Kiribati
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This article is about the island nation. For other uses, see Kiribati (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Kiritimati, an island in the Line Islands and part of Kiribati.
Republic of Kiribati
Kiribati
Flag
Coat of arms
Motto: Te Mauri, Te Raoi ao Te Tabomoa(English: Health, Peace and Prosperity)
Anthem: Teirake Kaini Kiribati
Capital
Tarawa[1]1°28′N 173°2′E / 1.467°N 173.033°E / 1.467; 173.033
Largest city
South Tarawa
Official language(s)
English, Gilbertese
Demonym
I-Kiribati
Government
Republic
-
President
Anote Tong
Independence
-
from United Kingdom
July 12, 1979
Area
-
Total
726 km2 (186th)280 sq mi
-
Water (%)
0
Population
-
2009 estimate
98,000[2] (197th)
-
2005 census
92,533
-
Density
135/km2 (73rd)350/sq mi
GDP (PPP)
2009 estimate
-
Total
$602 million[3]
-
Per capita
$6,048[3]
GDP (nominal)
2009 estimate
-
Total
$130 million[3]
-
Per capita
$1,304[3]
HDI (1998)
.515 (medium) (unranked)
Currency
Kiribati dollarAustralian dollar (AUD)
Time zone
(UTC+12, +13, +14)
Drives on the
left
Internet TLD
.ki
Calling code
686
1 Supplemented by a nearly equal amount from external sources.
Kiribati (pronounced /ˈkɪrɨbæs/ ( listen) KIRR-i-bas;[4] Gilbertese: [ˈkiɾibas]), officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. It is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3,500,000 square kilometres, (1,351,000 square miles) straddling the equator, and bordering the International Date Line to the east. The name Kiribati is the local pronunciation of "Gilberts", derived from the main island chain, the Gilbert Islands. 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.
Contents[hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Early history
2.2 Colonial era
2.3 Independence to present day
3 Politics
4 Island groups
5 Foreign relations
5.1 Regional relations
5.2 United States relations
6 Geography
7 Economy
7.1 Balance of payments
8 Demographics
9 Human development
9.1 Health
10 Education
11 Transport
12 Culture
12.1 Music
12.2 Dance
12.3 Outside perspectives
13 See also
14 References
15 External links
//
[edit] Etymology
Kiribati was named 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 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.[5]
[edit] History
Main article: History of Kiribati
[edit] Early history
The area now called Kiribati has been inhabited by Micronesians speaking the same Oceanic language since sometime between 3000 BC[6] and AD 1300. The area was not isolated; invaders from Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji later introduced Polynesian and Melanesian cultural aspects, respectively. Intermarriage tended to blur cultural differences and resulted in a significant degree of cultural homogenisation.[7]
[edit] Colonial era
The islands were first sighted by British and American ships in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The main island chain was named the Gilbert Islands in 1820 by a Russian admiral, Adam von Krusenstern, and French captain Louis Duperrey, after a British captain named Thomas Gilbert, who crossed the archipelago in 1788 when sailing from Australia to China.[8]
American troops during the Gilbert Island Campaign
From the early 19th century, Western whalers, merchant vessels and slave traders visited the islands, introducing diseases and firearms.[9] The first British settlers arrived in 1837. In 1892 the Gilbert Islands consented to become a British protectorate together with the nearby Ellice Islands. They were administered by the Western Pacific High Commission based in Fiji.[8] Together they became the crown colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in 1916. Kiritimati (Christmas Island) became 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 US Marine Corps history. Marines landed in November 1943; the Battle of Tarawa was fought at Kiribati's former capital Betio on Tarawa Atoll.
Some of the islands of Kiribati, especially in the remote Line Islands, were formerly used by the United States and United Kingdom for nuclear weapons testing including hydrogen bombs in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
[edit] Independence to present day
The Gilbert 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. The Gilbert Islands became independent as Kiribati on July 12, 1979. 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 Banaba, the Line Islands, and the Phoenix Islands, which were never considered part of the Gilberts chain.[10] In the Treaty of Tarawa, signed shortly after independence and ratified in 1983, the United States relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited Phoenix Islands and those of the Line Islands that are part of Kiribati territory.
Overcrowding has been a problem. In 1988 it was announced that 4,700 residents of the main island group would be resettled onto less-populated islands. Teburoro Tito was elected president in 1994. 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, an event of significance for tourism. Tito was reelected in 1998. Kiribati gained UN membership in 1999.[11]
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 was removed from office in March 2003 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. He was re-elected in 2007.[12]
In the summer of 2008, Kiribati officials asked Australia and New Zealand to accept Kiribati citizens as permanent refugees. Kiribati is expected to be the first country in which all land territory disappears due to global climate change. In June 2008, the Kiribati president Anote Tong said that the country has reached "the point of no return"; he added: "To plan for the day when you no longer have a country is indeed painful but I think we have to do that."[13][14][15][16]
[edit] Politics
Main article: Politics of Kiribati
The Former Kiribati House of Assembly
Kiribati Parliament House
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 4-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 ( Banaba Island, former Ocean Island), 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 generally are free from central government controls.
Presidential residence
Kiribati has formal political parties but their organisation is quite informal. Ad hoc opposition groups tend to coalesce around specific issues. Today the only recognisable parties are the Boutokaan te Koaua Party, Maneaban te Mauri Party, Maurin Kiribati Party and Tabomoa Party. There is universal suffrage at age 18.[17]
In government terms, Kiribati has a police force, which carries out law enforcement functions and paramilitary duties, and which has small police posts on all islands, but no military. The police have one patrol boat.[18] Security assistance would be provided if necessary by Australia and New Zealand.
[edit] Island groups
Main article: Districts of Kiribati
Kiribati was formally divided into districts until its independence. The country now is divided into three island groups which have no administrative function, including a group which unites the Line Islands and the Phoenix Islands (ministry at London, Christmas). Each inhabited island has its own council (three councils on Tarawa: Betio, South-Tarawa, North-Tarawa; two 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, now the largest protected marine reserve in the world.[19][20]
Line Islands
Four of the former districts (including Tarawa) lie in the Gilbert Islands, where most of the country's population lives. Five of the Line Islands are uninhabited (Malden Island, Starbuck Island, Caroline Island, Vostok Island and Flint Island). 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).
