islands Protectorates (30 April 1909)]]

The BWPT were administered by a [[Western Pacific Territories#List of High Commissioners for the Western Pacific (1877–1976)|High Commissioner]] resident in [[Fiji]] until 1952, then in [[Honiara]]. 

A [[Governor of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands|Resident Commissioner]], [[Charles Richard Swayne|Charles Swayne]], was appointed in 1893 following the protectorate on the Gilbert group and on the Ellice group becoming formal and effective in 1892. The protectorate's headquarters was established on [[Tarawa]] in 1896, where Resident Commissioner [[William Telfer Campbell]] presided from 1896 until 1908. The headquarters were then moved to [[Banaba|Ocean Island]] (now Banaba), and continued upon the transition to a Crown Colony. This move in headquarters arose from the operations of the [[John T. Arundel#Pacific Phosphate Company Ltd|Pacific Phosphate Company]] resulting in good shipping connections to Ocean Island, and in any case the role of the British colonial authorities emphasised the procurement of labour for the mining and shipping of [[phosphate]] and keeping order among the workers.<ref name="WM1985">{{cite book |last1= Maslyn Williams & Barrie Macdonald |title= The Phosphateers |year=1985 |publisher= Melbourne University Press |isbn=0-522-84302-6}}</ref><ref name="Ellis 1935">{{cite book |last1= Ellis |first1= Albert F. |author-link1= Albert Fuller Ellis |title= Ocean Island and Nauru; Their Story |year= 1935 |publisher= Angus and Robertson, limited|location= Sydney, Australia |oclc= 3444055 }}</ref>

[[Banaba|Ocean Island]] (now Banaba) was included in the protectorate in 1900 and then in the colony in 1916.<ref name="WM1985"/><ref name="Ellis 1935"/> In the same year, [[Tabuaeran|Fanning Island]] and [[Teraina|Washington Island]] were included in it together with the islands of the [[Tokelau|Union Islands]] (now Tokelau).<ref name="Macdonald, B. K. 1982">Macdonald, B. K. (1982). Cinderellas of the Empire: Towards a History of Kiribati and Tuvalu, Australian National University Press, Canberra.</ref>

In 1916, the administration of the BWTP changed as the islands became a [[Crown Colony]] on 12 January 1916. But the new colony remained under the jurisdiction of BWTP until 1971.<ref name="PRIVY">{{cite book |title=Annexation of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands to his Majesty's dominions : at the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 10th day of November, 1915|year=1916 |publisher=Great Britain, Privy Council, Gilbert and Ellice Islands Order in Council, 1915 (Suva, Fiji : Government Printer)}}</ref>

===Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony===

The islands became a [[Crown Colony]] on 12 January 1916 by the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Order in Council, 1915.<ref name="PIPA">{{cite web| last =(Imperial).  | title = Pacific Islanders Protection Act, ss. 6–11|date=1875| url= http://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/pacific-islanders-protection-act-1875| access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref> [[Kiritimati|Christmas Island]] was included in the colony in 1919 although it was contested by the U.S. under the [[Guano Islands Act]] of 1856.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.doi.gov/oia/Islandpages/disputedpage.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930014736/http://www.doi.gov/oia/Islandpages/disputedpage.htm |archive-date=30 September 2007 |title=FORMERLY DISPUTED ISLANDS |publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs}}</ref> The [[Tokelau|Union Islands]] were unofficially transferred to New Zealand administration in 1926 and officially in 1948. The [[Phoenix Islands]] were added in 1937 and the five islands of the Central and Southern [[Line Islands]] were added in 1972.<ref name="Macdonald, B. K. 1982"/>

The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony continued to be administered by a Resident Commissioner. One very famous colonial officer in the colony was Sir [[Arthur Grimble]] (1888–1956), at first as a cadet officer in 1914, under [[Edward Carlyon Eliot]] who was [[Resident Commissioner]] of the BWPT then the colony from 1913 to 1920. This period is described in Eliot's book "Broken Atoms" (autobiographical reminiscences) (Pub. G. Bles, London, 1938) and in Sir [[Arthur Grimble]]'s "[[A Pattern of Islands]]" (Pub. John Murray, London, 1952). [[Arthur Grimble]] became the [[Resident Commissioner]] of the colony in 1926. In 1930 Grimble, issued revised laws, ''Regulations for the good Order and Cleanliness of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands'', which replaced laws created during the BWPT.

Ocean Island remained the headquarters of the colony until the British evacuation in 1942 because of the [[Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands]]. After World War II, the colony headquarters was re-established on [[Tarawa]], first on [[Betio]] islet (then occupied by American forces following the [[Battle of Tarawa|Battle for Tarawa]]) and subsequently on [[Bairiki]].<ref name="Macdonald, B. K. 1982"/><ref>Maude, H. E., & Doran, E., Jr. (1966). The precedence of Tarawa Atoll. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 56, 269–289.</ref><ref>Williams, M., & Macdonald, B. K. (1985). The phosphateers: A history of the British Phosphate Commissioners and the Christmas Island Phosphate Commission. Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic.</ref>