Editing History of Kiribati

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}

[[File:A Gilbertese shark tooth weapon (FMNH 99071) - journal.pone.0059855.g001.png|thumb|Shark tooth weapon from the Gilbert Islands, manufactured in the mid to late 19th century.]]

The islands which now form the Republic of [[Kiribati]] have been inhabited for at least seven hundred years, and possibly much longer. The initial [[Austronesian peoples]]’ population, which remains the overwhelming majority today, was visited by [[Polynesians|Polynesian]] and [[Melanesians|Melanesian]] invaders before the first [[Europe]]an sailors visited the islands in the 17th century. For much of the subsequent period, the main island chain, the [[Gilbert Islands]], was ruled as part of the [[British Empire]].  The country gained its independence in 1979 and has since been known as Kiribati.

==Pre-history==

For several millennia, the islands were inhabited by [[Austronesian peoples]] who had arrived from the [[Solomon Islands]] or [[Vanuatu]]. The [[I-Kiribati people|''I-Kiribati'']] or [[Gilbertese]] people settled what would become known as the [[Gilbert Islands]] (named for British captain [[Thomas Gilbert (captain)|Thomas Gilbert]] by [[Adam Johann von Krusenstern|von Krusenstern]] in 1820) some time in between [[3000 BC]]<ref>''Cinderellas of the Empire'', Barrie Macdonald, IPS, [[University of the South Pacific]], 2001, p.1</ref><ref>[[Encyclopædia Britannica]], "Kiribati"</ref> and 1300 AD.<ref>[http://www.mfep.gov.ki/Facts%20and%20background.htm I-Kiribati Ministry of Finance and Economic Development: "History"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091014051525/http://www.mfep.gov.ki/Facts%20and%20Background.htm |date=14 October 2009 }}</ref> Subsequent invasions by [[Samoa]]ns and [[Tonga]]ns introduced [[Polynesian culture|Polynesian]] elements to the existing [[Micronesia]]n [[culture]], and invasions by [[Fiji]]ans introduced [[Melanesia]]n elements. Extensive intermarriage produced a population reasonably homogeneous in appearance, language and traditions.

==Contact with other cultures==
[[File:TURNER(1884) MAP OF THE TOKELU, ELLICE AND GILBERT ISLANDS.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Map of the Southern Gilbert Islands, Ellice Islands and [[Tokelau]], 1884]]
In 1606 [[Pedro Fernandes de Queirós]] sighted [[Butaritari]] and [[Makin (atoll)|Makin]], which he named the Buen Viaje ('good trip' in Spanish) Islands.<ref name="HEMaude59">{{cite journal|first=H.E.|last=Maude|title=Spanish Discoveries in the Central Pacific: A Study in Identification|url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_68_1959/Volume_68,_No._4/Spanish_discoveries_in_the_Pacific,_by_H._E._Maude,_p_285-326/p1|year=1959|volume=68|issue=4|journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society|pages=284–326|access-date=24 March 2015|archive-date=10 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210235215/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_68_1959/Volume_68%2C_No._4/Spanish_discoveries_in_the_Pacific%2C_by_H._E._Maude%2C_p_285-326/p1|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Captain [[John Byron]] passed through the islands in 1764 during his circumnavigation of the globe as captain of [[HMS Dolphin (1751)|HMS ''Dolphin'']].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.solarnavigator.net/circumnavigation.htm |title=Circumnavigation: Notable global maritime circumnavigations |publisher=Solarnavigator.net |access-date=20 July 2009}}</ref>

In 1788, Captain [[Thomas Gilbert (captain)|Thomas Gilbert]] in {{ship||Charlotte|1784 ship|2}} and Captain [[John Marshall (British captain)|John Marshall]] in {{ship||Scarborough|1782 ship|2}}. Messrs. Gilbert and Marshall passed close to [[Abemama]], [[Kuria (islands)|Kuria]], [[Aranuka]], [[Tarawa Atoll|Tarawa]], [[Abaiang]], [[Butaritari]], and [[Makin (islands)|Makin]] without attempting to land on shore.<ref name=LifeMagazine1944-05-22>
{{cite news
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bk8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA91
| title=The Gilberts & Marshalls: A distinguished historian recalls the past of two recently captured pacific groups
| publisher=[[Life magazine]]
| date=1944-05-22
| author=Samuel Eliot Morison
| author-link=Samuel Eliot Morison
| access-date=2009-10-14
}}</ref>

