Kiribati, Kiribati, Where the F*** is Kiribati?!
Rafael Martinez-Minuesa Martinez
Category:
Geography - Countries
Description:
If you have ever wondered WHERE or WHY or WHAT Kiribati is, and
even if you haven't, then join. Because I am sick of explaining it!
So without further ado -
The 33 atolls that make up Kiribati - the former Gilbert Islands -
occupy a vast area in the Pacific. They stretch nearly 4,000 km from
east to west, more than 2,000 km from north to south, and straddle the
Equator.
The country won independence from the United Kingdom in 1979. Many
of the atolls are inhabited; most of them are very low-lying and at
risk from rising sea levels.
Kiribati used to lie either side of the International Date Line,
but the government unilaterally moved the line eastwards in 1995 to
ensure the day was the same in the whole country.
This was a shrewd move as Kiribati marketed itself as the first
inhabited place on Earth to greet the new millennium on 1 January
2000. The world's media descended on Caroline Island, renamed
Millennium Island, to record the event.
Kiribati's economy is weak and is affected by rises and falls in
the world demand for coconut.
Fishing licences, foreign aid and money sent home by workers
abroad also play their part, as does a trust fund set up with revenues
from phosphate mining on the island of Banaba. The mines were depleted
by 1980, precipitating the evacuation of much of the population.
Kiribati is home to the South Pacific's largest marine reserve.
Source: BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1168527.stm
Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation
located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. It comprises 33 atolls
dispersed over 1,351,000 square miles (3,500,000 km²) close to the
equator. The name Kiribati is pronounced ['kiribas] and is the
Kiribati rendering of "Gilberts", derived from the English name for
the main group of islands: the former Gilbert Islands. Because the
written native language lacks the letter 's', the sound is rendered as
'ti.' Likewise, the Pacific island known as Christmas Island (not to
be confused with the Australian-administered island of that name in
the Indian Ocean) is known in the Kiribati language as Kiritimati
Island.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiribati
If you have ever wondered WHERE or WHY or WHAT Kiribati is, and
even if you haven't, then join. Because I am sick of explaining it!
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