Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an archipelagic country spanning the Micronesia and Polynesia sub-regions of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. The state comprises 32 atolls and other islands and one remote raised coral island, Banaba. Its total land area is dispersed over of ocean. The spread of the country's islands, from Banaba in the west to Kiritimati in the east, straddles the equator and the 180th meridian. The International Date Line goes around Kiribati and swings far to the east, almost reaching 150°W. This brings Kiribati's easternmost islands, the southern Line Islands south of Hawaii, into the same day as the Gilbert Islands and places them in the most advanced time zone on Earth: UTC+14.
The permanent population of Kiribati is just over 138,000 as of the 2026 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. There is also a significant number of I‑Kiribati forming a diaspora, the largest of which still growing via emigration is probably in New Zealand; historically, diasporic communities were created through over-population resettlement in the Solomon Islands on Ghizo and Wagina, and through intermarriage in the United Kingdom and United States. Another country with growing diasporic communities born of recent labour immigration is Australia. The I‑Kiribati are a Micronesian people that speaks the Gilbertese language.
The Gilberts were politically autonomous of each other, more or less, and anywhere else, until annexed as a protectorate in 1892 by the British; they had no political connection then with the Phoenix or Line islands. This annexation was ended in 1979, when Kiribati gained its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming a sovereign state in 1979. The sovereign state included the Gilberts, the Phoenix and Line islands and Banaba. The capital, Tarawa, now the most populated area, consists of a number of islets, connected by a series of causeways. These comprise about half the area of Tarawa Atoll. Prior to its independence the country exported phosphate, but the mine, on Banaba, is virtually exhausted and no longer viable. The descendants of the Banabans mostly live in exile on Rabi in Fiji but are represented in the Kiribati Parliament.
Fisheries, subsistence agriculture and the export of copra drive much of the economy, particularly on outer islands away from Tarawa. Kiribati is one of the least developed countries in the world and its government is highly dependent on fishing licence fees from foreign fleets and international capital aid to finance infrastructure and other projects. Many families rely on remittances from circular labour migrants (seafarers, agricultural workers, urban service workers). They also work for the government or for private business and non-business organisations, or run trade stores and small private cooperative-like businesses. The government now pays benefits to the unemployed on Tarawa and to the elderly.
Kiribati is a member of the Pacific Community, Commonwealth of Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999.In February 2021, Kiribati announced it would be withdrawing from the Pacific Islands Forum in a joint statement with Marshall Islands, Nauru, and the Federated States of Micronesia after a dispute regarding Henry Puna's election as the forum's secretary-general.
As an atoll (and other low-lying island) nation, Kiribati is acutely vulnerable to sea-level rise and climate change. This is in addition to threats from tsunamis since time-immemorial. Addressing climate change has been a central part of its international policy, as a member of the Alliance of Small Island States. In Kiribati, climate change and extreme weather events are predicted to become more frequent. Additionally, existing socio-economic and environmental pressures are intensifying.
Etymology and pronunciation The name is pronounced , as in the Gilbertese language represents an sound. Similarly, the name of its people, the I-Kiribati, is pronounced .
The name Kiribati was adopted upon the country's independence in 1979. It is the Gilbertese rendition of Gilberts, the plural of the English name of the nation's main archipelago, the Gilbert Islands. It was named (French for 'Gilbert Islands') in about 1820 by Russian admiral Adam von KrusensternIn his authoritative pioneer (1824–27). and French captain Louis Duperrey,, 8 volumes in 4° et 5 volumes in-folio, Paris, Arthus-Bertrand, 1826–1830 (Imprimerie de Firmin Didot). after the British captain Thomas Gilbert. Gilbert and captain John Marshall sighted some of the islands in 1788, while charting the "outer passage" route from Port Jackson to Canton. Both von Krusenstern's and Duperrey's maps, published in 1824, were written in French.
In French, the Northern Islands were until then called and Byron's Island was not part of them. In English, the archipelago, particularly the southern part, was often referred to as the Kingsmills in the 19th century, although the name Gilbert Islands was used increasingly, including for the purposes of the Western Pacific High Commission in the Western Pacific Order-in-Council of 1877 and Pacific Order-in-Council of 1893.
The name Gilbert, already in the name of the British protectorate since 1892, was incorporated into the name of the entire Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (GEIC) from 1916 and was retained after the Ellice Islands became the separate country of Tuvalu in 1976. The spelling of Gilberts in the Gilbertese language as may be found in books in Gilbertese prepared by missionaries, but with the meaning of Gilbertese (demonym and language) (see e.g., Hawaiian Board of Missionaries, 1895). The first mention as a dictionary entry of the word Kiribati as the native name of the country was written down in 1952 by Ernest Sabatier in his comprehensive .