== Further exploration ==

[[Image:Makin Islander.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Portrait of a native of the [[Makin (islands)|Makin]] islands, drawn by [[Alfred Thomas Agate]] (1841)]]

In 1820, the islands were named the ''îles Gilbert'' (in French, Gilbert Islands) by [[Adam Johann von Krusenstern]], a Russian admiral of the [[Czar]] after the British Captain [[Thomas Gilbert (captain)|Thomas Gilbert]], who crossed the archipelago in 1788. In 1824, French captain [[Louis-Isidore Duperrey]] was the first to map the whole Gilbert Islands archipelago. He commanded [[French ship Astrolabe (1811)|''La Coquille'']] on its circumnavigation of the earth (1822–1825).<ref name="KSDDM">{{cite journal|author1=Chambers, Keith S.|author2=Munro, Doug|title=The Mystery of Gran Cocal: European Discovery and Mis-Discovery in Tuvalu|url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_89_1980/Volume_89,_No._2/The_%26apos%3Bmystery%26apos%3B_of_Gran_Cocal%3A_European_discovery_and_mis-discovery_in_Tuvalu,_by_Doug_Munro,_p_167-198/p1|year=1980|volume=89|issue=2|journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society|pages=167–198|access-date=24 March 2015|archive-date=15 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215134048/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_89_1980/Volume_89%2C_No._2/The_%26apos%3Bmystery%26apos%3B_of_Gran_Cocal%3A_European_discovery_and_mis-discovery_in_Tuvalu%2C_by_Doug_Munro%2C_p_167-198/p1|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Two ships of the [[United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842|United States Exploring Expedition]], {{USS|Peacock|1828}} and {{USS|Flying Fish|1838}}, under the command of Captain Hudson, surveyed the [[Gilbert Islands]] of [[Tabiteuea]], [[Nonouti]], [[Aranuka]], [[Maiana]], [[Abemama]], [[Kuria (islands)|Kuria]], [[Tarawa]], [[Marakei]], [[Butaritari]], and [[Makin (islands)|Makin]]{{sfn|Stanton|1975|pp=212, 217, 219–221, 224–237, 240, 245–246}} (then called the Kingsmill Islands or Kingsmill Group in English). While in the Gilberts, they devoted considerable time to mapping and charting [[reef]]s and anchorages.<ref>Tyler, David B. – 1968 ''The Wilkes Expedition. The First United States Exploring Expedition'' (1838–42). Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society</ref> [[Alfred Thomas Agate]] made drawings of men of [[Butaritari]] and [[Makin (atoll)|Makin]].<ref>The extensive report of the expedition has been digitized by the [[Smithsonian Institution]]. The visit to the Gilbert Islands (then called the Kingsmill Islands) is described in Chapter 2 in volume 5, pp. 35–75, 'Ellice's and Kingsmill's Group', http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/usexex/</ref>

At one time, a subset of the northern Gilbert islands was known as '''Scarborough Islands''' and a subset of the southern Gilberts as the '''Kingsmill Group'''; in some 19th century texts, this last name of Kingsmills was applied to the entire Gilberts group.<ref name="Kingsmill">Very often, this name applied only to the southern islands of the archipelago, the northern half being designated as the Scarborough Islands. ''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary''. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam Webster, 1997. p. 594</ref>

