Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an independent island nation in the central Pacific Ocean. The permanent population is over 119,000 (2020), more than half of whom live on Tarawa atoll. The state comprises 32 atolls and one raised coral island, Banaba. There is a total land area of 811 square kilometres dispersed over 3.5 million km2 (1.4 million sq mi) of ocean.
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976. The history of the colony was mainly characterized by phosphate mining on Ocean Island. In October 1975, these islands were divided by force of law into two separate colonies, and they became independent nations shortly thereafter: the Ellice Islands became Tuvalu in 1978, and the Gilbert Islands became part of Kiribati in 1979.
Gilbertese or taetae ni Kiribati, also Kiribati, is an Austronesian language spoken mainly in Kiribati. It belongs to the Micronesian branch of the Oceanic languages.
Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati, in the central Pacific Ocean. It comprises North Tarawa, which has 6,629 inhabitants and much in common with other more remote islands of the Gilberts group, and South Tarawa, which has 56,388 inhabitants as of 2015, half of the country's total population. The atoll was the site of the Battle of Tarawa during World War II.
Bairiki is a settlement in South Tarawa of Kiribati. The State House, the National Stadium, the High Commissions of Australia and New Zealand as well as the embassy of China, and most of the Government Ministries are based in Bairiki. Bairiki is administered by the Teinainano Urban Council or TUC. As at the 2010 Census the population of Bairiki was 3,524.
South Tarawa is the capital and hub of the Republic of Kiribati and home to more than half of Kiribati's population. The South Tarawa population centre consists of all the small islets from Betio in the west to Bonriki and Tanaea in the north-east, connected by the South Tarawa main road, with a population of 63,439 as of 2020.
The House of Assembly is the Legislature of Kiribati. Since 2016, it has 45 members, 44 elected for a four-year term in 23 single-seat and multi-seat constituencies and 1 non-elected delegate from the Banaban community on Rabi Island in Fiji. From 1979 to 2016, the Attorney general was an ex officio member of the legislature, until a change of the constitution modified this provision.
Nonouti is an atoll and district of Kiribati. The atoll is located in the Southern Gilbert Islands, 38 km north of Tabiteuea, and 250 km south of Tarawa. The atoll is the third largest in the Gilbert Islands and is the island where the Roman Catholic religion was first established in Kiribati, in 1888.
Abaokoro is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located about nine nautical miles from Tarawa. It is located in the Tarawa Atoll.
Bikenibeu is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located close to the southeastern corner of the Tarawa atoll, part of the island country of Kiribati. It is part of a nearly continuous chain of settlements along the islands of South Tarawa, which are now linked by causeways. The low-lying atoll is vulnerable to sea level rise. Rapid population growth has caused some environmental problems. Kiribati's main government high school, King George V and Elaine Bernachi School, is located in Bikenibeu, as well as the Ministries of Environment and Education.
Paul Eusebius Mea Kaiuea was a Kiribati Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of the Diocese of Tarawa and Nauru from 1978 to 2020. Mea was born in Gilbert and Ellice Islands and was ordained in 1969 a priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Mea was then appointed the parish priest of North Tarawa. His work brought him to the attention of French Bishop Pierre Guichet. In 1978 he succeeded him as the bishop of the diocese when it encompassed all of Gilbert Islands soon independent Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu. In 1982, Tuvalu was removed from the jurisdiction of the diocese. In 2020, he became emeritus after resignation and was replaced by elected Koru Tito.
Education in Kiribati is free and compulsory from age 6 to 14, which includes primary school through grade six, and Junior Secondary School for three additional grade levels. In 1998, the gross primary enrollment rate was 84.4 percent, and net primary enrollment rate was 70.7 percent. School quality and access to education are better in urban areas; schools in small communities on isolated islands are expensive to maintain. Mission schools are slowly being absorbed into the government primary school system.
Biketawa is one of the twenty-four small islets which comprise the atoll of Tarawa in the Republic of Kiribati. The capital of Kiribati, South Tarawa, is located on Tarawa.
The Catholic Church in Kiribati is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, which, inspired by the life, death and teachings of Jesus Christ, and under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Roman curia in the Vatican City is the largest Christian church in the world. Koru Tito is Bishop of Tarawa and Nauru, with see in Kiribati.
Bonriki is a settlement on Tarawa atoll, Kiribati, near Temwaiku and is part of the municipality of South Tarawa. It is in the south-east of South Tarawa. Bonriki International Airport, one of two international airports in Kiribati is located here. One of the first roads linking islands together in Tarawa connects Bonriki to Bikenibeu.
Buota is an islet and a settlement on the island of Tarawa, Kiribati. There are 1,756 inhabitants (2015). The islet is the southernmost part of North Tarawa even if there is a bridge connecting it to Bonriki and South Tarawa.
Taborio is a settlement on the island of Tarawa, Kiribati, where the Immaculate Heart College, a Catholic school, is situated.
North Tarawa or in Gilbertese Tarawa Ieta, in the Republic of Kiribati, is the string of islets from Buariki at the northern tip of Tarawa atoll to Buota in the South, with a combined population of 6,629 as of 2015. It is administratively separate from neighbouring South Tarawa, and is governed by the Eutan Tarawa Council (ETC), based at Abaokoro.
The Sacred Heart Cathedral is a religious building of the Catholic church that is located in South Tarawa on the atoll of Tarawa part of the island nation of Kiribati in Oceania.
Temwaiku is a town and settlement in South Tarawa of Kiribati.
