Where is KIRIBATI located on the map?
Kiribati, also known as the Republic of Kiribati, is a Pacific island member of the Commonwealth Oceania, located in the center of the Pacific Ocean and belonging to Micronesia.
Kiribati consists of 33 islands spread over three archipelagos: the Gilbert Islands (17 islands) 1,500 kilometers north of Fiji, the Phoenix Islands (8 islands) about 1,800 kilometers southeast of the Gilbert Islands, the islands of the Line (11 islands, including 3 inhabited) about 3,300 kilometers east of the Gilbert Islands, as well as an isolated island to the west Banaba.
Most of these islands are atolls that barely exceed sea level and are covered with very thin vegetation. In 2008, the Republic created the world’s largest natural marine reserve of 410,500 km² (about the size of California) to protect its marine life.
Where is the country of KIRIBATI situated?
With the exception of Banaba Island, the archipelagos are made up of low coral reefs (atolls encircling lagoons), covered with lush vegetation and coconut palms on the shores.
With 33 islands, the Republic of Kiribati is made up of three large archipelagos covering a total area of 811 km2 and extending on both sides of the equator: the Gilbert Islands, the Phoenix Islands, the Islands of the Line and a volcanic island: Banaba.
These islands are separated by the most important time difference in the world (23 hours), since the meridian line of date change cuts Kiribati in two. When the sun rises on the capital Tarawa, Saturday begins on Christmas Island.
The inhabitants are the Gilbertins (110 000 inhabitants in 2008). The current language is Gilbertin. Christianity is the main religion, sometimes mixed with ancestral beliefs.
Kiribati has few natural resources. Coconut farming and fishing account for most of the production. Tourism remains limited and most Gilbertines practice fishing and farming activities.
The Kiribati have been inhabited for about two thousand years by a people of Micronesia, speaking one and the same language, Gilbertin.
The Kiribati Islands were “discovered” at the beginning of the 19th century. They became a British colony on January 12, 1916 under the name of Gilbert and suffered (in part) the Japanese occupation during the Second World War, from the end of 1941. The battle of Tarawa ends there partially in November 1943.
Kiribati becomes independent under its “new” name on July 12, 1979.
The tropical climate has a rainy season from October to March with significant cyclonic risks and a dry season the rest of the year, the rainfall deficit increasing as soon as we get closer to the equator.
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