==Missionaries==
Missionaries began to be active in the Gilbert Islands in the 1850s. Dr [[Hiram Bingham II]] of the [[American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions]] (ABCFM) arrived on [[Abaiang]] in 1857. The protestant missionaries of the [[London Missionary Society]] (LMS) were active in the southern Gilberts. On 15 October 1870, Rev. Samuel James Whitmee of the LMS arrived at [[Arorae]], and later that month he visited [[Tamana, Kiribati|Tamana]], [[Onotoa]] and [[Beru (atoll)|Beru]].<ref name="SJM">{{cite book |last1= Whitmee |first1= Samuel James |title= A missionary cruise in the South Pacific being the report of a voyage amongst the Tokelau, Ellice and Gilbert islands, in the missionary barque "John Williams" during 1870|year=1871|publisher= J. Cook & Co, Sydney }}</ref> In August 1872, [[George Pratt (missionary)|George Pratt]] of the LMS visited the islands.<ref name="LMS">{{cite book |last1= Lovett |first1=  Richard |title= The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795–1895|volume =1|year=1899|publisher=H. Frowde, London }}</ref> The Roman Catholic faith was introduced on [[Nonouti]] around 1880 by 2 Gilbert islanders, Betero and Tiroi, who had become christians in Tahiti. Father Joseph Leray, Father Edward Bontemps and Brother Conrad Weber, Roman Catholic [[Missionaries of the Sacred Heart]] arrived on Nonouti in 1888.<ref name="MKT">{{cite web|last= |work=Mauri – Kiribati, Tawara and Gilberts |title=Tourism Authority of Kiribati |date=2019 |url=https://visitkiribati.travel/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/4Tarawa-Guide-2019-final.pdf|access-date=30 March 2024  }}</ref>

==Visit of Robert Louis Stevenson to Abemama and Butaritari in 1889==
[[Robert Louis Stevenson]], [[Fanny Van de Grift|Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson]], and her son [[Lloyd Osbourne]], stayed for 2 months on [[Kingdom of Abemama|Abemama]] in 1889, which was described by Stevenson in his account of the 1889 voyage of the ''[[Equator (schooner)|Equator]]'' published as ''In the South Seas''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/464/464-h/464-h.htm|title = In the South Seas, by Robert Louis Stevenson}}</ref><ref name="South Seas 1896">''In the South Seas'' (1896) & (1900) Chatto & Windus; republished by The Hogarth Press (1987), Part IV</ref> At the time of their visit, the High Chief was [[Tembinok']], the last of the dozens of expansionist chiefs of Gilbert Islands of this period, despite Abemama historically conforming to the traditional southern islands' governance of their respective ''unimwaane''. Tembinok' was immortalised in Stevenson's book as "the last tyrant",<ref name="RLSISS">{{cite book | author= Robert Louis Stevenson| title= In the South Seas, Part V, Chapter 1 | year= 1896 | publisher= Chatto & Windus; republished by The Hogarth Press}}</ref> with Stevenson delved into the high chief's character and method of rule during his stay on Abemama; Tembinok' controlled the access of european traders to the atolls under his control and jealously guarded his revenue and his prerogatives as monarch.<ref name="South Seas 1896"/> 

Robert Louis Stevenson, Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne also visited [[Butaritari]] from 14 July 1889 to early August.<ref name="PIM1933-3">{{cite web| last =Osborne | first =Ernest | work= IV(2) Pacific Islands Monthly |title= Stevenson's Bouse on Butaritari|date = 20 September 1933|url= https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-310913018/view?partId=nla.obj-310927161#page/n34/mode/1up| accessdate=27 September 2021}}</ref> At this time Nakaeia was the ruler of Butaritari and [[Makin (islands)|Makin]] [[atolls]], his father being Tebureimoa and his grandfather being Tetimararoa. Nakaeia was described by Stevenson as “a fellow of huge physical strength, masterful, violent … Alone in his islands it was he who dealt and profited; he was the planter and the merchant” with Stevenson describing his subjects toiling in servitude and fear.<ref name="South Seas 1896"/>

Nakaeia allowed two San Francisco trading firms to operate, Messrs. Crawford and Messrs. Wightman Brothers, with up to 12 Europeans resident on islands of the [[atolls]]. The presence of the Europeans, and the alcohol they traded to the islanders, resulted in periodic alcoholic binges that only ended with Nakaeia making tapu (forbidding) the sale of alcohol. During the 15 or so days that Stevenson spent on Butaritari the islanders were engaged in a drunken spree that threatened the safety of Stevenson and his family.  Stevenson adopted the strategy of describing himself as the son of [[Queen Victoria]] so as to ensure that he would be treated as a person who should not be threatened or harmed.<ref name="South Seas 1896"/>