[edit] Foreign relations
Main article: Foreign relations of Kiribati
Kiribati was admitted as the 186th member of the United Nations in September 1999.
[edit] Regional relations
Kiribati maintains cordial relations with most countries and has close relations with its Pacific neighbours, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, which provide the majority of the country's foreign aid. Taiwan and Japan also have specified-period licences to fish in Kiribati's waters. [citation needed]
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. [citation needed] The agreement stipulated that Japan was to pay US$840,000 per year and would also pay for any damage to roads and the environment. A Japanese-built downrange tracking station operates on Kiritimati[21] 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, however, was eventually canceled by Japan in 2003. [citation needed]
[edit] United States relations
Main article: Kiribati-United States relations
The Peace Corps, an independent United States federal agency, announced plans to pull out of Kiribati in November 2008 after 35 years of working in the country.[22] Michael Koffman, the Peace Corps Country Director for Kiribati, cited the frequently cancelled and erratic domestic air service in the country as the main reason why the Peace Corps was leaving Kiribati.[22]
[edit] Geography
Main article: Geography 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
Caroline Atoll channel between west side of Long Island and Nake Island.
Banaba (or Ocean Island) is a raised-coral island which 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 which rise but a few metres (half a dozen feet or so) 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.[23]
According to the South Pacific Regional Environment Program, two small uninhabited Kiribati islets, Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea, disappeared underwater in 1999.[24] The islet of Tepuka Savilivili (Tuvalu; not a Gilbertese name) no longer has any coconut trees due to salination.[25] The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that sea levels will rise by about half a metre (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.[26] However, sea-level rise may not necessarily mean Kiribati will be inundated. Paul Kench at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Arthur Webb at the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji released a study in 2010 on the dynamic response of reef islands to sea level rise in the central Pacific. Kiribati was mentioned in the study, and Webb and Kench found that the three major urbanised islands in Kiribati - Betio, Bairiki and Nanikai - increased by 30 per cent (36 hectares), 16.3 per cent (5.8 hectares) and 12.5 per cent (0.8 hectares), respectively. [27]
Kiribati is the only country in the world to be located in both hemispheres and lying on both sides of the 180th meridian.
[edit] Economy
Main article: Economy of Kiribati
A Bosj's warehouse in Kiribati
Kiribati is one of the world's poorest countries. It has few natural resources. Commercially viable phosphate deposits on Banaba 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. Kiribati is considered one of the least developed countries in the world.
Foreign financial aid, largely from Australia, New Zealand 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 trading partners are Australia, USA, France, Japan, Hong Kong and Germany. [citation needed]
In 1956 Kiribati established a sovereign wealth fund to act as a store of wealth for the country's earnings from phosphate mining. In 2008 the Revenue Equalization Reserve Fund was valued at US$ 400 million.[28]
[edit] 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 licence fees, investment income, seamen’s remittances and external grants. [citation needed] 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. [citation needed]
[edit] Demographics
Main article: 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. The indigenous format of the name was adopted when independence was gained in 1979.
Ethnically, the I-Kiribati are Micronesians. Recent archaeological 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; people of Polynesian ancestry further diversified 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 an Oceanic language called "Gilbertese". Although English is the official language, it 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. The Bahá'í religion also exists in Kiribati, along with Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the latter numbering 11,511 at the end of 2005.[29]
[edit] Human development
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. [citation needed]
[edit] Health
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. Tuberculosis is present in the country.[30] Government expenditure on health was at US$268 per capita (PPP) in 2006.[31] In 1990-2007, there were 23 physicians per 100,000 persons.[32] After the arrival of Cuban doctors, the infant mortality rate has decreased significantly. [33]
[edit] 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, and those wishing to complete medical training have been sent to Cuba.[34]
[edit] Transport
Bonriki International Airport
Beginning in January 2009, Kiribati has two domestic airlines: Air Kiribati and Coral Sun Airways. Both airlines are based out of Tarawa's Bonriki International Airport and serve destinations across the Gilbert Islands only.[citation needed]
Neither the Phoenix nor Line Islands are served by the domestic carriers. Fiji's national carrier Air Pacific provides an international service from Fiji's main airport, Nadi International Airport. Our Airline, the national airline of Nauru, formerly provided service to Nauru International Airport, connecting to Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, and further to Brisbane, Australia, but this service was cancelled in June 2008.[35]
[edit] Culture
Main article: Culture of Kiribati
Songs (te anene) and above all dances (te mwaie) are held in high regard.
[edit] Music
Kiribati folk music is generally based on 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 [citation needed]. There are also stick dances (which accompany legends and semi-historical stories [citation needed]. These stick dances or 'tirere' (pronounced seerere) are only performed during major festivals.
See also: Music of Kiribati
[edit] Dance
A welcome display
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.[36]
See also: Dance in Kiribati
[edit] Outside perspectives
Edward Carlyon Eliot, who was Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert & Ellice Islands (now Kiribati & Tuvalu) from 1913 to 1920 describes this period in his book "Broken Atoms" (autobiographical reminiscences) Pub. G. Bles, London, 1938.
Sir Arthur Grimble wrote about his time working in the British colonial service in Kiribati (then the Gilbert Islands) from 1914 to 1932 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).
