Knowra History of Kiribati History of Kiribati The history of the central Pacific islands now forming Kiribati, from early settlement through British colonial rule to independence in 1979 and the present.
Austronesian expansion : The prehistoric dispersal of Austronesian-speaking peoples from Taiwan across Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific. It provides the broad migration context for the settlement of Kiribati’s islands.
Gilbert and Ellice Islands : A British colony in the central Pacific, comprising the Gilbert Islands and the Ellice Islands until their separation in 1975. It was the main colonial structure from which Kiribati emerged.
Tembinok : A nineteenth-century ruler of Abemama in the Gilbert Islands, noted in European accounts for resisting outside control. His rule shows how local authority negotiated European presence before colonial rule.
Banaba : A raised coral island in Kiribati, formerly called Ocean Island, whose phosphate deposits were extensively mined under colonial rule. Mining transformed Banaba and displaced much of its population to Rabi Island.
Micronesia : A Pacific region of small islands and archipelagos, including Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia. Kiribati’s islands belong to this wider region of related but distinct histories.
British Western Pacific Territories : A British colonial jurisdiction established in 1877 to administer scattered Pacific possessions through a high commissioner. The Gilberts entered a broader British system of Pacific colonial governance.
Arthur Grimble : A British colonial administrator in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands who wrote influential accounts of I-Kiribati life and culture. His writings shaped outside knowledge of the colony and its people.
Rabi Island : An island in Fiji where many Banabans were resettled after wartime displacement and continued phosphate mining on Banaba. Its Banaban community reflects the lasting consequences of colonial extraction.
I-Kiribati people : The Indigenous people of Kiribati, whose communities developed across the Gilbert, Line, and Phoenix island groups. Their settlement and social traditions form the human foundation of Kiribati’s history.
Tarawa : An atoll in the Gilbert Islands and the site of Kiribati’s capital, South Tarawa. Its centrality grew through colonial administration, wartime fighting, and independence-era government.
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