Robert Louis Stevenson, Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne returned to Abemama in July 1890 during their cruise on the trading steamer, ''Janet Nicoll''.<ref>Fanny Stevenson incorrectly names the ship in ''The Cruise of the Janet Nichol among the South Sea Islands'' A Diary by Mrs Robert Louis Stevenson (first published 1914), republished 2004, editor, Roslyn Jolly (U. of Washington Press/U. of New South Wales Press)</ref>

==Early traders and trading companies==

The first traders resident in the Gilberts were Richard Randell and George Durant who arrived in 1846.<ref name="HEMIL">{{cite journal |author1=Maude, H.E.  |author2= Leeson, Ida|title= The Coconut Oil Trade of the Gilbert Islands|url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/20704325|date=December 1965|volume= 74|issue=4|journal= The Journal of the Polynesian Society|pages=396–437|jstor= 20704325}}</ref> Durant moved on to [[Makin (atoll)|Makin]], while Randell remained on [[Butaritari]].<ref name="CCP2008">{{cite web|last=Dr Temakei Tebano & others |work=Office of Te Beretitent – Republic of Kiribati Island Report Series (for KAP II (Phase 2) |title=Island/atoll climate change profiles – Butaritari Atoll |date=September 2008 |url=http://www.climate.gov.ki/library.html |access-date=28 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106060656/http://www.climate.gov.ki/library.html |archive-date=November 6, 2011 }}</ref> The earliest [[trading company|trading companies]] on Butaritari were the [[Hamburg]]-based Handels-und Plantagen-Gesellschaft der Südsee-Inseln zu Hamburg (DHPG) with Pacific headquarters in [[Samoa]], and [[On Chong]] ([[China|Chinese]] traders with [[Australia]]n connections via the goldfields). The Japanese trading company [[Nanshin-ron#Economic development|Nanyo Boeki Kabushiki Kaisha]] established operations on Butaritari. Two San Francisco trading firms, Messrs. Crawford and Messrs. Wightman Brothers, were operating on Butaritari in 1889.<ref name="RLSIV">{{cite book | author= Robert Louis Stevenson| title= In the South Seas, Part IV | year= 1896 | publisher= Chatto & Windus; republished by The Hogarth Press}}</ref>

[[Walter Randolph Carpenter|W. R. Carpenter & Co. (Solomon Islands) Ltd]] was established in 1922.<ref name="WRC">WR Carpenter (PNG) Group of Companies: ''About Us'', http://www.carpenters.com.pg/wrc/aboutus.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201122059/http://www.carpenters.com.pg/wrc/aboutus.html |date=2014-02-01 }}, accessed 12 December 2011.</ref><ref name="DS">Deryck Scarr: ''Fiji, A Short History'', George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd., Hemel Hempstead, Herts, England, p. 122.</ref><ref name="MBF">MBf Holdings Berhad: ''About Us'', http://www.mbfh.com.my/aboutus.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508031113/http://www.mbfh.com.my/aboutus.htm |date=2017-05-08 }}, accessed 12 December 2011.</ref> Through the 1920s On Chong experienced gradual decline in its operations  as the result of low [[copra]] prices. Eventually On Chong was taken over by W. R. Carpenter & Co. These traders helped Butaritari became the commercial and trading capital of the [[Gilbert Islands]] until [[Burns Philp]], the trading company based in Sydney, Australia, moved to [[Tarawa]], following the seat of political power.