[edit] See also
Kiribati portal
Main article: Outline of Kiribati
Commonwealth of Nations
List of international rankings
Outline of geography
Communications in Kiribati
Law enforcement in Kiribati
Transportation in Kiribati
Kiribati Scout Association
List of islands belonging to Kiribati
[edit] References
^ "Kiribati government website". Government of Kiribati. http://http://www.kiribatitourism.gov.ki/index.php/aboutkiribati/aboutkiribatioverview. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
^ Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division (2009) (PDF). World Population Prospects, Table A.1. 2008 revision. United Nations. http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2008/wpp2008_text_tables.pdf. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
^ a b c d "Kiribati". International Monetary Fund. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2010/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2007&ey=2010&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=826&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CLP&grp=0&a=&pr.x=53&pr.y=10. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
^ "kiribati - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". M-w.com. 2007-04-25. http://m-w.com/dictionary/kiribati. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Reilly Ridgell. Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. 3rd Edition. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95
^ "Cinderellas of the Empire", Barrie Macdonald, IPS, University of the South Pacific, 2001, p. 1
^ I-Kiribati Ministry of Finance and Economic Development: "History"[dead link]
^ a b "BBC Timeline:Kiribati". BBC. 15 May 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/2944816.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
^ see reference note n°3
^ Reilly Ridgell. "Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia". 3rd Edition. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95
^ "Kiribati". Un.org. 2003-10-01. http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/58/statements/kirieng031001.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ "IFES Election Guide - Country Profile: Kiribati". Electionguide.org. http://www.electionguide.org/country.php?ID=113. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ "Leader of disappearing island nation says climate change an issue of survival, not economics", International Herald Tribune, June 5, 2008
^ "Kiribati's President: 'Our Lives Are At Stake': For the Islands of Kiribati, Global Warming Poses Immediate Dangers", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, April 2, 2007
^ "Paradise lost: climate change forces South Sea islanders to seek sanctuary abroad", The Independent, June 6, 2008
^ "Tiny atoll in Pacific cries out for help", The Times of India, June 6, 2008
^ [1][dead link]
^ "Pacific Forum class patrol boat". Hazegray.org. 2002-03-25. http://www.hazegray.org/worldnav/asiapac/asiapac.htm#5. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ "Reuters". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP231103. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Russell, Christine (2 2009). "First Wave". Science News 175 (5): 25–29. doi:10.1002/scin.2009.5591750125.
^ "FDSN Station Info - XMAS". Fdsn.org. 1997-08-22. http://www.fdsn.org/station_book/IU/XMAS/xmas.html. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ a b Bataua, Batiri (2008-07-03). "Peace Corps To Quit Kiribati". Pacific Magazine. http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2008/07/03/peace-corps-to-quit-kiribati. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
^ Harris, Aimee (April 1999). "Millennium: Date Line Politics". Honolulu Magazine. http://www.trussel.com/kir/dateline.htm. Retrieved 2006-06-14.
^ "Islands disappear under rising seas". BBC News. 1999-06-14. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/368892.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ [2][dead link]
^ Eilperin, Juliet (2006-01-29). "Debate on Climate Shifts to Issue of Irreparable Change". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/28/AR2006012801021_2.html. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
^ http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627633.700-shapeshifting-islands-defy-sealevel-rise.html
^ "Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute". Swfinstitute.org. http://www.swfinstitute.org/fund/kiribati.php. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Global Mormonism » Kiribati at globalmormonism.byu.edu
^ http://apps.who.int/globalatlas/predefinedReports/TB/PDF_Files/kir.pdf
^ "Human Development Report 2009 - Kiribati". Hdrstats.undp.org. http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/data_sheets/cty_ds_KIR.html. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ "Public Health: Physicians per 100,000 people". Earthtrends.wri.org. http://earthtrends.wri.org/text/population-health/variable-1297.html. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Posted at 07:20 on 19 July 2007 UTC (2007-07-19). "Cuban doctors reduce Kiribati infant mortality rate by 80 percent". Rnzi.com. http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=33793. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Pacific Magazine: I-Kiribati Students Perform Well In Cuba
^ "Nauru’s airline cooperates with Solomons as fuel price hikes bite". Radio New Zealand International. http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=40540. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
^ See Robert Louis Stevenson's In the South Seas and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards winner Akekeia! by Tony & Joan Whincup, Wellington, 2001.
(1997) Pancorbo, Luis: "Kiribati existe" Pp. 29–43; y "De Abemama a Madrid" Pp. 43–54 en "Son los mares del Sur". Maeva, Madrid. ISBN 84-86478-60-X
[edit] External links
Find more about Kiribati on Wikipedia's sister projects:
Definitions from Wiktionary
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Quotations from Wikiquote
Source texts from Wikisource
Images and media from Commons
News stories from Wikinews
Learning resources from Wikiversity
Kiribati National Tourism Office [3]
Parliament of Kiribati
Kiribati National Climate Change Portal
Chief of State and Cabinet Members
General information
Kiribati entry at The World Factbook
Kiribati from UCB Libraries GovPubs
Kiribati at the Open Directory Project
Wikimedia Atlas of Kiribati
Kiribati travel guide from Wikitravel
Phoenix Islands Protected Area
Paradise Lost? (A recent PBS/NOW program on global warming)
segunda-feira, 28 de junho de 2010
kiribati
Kiribati
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This article is about the island nation. For other uses, see Kiribati (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Kiritimati, an island in the Line Islands and part of Kiribati.
Republic of Kiribati
Kiribati
Flag
Coat of arms
Motto: Te Mauri, Te Raoi ao Te Tabomoa(English: Health, Peace and Prosperity)
Anthem: Teirake Kaini Kiribati
Capital
Tarawa[1]1°28′N 173°2′E / 1.467°N 173.033°E / 1.467; 173.033
Largest city
South Tarawa
Official language(s)
English, Gilbertese
Demonym
I-Kiribati
Government
Republic
-
President
Anote Tong
Independence
-
from United Kingdom
July 12, 1979
Area
-
Total
726 km2 (186th)280 sq mi
-
Water (%)
0
Population
-
2009 estimate
98,000[2] (197th)
-
2005 census
92,533
-
Density
135/km2 (73rd)350/sq mi
GDP (PPP)
2009 estimate
-
Total
$602 million[3]
-
Per capita
$6,048[3]
GDP (nominal)
2009 estimate
-
Total
$130 million[3]
-
Per capita
$1,304[3]
HDI (1998)
.515 (medium) (unranked)
Currency
Kiribati dollarAustralian dollar (AUD)
Time zone
(UTC+12, +13, +14)
Drives on the
left
Internet TLD
.ki
Calling code
686
1 Supplemented by a nearly equal amount from external sources.
Kiribati (pronounced /ˈkɪrɨbæs/ ( listen) KIRR-i-bas;[4] Gilbertese: [ˈkiɾibas]), officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. It is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3,500,000 square kilometres, (1,351,000 square miles) straddling the equator, and bordering the International Date Line to the east. The name Kiribati is the local pronunciation of "Gilberts", derived from the main island chain, the Gilbert Islands. 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.
