Kiribati (formerly the Gilbert Islands) is an island group in Micronesia stradling the equator and until 1995, the international date line. Kiribati's 33 atols, with a total area of only 800 km², are scattered over an area of 3.5 million km². Kiribati saw some of the worst fighting of the pacific theatre during the Second World War, including the infamous Battle of Tarawa.
Regions Map of Kiribati
Inhabited islands
Other destinations
UnderstandKiribati was inhabited for 2000 years prior to European contact. Under British colonial rule, it was known as the Gilbert Islands. Kiribati was granted self-rule by the UK in 1971 and complete independence in 1979. The US relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited Phoenix and Line Island groups in a 1979 treaty of friendship with Kiribati. The name "Kiribati" is pronounced "Kiri-bass", which is the closest local equivalent to "Gilberts". The Phoenix and Line Islands were generally held to be on the east side of the International Date Line and are in different time zones from the Gilbert Islands group, but on 1 January 1995, Kiribati proclaimed that all of its territory was on the same calendar day (skipping 31 December 1994 in those island groups), effectively extending the Date Line further eastward to accommodate this. This makes the Line Islands the farthest "ahead" of any territory on the planet; they were the first to celebrate the coming of the year 2000. In 1995 Kiribati suspended diplomatic relations with France to protest the latter's decision to resume nuclear testing on Muraroa Atoll. In 1999 the government claimed that two atolls had been lost due to sea level rise and subsequently, in 2002, joined with Tuvalu and the Maldives to take legal action against the US for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol. The presence of gun emplacements and ship wrecks from WWII battles makes shipwreck diving a common tourist activity. Get inBy planeAir Nauru and Air Marshall Islands offer service to Tarawa from neighbouring island countries, including Nauru, Marshall Islands and Fiji. By boatNorwegian Cruise Lines offers a stop on Fanning Island on their 11 and 10 day Hawaiian cruises. The cruises depart in Hawaii and stop for approximately 8 hours on the island. Get aroundTalkEnglish is an official language of the islands, and is widely spoken. The native I-Kiribati language may be useful in more remote locations, however. BuyEatDrinkSleepLearnWorkStay safeKiribati is generally a safe place to travel. Stay healthyRespectContact
Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0. Privacy policy About Wikitravel Terms of use | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