==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>

==World War II==

{{further|Pacific Islands home front during World War II| Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands}}

[[Japan]] seized part of the islands during [[World War II]] to form part of their island defenses. On 20 November 1943, [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] forces threw themselves against Japanese positions at [[Tarawa]] and [[Butaritari|Makin]] in the Gilberts, resulting in some of the bloodiest fighting of the [[Pacific War|Pacific campaign]]. The [[Battle of Tarawa]] and the [[Battle of Makin]] (in fact Butaritari) were a major turning point in the war for the Allies, which battles were the implementation of "[[Operation Galvanic]]".<ref name="galvanic">{{cite web| title=To the Central Pacific and Tarawa, August 1943—Background to GALVANIC (Ch. 16, p. 622) |url= http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ACTC/actc-16.html | access-date=15 March 2015}}</ref>

==Self-determination==

{{Main|Gilbert and Ellice Islands}}

===Transition to self-determination===

The formation of the [[United Nations Organisation]] after World War II resulted in the [[United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization]] committing to a process of decolonisation; as a consequence the British colonies in the Pacific started on a path to [[self-determination]].

As a consequence of the [[1974 Ellice Islands self-determination referendum]],<ref name=N>Nohlen, D, Grotz, F & Hartmann, C (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II'', p831 {{ISBN|0-19-924959-8}}</ref> separation occurred in two stages. The Tuvaluan Order 1975 made by the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]], which took effect on 1 October 1975, recognised [[Tuvalu]] as a separate British dependency with its own government. The second stage occurred on 1 January 1976 when separate administrations were created out of the civil service of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.<ref name="TPBN">{{cite journal|first=W. David|last=McIntyre|title=The Partition of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands|url=http://www.islandstudies.ca/sites/islandstudies.ca/files/ISJ-7-1-2012-McIntyre.pdf|year=2012|volume=7|issue=1|journal=Island Studies Journal|pages=135–146|doi=10.24043/isj.266|access-date=23 March 2015|archive-date=2 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202095641/https://www.islandstudies.ca/sites/islandstudies.ca/files/ISJ-7-1-2012-McIntyre.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Independence for Kiribati===

The [[Gilbert Islands|Gilberts]] obtained internal self-government in 1977 and held general elections in February 1978 which saw [[Ieremia Tabai]] elected Chief Minister at only age 27. [[Kiribati]] attained independence as a [[republic within the Commonwealth of Nations]] on 12 July 1979 by the [[Kiribati Independence Order 1979]] made by the [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|Privy Council of the United Kingdom]].

Although the indigenous [[Gilbertese language]] name for the Gilbert Islands proper is ''Tungaru'', 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 which were never considered part of the Gilberts chain.<ref>Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd Edition. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95</ref> The United States gave up its claims to 14 islands of the Line and Phoenix chains (previously asserted under the [[Guano Islands Act]]) in the 1979 [[Treaty of Tarawa]].<ref>[https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1836.htm US Department of State Background Note]</ref>

==Independence==

Following independence, the Kiribati [[head of state]] was 29-year-old [[Ieremia Tabai]]. Tabai served three terms as ''[[President of Kiribati|Beretitenti]]'' (President), from 1979 to 1991. Tabai was the youngest head of state in the [[Commonwealth of Nations]].

In 1994, [[Teburoro Tito]] was elected ''Beretitenti''. He was reelected in 1998 and 2002 but was ousted in a no-confidence vote in March 2003, and having served the maximum three terms, he is barred by the constitution from running for another term. Tito's temporary replacement was [[Tion Otang]], the Council of State chairman. In 2003, a new presidential election was held, in which two brothers, Anote and Harry Tong, were the two main candidates (a third candidate, [[Banuera Berina]], won just 9.1% of the vote.

[[Anote Tong]], a [[London School of Economics]] graduate, [[July 2003 Kiribati presidential election|won]] on 4 July 2003, and was sworn in as President soon afterward. He was [[2007 Kiribati presidential election|re-elected]] in 2007 and in 2012 for a [[2012 Kiribati presidential election|third term]]. <ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-16433905?print=true|title=Kiribati profile – Timeline|work=BBC News|date=23 June 2015}}</ref>

In March 2016, [[Taneti Maamau]] was [[2016 Kiribati presidential election|elected]] as the new President of Kiribati. He was the fifth president since the country became independent in 1979.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/298579/taneti-maamau-declared-new-president-of-kiribati|title = Taneti Maamau declared new president of Kiribati| website=[[Radio New Zealand]] |date = 10 March 2016}}</ref> In June 2020, President Maamau won [[2020 Kiribati presidential election|re-election]] for second four-year term. President Maamau was considered pro-China and he supported closer ties with Beijing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/kiribati-pro-china-president-taneti-maamau-wins-reelection-bid/a-53903705|title = Kiribati: Pro-China President Taneti Maamau wins reelection bid &#124; DW &#124; 23.06.2020| website=[[Deutsche Welle]] }}</ref>