Contents[hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Early history
2.2 Colonial era
2.3 Independence to present day
3 Politics
4 Island groups
5 Foreign relations
5.1 Regional relations
5.2 United States relations
6 Geography
7 Economy
7.1 Balance of payments
8 Demographics
9 Human development
9.1 Health
10 Education
11 Transport
12 Culture
12.1 Music
12.2 Dance
12.3 Outside perspectives
13 See also
14 References
15 External links
//
[edit] Etymology
Kiribati was named 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 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.[5]
[edit] History
Main article: History of Kiribati
[edit] Early history
The area now called Kiribati has been inhabited by Micronesians speaking the same Oceanic language since sometime between 3000 BC[6] and AD 1300. The area was not isolated; invaders from Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji later introduced Polynesian and Melanesian cultural aspects, respectively. Intermarriage tended to blur cultural differences and resulted in a significant degree of cultural homogenisation.[7]
[edit] Colonial era
The islands were first sighted by British and American ships in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The main island chain was named the Gilbert Islands in 1820 by a Russian admiral, Adam von Krusenstern, and French captain Louis Duperrey, after a British captain named Thomas Gilbert, who crossed the archipelago in 1788 when sailing from Australia to China.[8]
American troops during the Gilbert Island Campaign
From the early 19th century, Western whalers, merchant vessels and slave traders visited the islands, introducing diseases and firearms.[9] The first British settlers arrived in 1837. In 1892 the Gilbert Islands consented to become a British protectorate together with the nearby Ellice Islands. They were administered by the Western Pacific High Commission based in Fiji.[8] Together they became the crown colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in 1916. Kiritimati (Christmas Island) became 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 US Marine Corps history. Marines landed in November 1943; the Battle of Tarawa was fought at Kiribati's former capital Betio on Tarawa Atoll.
Some of the islands of Kiribati, especially in the remote Line Islands, were formerly used by the United States and United Kingdom for nuclear weapons testing including hydrogen bombs in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
[edit] Independence to present day
The Gilbert 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. The Gilbert Islands became independent as Kiribati on July 12, 1979. 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 Banaba, the Line Islands, and the Phoenix Islands, which were never considered part of the Gilberts chain.[10] In the Treaty of Tarawa, signed shortly after independence and ratified in 1983, the United States relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited Phoenix Islands and those of the Line Islands that are part of Kiribati territory.
Overcrowding has been a problem. In 1988 it was announced that 4,700 residents of the main island group would be resettled onto less-populated islands. Teburoro Tito was elected president in 1994. 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, an event of significance for tourism. Tito was reelected in 1998. Kiribati gained UN membership in 1999.[11]
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 was removed from office in March 2003 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. He was re-elected in 2007.[12]
In the summer of 2008, Kiribati officials asked Australia and New Zealand to accept Kiribati citizens as permanent refugees. Kiribati is expected to be the first country in which all land territory disappears due to global climate change. In June 2008, the Kiribati president Anote Tong said that the country has reached "the point of no return"; he added: "To plan for the day when you no longer have a country is indeed painful but I think we have to do that."[13][14][15][16]
[edit] Politics
Main article: Politics of Kiribati
The Former Kiribati House of Assembly
Kiribati Parliament House
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 4-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 ( Banaba Island, former Ocean Island), 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 generally are free from central government controls.
Presidential residence
Kiribati has formal political parties but their organisation is quite informal. Ad hoc opposition groups tend to coalesce around specific issues. Today the only recognisable parties are the Boutokaan te Koaua Party, Maneaban te Mauri Party, Maurin Kiribati Party and Tabomoa Party. There is universal suffrage at age 18.[17]
In government terms, Kiribati has a police force, which carries out law enforcement functions and paramilitary duties, and which has small police posts on all islands, but no military. The police have one patrol boat.[18] Security assistance would be provided if necessary by Australia and New Zealand.
[edit] Island groups
Main article: Districts of Kiribati
Kiribati was formally divided into districts until its independence. The country now is divided into three island groups which have no administrative function, including a group which unites the Line Islands and the Phoenix Islands (ministry at London, Christmas). Each inhabited island has its own council (three councils on Tarawa: Betio, South-Tarawa, North-Tarawa; two 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, now the largest protected marine reserve in the world.[19][20]
Line Islands
Four of the former districts (including Tarawa) lie in the Gilbert Islands, where most of the country's population lives. Five of the Line Islands are uninhabited (Malden Island, Starbuck Island, Caroline Island, Vostok Island and Flint Island). 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).
[edit] Foreign relations
Main article: Foreign relations of Kiribati
Kiribati was admitted as the 186th member of the United Nations in September 1999.
[edit] Regional relations
Kiribati maintains cordial relations with most countries and has close relations with its Pacific neighbours, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, which provide the majority of the country's foreign aid. Taiwan and Japan also have specified-period licences to fish in Kiribati's waters. [citation needed]
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. [citation needed] The agreement stipulated that Japan was to pay US$840,000 per year and would also pay for any damage to roads and the environment. A Japanese-built downrange tracking station operates on Kiritimati[21] 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, however, was eventually canceled by Japan in 2003. [citation needed]
[edit] United States relations
Main article: Kiribati-United States relations
The Peace Corps, an independent United States federal agency, announced plans to pull out of Kiribati in November 2008 after 35 years of working in the country.[22] Michael Koffman, the Peace Corps Country Director for Kiribati, cited the frequently cancelled and erratic domestic air service in the country as the main reason why the Peace Corps was leaving Kiribati.[22]
[edit] Geography
Main article: Geography 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
Caroline Atoll channel between west side of Long Island and Nake Island.
Banaba (or Ocean Island) is a raised-coral island which 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 which rise but a few metres (half a dozen feet or so) 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.[23]
According to the South Pacific Regional Environment Program, two small uninhabited Kiribati islets, Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea, disappeared underwater in 1999.[24] The islet of Tepuka Savilivili (Tuvalu; not a Gilbertese name) no longer has any coconut trees due to salination.[25] The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that sea levels will rise by about half a metre (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.[26] However, sea-level rise may not necessarily mean Kiribati will be inundated. Paul Kench at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Arthur Webb at the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji released a study in 2010 on the dynamic response of reef islands to sea level rise in the central Pacific. Kiribati was mentioned in the study, and Webb and Kench found that the three major urbanised islands in Kiribati - Betio, Bairiki and Nanikai - increased by 30 per cent (36 hectares), 16.3 per cent (5.8 hectares) and 12.5 per cent (0.8 hectares), respectively. [27]
Kiribati is the only country in the world to be located in both hemispheres and lying on both sides of the 180th meridian.