The indigenous name often suggested for the Gilbert Islands proper is (see e.g., Ernest Sabatier, 1952–1953, or Arthur Grimble, 1989). The rendition Kiribati for Gilberts was chosen as the official name of the new independent state by the chief minister, Sir Ieremia Tabai and his cabinet, on such grounds that it was modern, and to indicate the inclusion of islands (e.g., the Phoenix and Line Islands), beyond the Tungaru (i.e., Gilbert) chain.
History
Early history The area now called Kiribati has been inhabited by Austronesian peoples speaking the same Oceanic language, from north to south, including the southernmost Nui, since sometime between 3000 BCMacdonald, Barrie (2001) Cinderellas of the Empire: towards a history of Kiribati and Tuvalu, Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji, , p. 1 and 1300 AD. The area was not completely isolated; later, voyagers from Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji introduced some Polynesian and Melanesian cultural aspects, respectively. Intermarriage and intense navigation between the islands tended to blur cultural differences and resulted in a significant degree of cultural homogenization. Local oral historians chiefly in the form of lore keepers suggest that the area was first inhabited by a group of seafaring people from Melanesia, who were described as being dark-skinned, frizzy-haired, and short in stature. These indigenous peoples were then visited by early Austronesian seafarers from the west, a place called Matang, orally described as being tall and fair-skinned.
Around AD 1300, a mass departure occurred from Samoa leading to the addition of Polynesian ancestry into the mix of most Gilbertese people. These Samoans later brought strong features of Polynesian languages and culture, creating clans based on their own Samoan traditions and slowly intertwining with the indigenous clans and powers already dominant in Kiribati.
Around the 15th century, starkly contrasting systems of governance arose between the northern islands, primarily under chiefly rule (uea), and the central and southern islands, primarily under the rule of their council of elders (unimwaane). Tabiteuea could be an exception as the sole island that is known as maintaining a traditional egalitarian society.
The name Tabiteuea stems from the root phrase Tabu-te-Uea, meaning "chiefs are forbidden".But the organization of the political decisions was far more complex as described by Jean-Paul Latouche, in Qui veut prendre la parole ? (2003) by Marcel Detienne. Civil war soon became a factor, with acquisition of land being the main form of conquest. Clans and chiefs began fighting over resources, stimulated by hatred and reignited blood feuds, which had their origins months, years, or even decades before. The turmoil lasted well into the European visitation and colonial era, which led to certain islands decimating their foes with the help of guns and cannon-equipped ships that Europeans provided to some I-Kiribati leaders.
The typical military arms of the I-Kiribati at this time were shark tooth-embedded wooden spears, knives, and swords, and garbs of armour fashioned from dense coconut fibre. They were used instead of the gunpowder and weapons of steel available at the time, because of the strong sentimental value of the equipment handed down through generations. Ranged weapons, such as bows, slings, and javelins, were seldom used; hand-to-hand combat was a prominent skill still practised today, though seldom mentioned because of various taboos associated with it, secrecy being the primary one. Abemama's High Chief Tembinok' was the last of the dozens of expansionist chiefs of Gilbert Islands of this period, despite Abemama historically conforming to the traditional southern islands' governance of their respective unimwaane. He was immortalised in Robert Louis Stevenson's book In the South Seas, which delved into the high chief's character and method of rule during Stevenson's stay in Abemama. The 90th anniversary of his arrival in the Gilbert Islands was chosen to celebrate the independence of Kiribati on 12 July 1979.
Colonial era
Chance visits by European ships occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries, while those ships attempted circumnavigations of the world, or sought sailing routes from the south to north Pacific Ocean, a passing trade, whaling the On-The-Line grounds, and labour ships associated with the coercive labour recruitment practices, known as blackbirding. This recruitment of Kanaka workers in large numbers during the 19th century, had social, economic, political, religious and cultural consequences. More than 9,000 workers were sent abroad from 1845 to 1895, most of them not returning.
The passing trade gave rise to European, Indian, Chinese, Samoan, and other residents from the 1830s; they included beachcombers, castaways,H. E. Maude, Beachcombers and castaways, The Journal of the Polynesian Society 73: 3 (1964) 254–293 traders, and missionaries. Dr Hiram Bingham II of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) arrived on Abaiang in 1857. The Catholic faith was introduced on Nonouti around 1880 by 2 Gilbert islanders, Betero and Tiroi, who had become Christians in Tahiti. Fr Joseph Leray, Fr Edward Bontemps and Brother Conrad Weber, who were Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, arrived on Nonouti in 1888. The Protestant missionaries of the London Missionary Society (LMS) were also active in the southern Gilberts. On 15 October 1870, Rev. Samuel James Whitmee of the LMS arrived at Arorae, and later that month he visited Tamana, Onotoa and Beru. In August 1872, George Pratt of the LMS visited the islands.