Banaba Island

01Jul09

Banaba Island an island in the Pacific Ocean, is a solitary raised coral island west of the Gilbert Island chain and 300 km east of Nauru. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. It has an area of 6.5 km² and the highest point on the island is also the highest point in Kiribati, at 81 metres (266 ft) high. Along with Nauru and Makatea, it is one of the important elevated phosphate islands of the Pacific.


Abemama

10Feb09

Abemama (also Abamama, Apamama, Dundas, Island Hopper, Roger Simpson Island or Island Simpson [1]) to the west of the atoll island country of Kiribati, in the Gilbert Islands archipelago, located 95 miles (170 kilometers) south-east of the Tarawa atoll, just above the equator. The basis of the economy is kopry production, the cultivation of trees and banana bread. The slight revenue it brings tourism.


Line Islands

10Dec08

Line Islands (Line Islands; Sporades Środkowopolinezyjskie) – A group of 11 coral islands in the Pacific Ocean, in Polynesia. They pulled over about 2500 km in the vicinity of the equator and 160 ° W. This is composed of Kiritimati Island – the largest island in the Pacific Koralowa. Islands are in the earliest time zone in the world – the difference is 14 UTC respect.

Area of islands is 512 km2. Only three are occupied, and it resides 8,809 people (2005 census), of which 5,115 live on Kiritimati, 2539 at Tabuaeranie, and 1,155 for Terainie. In 1900, only about 300 people resident in these three atoll.

Most islands (in the south Flint, Vostok, Caroline, Starbuck, Malden, Kiritimati, Tabuaeran and Teraina) is included in the island state of Kiribati, is one of the six districts of Kiribati.

Other islands (Jarvis, Palmyra and Kingman Reef) belong to the United States.

Islands were discovered in 2nd half of the eighteenth century and for more than two centuries were the British property (Gilbert Islands and deposits). In 1979 they have entered into the independent state of Kiribati.


Anreise

13Oct08
Reisende have in the Einreise a valid Reisepass, a gültige Rück-oder Weiterreiseticket and adequate financial resources for the Dauer des Aufenthalts can nachweisen

Etymology

24Aug08

Kiribati was named Gilbert Islands after the British Captain Thomas Gilbert, who sighted the islands in 1788.

The current name, Kiribati (/’kiribas/), is an adaptation of “Gilbert”, from the former European name the “Gilbert Islands”.


Early history

21Jun08

The area now called Kiribati has been inhabited by Micronesians speaking the same Oceanic language since sometime between 3000 BC[2] and 1300 AD. The area was not isolated; invaders from Tonga 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.


When to Go

18May08

Go any time except the wet season, which is November to February. The weather will be hot outside of that period, but not as humid nor subject to as many tropical downpours.


South Tarawa

07May08

South Tarawa (in Gilbertese and English: Teinainano Urban Council or ABR. TUC) is the official capital of the Republic of Kiribati on Tarawa Atoll. The meaning of Teinainano is “down of the mast”, alluding to the sail-shape of the atoll.

The South Tarawa population center consists of all the small islets between Bairiki (on the west) to Temaiku/Bonriki on the east. All of several once separate islets are joined by causeways, forming one long islet on the reef along the southern side of the Tarawa Lagoon. There is also a relatively new causeway—the Japanese Causeway—that links South Tarawa to Betio, out of South Tarawa. South Tarawa is located at 1°19′ North, 172°58′ East (1.31667, 172.9667). [1]

There is a Kiribati Teacher College and a University of the South Pacific campus on South Tarawa. Bairiki is sometimes considered the capital of Kiribati because at one time both the Parliament and the Presidency (and main administrative offices) were located there. The Parliament meets on Ambo islet; various ministries are scattered between South Tarawa, Betio and Christmas Island (ministry of the Line and Phoenix islands).

The Roman Catholic diocese and the Kiribati Protestant Church (Congregational) are situated on South Tarawa.

Bairiki (executive), Ambo (legislative), Betio (judicial) are the main political centres of the capital.


Kiribati

07May08

Kiribati (pronounced /ˈkɪrɨbæs/[1] kirr-i-bas, IPA: [ˈkiɾibas] in Gilbertese), 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 main island chain, the Gilbert Islands.