[edit] Economy
Main article: Economy of Kiribati
A Bosj's warehouse in Kiribati
Kiribati is one of the world's poorest countries. It has few natural resources. Commercially viable phosphate deposits on Banaba 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. Kiribati is considered one of the least developed countries in the world.
Foreign financial aid, largely from Australia, New Zealand 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 trading partners are Australia, USA, France, Japan, Hong Kong and Germany. [citation needed]
In 1956 Kiribati established a sovereign wealth fund to act as a store of wealth for the country's earnings from phosphate mining. In 2008 the Revenue Equalization Reserve Fund was valued at US$ 400 million.[28]
[edit] 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 licence fees, investment income, seamen’s remittances and external grants. [citation needed] 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. [citation needed]
[edit] Demographics
Main article: 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. The indigenous format of the name was adopted when independence was gained in 1979.
Ethnically, the I-Kiribati are Micronesians. Recent archaeological 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; people of Polynesian ancestry further diversified 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 an Oceanic language called "Gilbertese". Although English is the official language, it 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. The Bahá'í religion also exists in Kiribati, along with Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the latter numbering 11,511 at the end of 2005.[29]
[edit] Human development
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. [citation needed]
[edit] Health
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. Tuberculosis is present in the country.[30] Government expenditure on health was at US$268 per capita (PPP) in 2006.[31] In 1990-2007, there were 23 physicians per 100,000 persons.[32] After the arrival of Cuban doctors, the infant mortality rate has decreased significantly. [33]
[edit] 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, and those wishing to complete medical training have been sent to Cuba.[34]
[edit] Transport
Bonriki International Airport
Beginning in January 2009, Kiribati has two domestic airlines: Air Kiribati and Coral Sun Airways. Both airlines are based out of Tarawa's Bonriki International Airport and serve destinations across the Gilbert Islands only.[citation needed]
Neither the Phoenix nor Line Islands are served by the domestic carriers. Fiji's national carrier Air Pacific provides an international service from Fiji's main airport, Nadi International Airport. Our Airline, the national airline of Nauru, formerly provided service to Nauru International Airport, connecting to Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, and further to Brisbane, Australia, but this service was cancelled in June 2008.[35]
[edit] Culture
Main article: Culture of Kiribati
Songs (te anene) and above all dances (te mwaie) are held in high regard.
[edit] Music
Kiribati folk music is generally based on 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 [citation needed]. There are also stick dances (which accompany legends and semi-historical stories [citation needed]. These stick dances or 'tirere' (pronounced seerere) are only performed during major festivals.
See also: Music of Kiribati
[edit] Dance
A welcome display
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.[36]
See also: Dance in Kiribati
[edit] Outside perspectives
Edward Carlyon Eliot, who was Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert & Ellice Islands (now Kiribati & Tuvalu) from 1913 to 1920 describes this period in his book "Broken Atoms" (autobiographical reminiscences) Pub. G. Bles, London, 1938.
Sir Arthur Grimble wrote about his time working in the British colonial service in Kiribati (then the Gilbert Islands) from 1914 to 1932 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).
[edit] See also
Kiribati portal
Main article: Outline of Kiribati
Commonwealth of Nations
List of international rankings
Outline of geography
Communications in Kiribati
Law enforcement in Kiribati
Transportation in Kiribati
Kiribati Scout Association
List of islands belonging to Kiribati
[edit] References
^ "Kiribati government website". Government of Kiribati. http://http://www.kiribatitourism.gov.ki/index.php/aboutkiribati/aboutkiribatioverview. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
^ Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division (2009) (PDF). World Population Prospects, Table A.1. 2008 revision. United Nations. http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2008/wpp2008_text_tables.pdf. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
^ a b c d "Kiribati". International Monetary Fund. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2010/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2007&ey=2010&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=826&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CLP&grp=0&a=&pr.x=53&pr.y=10. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
^ "kiribati - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". M-w.com. 2007-04-25. http://m-w.com/dictionary/kiribati. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Reilly Ridgell. Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. 3rd Edition. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95
^ "Cinderellas of the Empire", Barrie Macdonald, IPS, University of the South Pacific, 2001, p. 1
^ I-Kiribati Ministry of Finance and Economic Development: "History"[dead link]
^ a b "BBC Timeline:Kiribati". BBC. 15 May 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/2944816.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
^ see reference note n°3
^ Reilly Ridgell. "Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia". 3rd Edition. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95
^ "Kiribati". Un.org. 2003-10-01. http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/58/statements/kirieng031001.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ "IFES Election Guide - Country Profile: Kiribati". Electionguide.org. http://www.electionguide.org/country.php?ID=113. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ "Leader of disappearing island nation says climate change an issue of survival, not economics", International Herald Tribune, June 5, 2008
^ "Kiribati's President: 'Our Lives Are At Stake': For the Islands of Kiribati, Global Warming Poses Immediate Dangers", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, April 2, 2007
^ "Paradise lost: climate change forces South Sea islanders to seek sanctuary abroad", The Independent, June 6, 2008
^ "Tiny atoll in Pacific cries out for help", The Times of India, June 6, 2008
^ [1][dead link]
^ "Pacific Forum class patrol boat". Hazegray.org. 2002-03-25. http://www.hazegray.org/worldnav/asiapac/asiapac.htm#5. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ "Reuters". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP231103. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Russell, Christine (2 2009). "First Wave". Science News 175 (5): 25–29. doi:10.1002/scin.2009.5591750125.
^ "FDSN Station Info - XMAS". Fdsn.org. 1997-08-22. http://www.fdsn.org/station_book/IU/XMAS/xmas.html. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ a b Bataua, Batiri (2008-07-03). "Peace Corps To Quit Kiribati". Pacific Magazine. http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2008/07/03/peace-corps-to-quit-kiribati. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
^ Harris, Aimee (April 1999). "Millennium: Date Line Politics". Honolulu Magazine. http://www.trussel.com/kir/dateline.htm. Retrieved 2006-06-14.