==The Banaba issue==

An emotional issue has been the protracted bid by the residents of [[Banaba Island|Banaba]] to secede and have their island placed under the protection of [[Fiji]]. Because [[Phosphate mining in Banaba and Nauru|Banaba was devastated by phosphate mining]],<ref name="WM1985"/><ref name="Ellis 1935"/> the vast majority of [[Banabans]] was deported to the island of [[Rabi Island|Rabi]] in the Fiji Islands in the 1940s where they now number some 5,000 and enjoy full Fijian citizenship. The Kiribati government has responded by including several special provisions in the Constitution, such as the designation of a Banaban seat in the legislature and the return of land previously acquired by the government for phosphate mining. Only around 300 people remain on Banaba.  Despite being part of Kiribati, Banaba's municipal administration is by the [[Rabi Council of Leaders|Rabi Council of Leaders and Elders]], which is based on [[Rabi Island]], in [[Fiji]].  In 2006, [[Teitirake Corrie]], the Rabi Island Council's representative to the [[Parliament of Kiribati]], called for Banaba to secede from Kiribati and join Fiji.

==COVID-19 pandemic==
{{main|COVID-19 pandemic in Kiribati}}
When the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] began in early 2020, Kiribati closed off its borders, to the extent that citizens living abroad were prevented from returning. The nation remained free of the infection and in late 2021, as the case rate seemed to be declining in many countries, the government considered relaxing restrictions. By that time, 33 percent of the nation's residents had been fully vaccinated against infection. In January 2022, a group of Kiribati citizens who had been living and travelling abroad as [[Mormon missionary|missionaries]] for [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] when the pandemic began returned to Kiribati on a chartered plane. Despite negative tests for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 before and after arrival, and a quarantine period, 36 of the 54 passengers tested positive soon after their arrival. Within a few days, the viral infection had spread to more than 180 members of the community.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Perry|first1=Nick|last2=Metz|first2=Sam|work=AP News|title=COVID hits one of the last uninfected places on the planet|date=January 27, 2022|accessdate=Jan 30, 2022|url=https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-religion-new-zealand-fiji-27b40edd3d6e94c5b10185e49bbf182f}}</ref>

==See also==

{{portal|Tuvalu|Oceania}}
*[[History of Oceania]]
*[[Gilbert Islands]]
*[[Kiribati]]
*[[Politics of Kiribati]]
*[[President of Kiribati]]

==Bibliography==

*''Cinderellas of the Empire'', Barrie Macdonald, IPS, University of the South Pacific, 2001
*''Les Insulaires du Pacifique'', Ian C. Campbell & Jean-Paul Latouche, PUF, Paris, 2001
*''Kiribati: aspects of history'', Sister Alaima Talu et al., IPS, USP, 1979, reprinted 1998
*''[[A Pattern of Islands]]'', Sir [[Arthur Grimble]], John Murray & Co, London, 1952
*''Return to the Islands'', Sir Arthur Grimble, John Murray & Co, London, 1957
*''A History of Kiribati: from the Earliest Times to the 40th Anniversary of the Republic'', Michael Ravell Walsh, 2020 (Independently published).
*{{cite book 
 |last       = Stanton
 |first      = W. R.
 |year       = 1975
 |title      = The Great United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842
 |publisher  = University of California Press
 |location   = Berkeley
 |isbn       = 9780520025578
 |url-access = registration
 |url        = https://archive.org/details/greatunitedstate00will
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1836.htm U.S. State Department Background Note: Kiribati]
* [http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~gent0113/idl/idl.htm#The%20Kiribati%20adjustment%20of%201994/95 The Kiribati international date line adjustment of 1994/95]

{{History of Oceania}}{{Years in Kiribati}}{{Kiribati geography}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Kiribati}}
[[Category:History of Kiribati| ]]