Kiribati got its name along with its independence. The birth of the new nation was celebrated with the new name which in fact is the local pronunciation of Gilbert Island, its old name. Kiribati is a group of 33 islands in the central Pacific. This archipelago was named after an English explorer Thomas Gilbert.
Whalers were the first people to come to the island. Though Spanish explorers visited the island, the British colonized it. Japan occupied Kiribati during the Second World War. It became independent in 1979. But there were ethnic tensions between the inhabitants.
Banaba, a Kiribatian island had phosphate deposits which were exploited by the British. The Banabans filed a case against the British government for compensation for the environmental devastation. In 1981, Britain offered ten million Australian dollars to close the case which they agreed to. A commercial satellite-launch platform was established in the 1990s which is the island’s major source of income.
Picture Credit : Google