^ "Islands disappear under rising seas". BBC News. 1999-06-14. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/368892.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ [2][dead link]
^ Eilperin, Juliet (2006-01-29). "Debate on Climate Shifts to Issue of Irreparable Change". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/28/AR2006012801021_2.html. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
^ http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627633.700-shapeshifting-islands-defy-sealevel-rise.html
^ "Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute". Swfinstitute.org. http://www.swfinstitute.org/fund/kiribati.php. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Global Mormonism » Kiribati at globalmormonism.byu.edu
^ http://apps.who.int/globalatlas/predefinedReports/TB/PDF_Files/kir.pdf
^ "Human Development Report 2009 - Kiribati". Hdrstats.undp.org. http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/data_sheets/cty_ds_KIR.html. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ "Public Health: Physicians per 100,000 people". Earthtrends.wri.org. http://earthtrends.wri.org/text/population-health/variable-1297.html. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Posted at 07:20 on 19 July 2007 UTC (2007-07-19). "Cuban doctors reduce Kiribati infant mortality rate by 80 percent". Rnzi.com. http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=33793. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Pacific Magazine: I-Kiribati Students Perform Well In Cuba
^ "Nauru’s airline cooperates with Solomons as fuel price hikes bite". Radio New Zealand International. http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=40540. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
^ See Robert Louis Stevenson's In the South Seas and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards winner Akekeia! by Tony & Joan Whincup, Wellington, 2001.
(1997) Pancorbo, Luis: "Kiribati existe" Pp. 29–43; y "De Abemama a Madrid" Pp. 43–54 en "Son los mares del Sur". Maeva, Madrid. ISBN 84-86478-60-X
[edit] External links
Find more about Kiribati on Wikipedia's sister projects:
Definitions from Wiktionary
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Quotations from Wikiquote
Source texts from Wikisource
Images and media from Commons
News stories from Wikinews
Learning resources from Wikiversity
Kiribati National Tourism Office [3]
Parliament of Kiribati
Kiribati National Climate Change Portal
Chief of State and Cabinet Members
General information
Kiribati entry at The World Factbook
Kiribati from UCB Libraries GovPubs
Kiribati at the Open Directory Project
Wikimedia Atlas of Kiribati
Kiribati travel guide from Wikitravel
Phoenix Islands Protected Area
Paradise Lost? (A recent PBS/NOW program on global warming)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about the island nation. For other uses, see Kiribati (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Kiritimati, an island in the Line Islands and part of Kiribati.
Republic of Kiribati
Kiribati
Flag
Coat of arms
Motto: Te Mauri, Te Raoi ao Te Tabomoa(English: Health, Peace and Prosperity)
Anthem: Teirake Kaini Kiribati
Capital
Tarawa[1]1°28′N 173°2′E / 1.467°N 173.033°E / 1.467; 173.033
Largest city
South Tarawa
Official language(s)
English, Gilbertese
Demonym
I-Kiribati
Government
Republic
-
President
Anote Tong
Independence
-
from United Kingdom
July 12, 1979
Area
-
Total
726 km2 (186th)280 sq mi
-
Water (%)
0
Population
-
2009 estimate
98,000[2] (197th)
-
2005 census
92,533
-
Density
135/km2 (73rd)350/sq mi
GDP (PPP)
2009 estimate
-
Total
$602 million[3]
-
Per capita
$6,048[3]
GDP (nominal)
2009 estimate
-
Total
$130 million[3]
-
Per capita
$1,304[3]
HDI (1998)
.515 (medium) (unranked)
Currency
Kiribati dollarAustralian dollar (AUD)
Time zone
(UTC+12, +13, +14)
Drives on the
left
Internet TLD
.ki
Calling code
686
1 Supplemented by a nearly equal amount from external sources.
Kiribati (pronounced /ˈkɪrɨbæs/ ( listen) KIRR-i-bas;[4] Gilbertese: [ˈkiɾibas]), officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. It is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3,500,000 square kilometres, (1,351,000 square miles) straddling the equator, and bordering the International Date Line to the east. The name Kiribati is the local pronunciation of "Gilberts", derived from the main island chain, the Gilbert Islands. 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.
Contents[hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Early history
2.2 Colonial era
2.3 Independence to present day
3 Politics
4 Island groups
5 Foreign relations
5.1 Regional relations
5.2 United States relations
6 Geography
7 Economy
7.1 Balance of payments
8 Demographics
9 Human development
9.1 Health
10 Education
11 Transport
12 Culture
12.1 Music
12.2 Dance
12.3 Outside perspectives
13 See also
14 References
15 External links
//
[edit] Etymology
Kiribati was named 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 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.[5]
[edit] History
Main article: History of Kiribati
[edit] Early history
The area now called Kiribati has been inhabited by Micronesians speaking the same Oceanic language since sometime between 3000 BC[6] and AD 1300. The area was not isolated; invaders from Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji later introduced Polynesian and Melanesian cultural aspects, respectively. Intermarriage tended to blur cultural differences and resulted in a significant degree of cultural homogenisation.[7]
[edit] Colonial era
The islands were first sighted by British and American ships in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The main island chain was named the Gilbert Islands in 1820 by a Russian admiral, Adam von Krusenstern, and French captain Louis Duperrey, after a British captain named Thomas Gilbert, who crossed the archipelago in 1788 when sailing from Australia to China.[8]
American troops during the Gilbert Island Campaign
From the early 19th century, Western whalers, merchant vessels and slave traders visited the islands, introducing diseases and firearms.[9] The first British settlers arrived in 1837. In 1892 the Gilbert Islands consented to become a British protectorate together with the nearby Ellice Islands. They were administered by the Western Pacific High Commission based in Fiji.[8] Together they became the crown colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in 1916. Kiritimati (Christmas Island) became 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 US Marine Corps history. Marines landed in November 1943; the Battle of Tarawa was fought at Kiribati's former capital Betio on Tarawa Atoll.
Some of the islands of Kiribati, especially in the remote Line Islands, were formerly used by the United States and United Kingdom for nuclear weapons testing including hydrogen bombs in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
[edit] Independence to present day
The Gilbert 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. The Gilbert Islands became independent as Kiribati on July 12, 1979. 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 Banaba, the Line Islands, and the Phoenix Islands, which were never considered part of the Gilberts chain.[10] In the Treaty of Tarawa, signed shortly after independence and ratified in 1983, the United States relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited Phoenix Islands and those of the Line Islands that are part of Kiribati territory.
Overcrowding has been a problem. In 1988 it was announced that 4,700 residents of the main island group would be resettled onto less-populated islands. Teburoro Tito was elected president in 1994. 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, an event of significance for tourism. Tito was reelected in 1998. Kiribati gained UN membership in 1999.[11]
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 was removed from office in March 2003 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. He was re-elected in 2007.[12]
In the summer of 2008, Kiribati officials asked Australia and New Zealand to accept Kiribati citizens as permanent refugees. Kiribati is expected to be the first country in which all land territory disappears due to global climate change. In June 2008, the Kiribati president Anote Tong said that the country has reached "the point of no return"; he added: "To plan for the day when you no longer have a country is indeed painful but I think we have to do that."[13][14][15][16]
[edit] Politics
Main article: Politics of Kiribati
The Former Kiribati House of Assembly
Kiribati Parliament House
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 4-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 ( Banaba Island, former Ocean Island), 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 generally are free from central government controls.
Presidential residence
Kiribati has formal political parties but their organisation is quite informal. Ad hoc opposition groups tend to coalesce around specific issues. Today the only recognisable parties are the Boutokaan te Koaua Party, Maneaban te Mauri Party, Maurin Kiribati Party and Tabomoa Party. There is universal suffrage at age 18.[17]
In government terms, Kiribati has a police force, which carries out law enforcement functions and paramilitary duties, and which has small police posts on all islands, but no military. The police have one patrol boat.[18] Security assistance would be provided if necessary by Australia and New Zealand.
[edit] Island groups
Main article: Districts of Kiribati
Kiribati was formally divided into districts until its independence. The country now is divided into three island groups which have no administrative function, including a group which unites the Line Islands and the Phoenix Islands (ministry at London, Christmas). Each inhabited island has its own council (three councils on Tarawa: Betio, South-Tarawa, North-Tarawa; two 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, now the largest protected marine reserve in the world.[19][20]
Line Islands
Four of the former districts (including Tarawa) lie in the Gilbert Islands, where most of the country's population lives. Five of the Line Islands are uninhabited (Malden Island, Starbuck Island, Caroline Island, Vostok Island and Flint Island). 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).
[edit] Foreign relations
Main article: Foreign relations of Kiribati
Kiribati was admitted as the 186th member of the United Nations in September 1999.
[edit] Regional relations
Kiribati maintains cordial relations with most countries and has close relations with its Pacific neighbours, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, which provide the majority of the country's foreign aid. Taiwan and Japan also have specified-period licences to fish in Kiribati's waters. [citation needed]
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. [citation needed] The agreement stipulated that Japan was to pay US$840,000 per year and would also pay for any damage to roads and the environment. A Japanese-built downrange tracking station operates on Kiritimati[21] 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, however, was eventually canceled by Japan in 2003. [citation needed]
[edit] United States relations
Main article: Kiribati-United States relations
The Peace Corps, an independent United States federal agency, announced plans to pull out of Kiribati in November 2008 after 35 years of working in the country.[22] Michael Koffman, the Peace Corps Country Director for Kiribati, cited the frequently cancelled and erratic domestic air service in the country as the main reason why the Peace Corps was leaving Kiribati.[22]
[edit] Geography
Main article: Geography 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
Caroline Atoll channel between west side of Long Island and Nake Island.
Banaba (or Ocean Island) is a raised-coral island which 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 which rise but a few metres (half a dozen feet or so) 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.[23]
According to the South Pacific Regional Environment Program, two small uninhabited Kiribati islets, Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea, disappeared underwater in 1999.[24] The islet of Tepuka Savilivili (Tuvalu; not a Gilbertese name) no longer has any coconut trees due to salination.[25] The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that sea levels will rise by about half a metre (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.[26] However, sea-level rise may not necessarily mean Kiribati will be inundated. Paul Kench at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Arthur Webb at the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji released a study in 2010 on the dynamic response of reef islands to sea level rise in the central Pacific. Kiribati was mentioned in the study, and Webb and Kench found that the three major urbanised islands in Kiribati - Betio, Bairiki and Nanikai - increased by 30 per cent (36 hectares), 16.3 per cent (5.8 hectares) and 12.5 per cent (0.8 hectares), respectively. [27]
Kiribati is the only country in the world to be located in both hemispheres and lying on both sides of the 180th meridian.
[edit] Economy
Main article: Economy of Kiribati
A Bosj's warehouse in Kiribati
Kiribati is one of the world's poorest countries. It has few natural resources. Commercially viable phosphate deposits on Banaba 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. Kiribati is considered one of the least developed countries in the world.
Foreign financial aid, largely from Australia, New Zealand 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 trading partners are Australia, USA, France, Japan, Hong Kong and Germany. [citation needed]
In 1956 Kiribati established a sovereign wealth fund to act as a store of wealth for the country's earnings from phosphate mining. In 2008 the Revenue Equalization Reserve Fund was valued at US$ 400 million.[28]
[edit] 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 licence fees, investment income, seamen’s remittances and external grants. [citation needed] 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. [citation needed]
[edit] Demographics
Main article: 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. The indigenous format of the name was adopted when independence was gained in 1979.
Ethnically, the I-Kiribati are Micronesians. Recent archaeological 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; people of Polynesian ancestry further diversified 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 an Oceanic language called "Gilbertese". Although English is the official language, it 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. The Bahá'í religion also exists in Kiribati, along with Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the latter numbering 11,511 at the end of 2005.[29]
[edit] Human development
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. [citation needed]
[edit] Health
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. Tuberculosis is present in the country.[30] Government expenditure on health was at US$268 per capita (PPP) in 2006.[31] In 1990-2007, there were 23 physicians per 100,000 persons.[32] After the arrival of Cuban doctors, the infant mortality rate has decreased significantly. [33]
[edit] 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, and those wishing to complete medical training have been sent to Cuba.[34]
[edit] Transport
Bonriki International Airport
Beginning in January 2009, Kiribati has two domestic airlines: Air Kiribati and Coral Sun Airways. Both airlines are based out of Tarawa's Bonriki International Airport and serve destinations across the Gilbert Islands only.[citation needed]
Neither the Phoenix nor Line Islands are served by the domestic carriers. Fiji's national carrier Air Pacific provides an international service from Fiji's main airport, Nadi International Airport. Our Airline, the national airline of Nauru, formerly provided service to Nauru International Airport, connecting to Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, and further to Brisbane, Australia, but this service was cancelled in June 2008.[35]
[edit] Culture
Main article: Culture of Kiribati
Songs (te anene) and above all dances (te mwaie) are held in high regard.
[edit] Music
Kiribati folk music is generally based on 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 [citation needed]. There are also stick dances (which accompany legends and semi-historical stories [citation needed]. These stick dances or 'tirere' (pronounced seerere) are only performed during major festivals.
See also: Music of Kiribati
[edit] Dance
A welcome display
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.[36]
See also: Dance in Kiribati
[edit] Outside perspectives
Edward Carlyon Eliot, who was Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert & Ellice Islands (now Kiribati & Tuvalu) from 1913 to 1920 describes this period in his book "Broken Atoms" (autobiographical reminiscences) Pub. G. Bles, London, 1938.
Sir Arthur Grimble wrote about his time working in the British colonial service in Kiribati (then the Gilbert Islands) from 1914 to 1932 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).
[edit] See also
Kiribati portal
Main article: Outline of Kiribati
Commonwealth of Nations
List of international rankings
Outline of geography
Communications in Kiribati
Law enforcement in Kiribati
Transportation in Kiribati
Kiribati Scout Association
List of islands belonging to Kiribati
[edit] References
^ "Kiribati government website". Government of Kiribati. http://http://www.kiribatitourism.gov.ki/index.php/aboutkiribati/aboutkiribatioverview. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
^ Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division (2009) (PDF). World Population Prospects, Table A.1. 2008 revision. United Nations. http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2008/wpp2008_text_tables.pdf. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
^ a b c d "Kiribati". International Monetary Fund. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2010/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2007&ey=2010&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=826&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CLP&grp=0&a=&pr.x=53&pr.y=10. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
^ "kiribati - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". M-w.com. 2007-04-25. http://m-w.com/dictionary/kiribati. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Reilly Ridgell. Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. 3rd Edition. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95
^ "Cinderellas of the Empire", Barrie Macdonald, IPS, University of the South Pacific, 2001, p. 1
^ I-Kiribati Ministry of Finance and Economic Development: "History"[dead link]
^ a b "BBC Timeline:Kiribati". BBC. 15 May 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/2944816.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
^ see reference note n°3
^ Reilly Ridgell. "Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia". 3rd Edition. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95
^ "Kiribati". Un.org. 2003-10-01. http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/58/statements/kirieng031001.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ "IFES Election Guide - Country Profile: Kiribati". Electionguide.org. http://www.electionguide.org/country.php?ID=113. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ "Leader of disappearing island nation says climate change an issue of survival, not economics", International Herald Tribune, June 5, 2008
^ "Kiribati's President: 'Our Lives Are At Stake': For the Islands of Kiribati, Global Warming Poses Immediate Dangers", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, April 2, 2007
^ "Paradise lost: climate change forces South Sea islanders to seek sanctuary abroad", The Independent, June 6, 2008
^ "Tiny atoll in Pacific cries out for help", The Times of India, June 6, 2008
^ [1][dead link]
^ "Pacific Forum class patrol boat". Hazegray.org. 2002-03-25. http://www.hazegray.org/worldnav/asiapac/asiapac.htm#5. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ "Reuters". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP231103. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Russell, Christine (2 2009). "First Wave". Science News 175 (5): 25–29. doi:10.1002/scin.2009.5591750125.
^ "FDSN Station Info - XMAS". Fdsn.org. 1997-08-22. http://www.fdsn.org/station_book/IU/XMAS/xmas.html. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ a b Bataua, Batiri (2008-07-03). "Peace Corps To Quit Kiribati". Pacific Magazine. http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2008/07/03/peace-corps-to-quit-kiribati. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
^ Harris, Aimee (April 1999). "Millennium: Date Line Politics". Honolulu Magazine. http://www.trussel.com/kir/dateline.htm. Retrieved 2006-06-14.
^ "Islands disappear under rising seas". BBC News. 1999-06-14. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/368892.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ [2][dead link]
^ Eilperin, Juliet (2006-01-29). "Debate on Climate Shifts to Issue of Irreparable Change". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/28/AR2006012801021_2.html. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
^ http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627633.700-shapeshifting-islands-defy-sealevel-rise.html
^ "Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute". Swfinstitute.org. http://www.swfinstitute.org/fund/kiribati.php. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Global Mormonism » Kiribati at globalmormonism.byu.edu
^ http://apps.who.int/globalatlas/predefinedReports/TB/PDF_Files/kir.pdf
^ "Human Development Report 2009 - Kiribati". Hdrstats.undp.org. http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/data_sheets/cty_ds_KIR.html. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ "Public Health: Physicians per 100,000 people". Earthtrends.wri.org. http://earthtrends.wri.org/text/population-health/variable-1297.html. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Posted at 07:20 on 19 July 2007 UTC (2007-07-19). "Cuban doctors reduce Kiribati infant mortality rate by 80 percent". Rnzi.com. http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=33793. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
^ Pacific Magazine: I-Kiribati Students Perform Well In Cuba
^ "Nauru’s airline cooperates with Solomons as fuel price hikes bite". Radio New Zealand International. http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=40540. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
^ See Robert Louis Stevenson's In the South Seas and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards winner Akekeia! by Tony & Joan Whincup, Wellington, 2001.
(1997) Pancorbo, Luis: "Kiribati existe" Pp. 29–43; y "De Abemama a Madrid" Pp. 43–54 en "Son los mares del Sur". Maeva, Madrid. ISBN 84-86478-60-X
[edit] External links
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Kiribati National Tourism Office [3]
Parliament of Kiribati
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Chief of State and Cabinet Members
General information
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Kiribati from UCB Libraries GovPubs
Kiribati at the Open Directory Project
Wikimedia Atlas of Kiribati
Kiribati travel guide from Wikitravel
Phoenix Islands Protected Area
Paradise Lost? (A recent PBS/NOW program on global warming)
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