A History of Kiribati: From the Earliest Times to the 40th Anniversary of the Republic

Book Synopsis: This book is the first general history of Kiribati to be written since the country regained its independence from Britain forty years ago. The book has been written in the belief that there is an interest from I Kiribati people, and those of I-Kiribati descent in its growing diaspora, for a new account: of ancient times, but also of the 300 or so years since Europeans arrived in the Pacific. The book aims as well to provide easily accessible information and historical analysis to others with an interest in Kiribati: visitors, development partners, and friends – and indeed anyone with an interest in the ‘forgotten corners’ of the world. It incorporates the genetic, archaeological and other scientific researches that have in the last 40 years overturned many previous suppositions about the settlement and cultivation of the islands, which we now know began some 2,000 years ago; and it describes how one of the apparently least promising environments of Oceania became one of its most densely inhabited. The book then updates previous writings about the Colonial period, and presents a narrative of developments in the Republic since 1979. Part 1 of the book – Tungaru – covers the early times. It describes society, technology and the traditional economy, and also the first contacts between the I Tungaru people and the various Europeans and Chinese who arrived in the 18th and 19th centuries. Part 2 – Gilbert and Ellice islands - covers the period after the declaration of a British Protectorate in 1892, and why this changed to a Colony in 1916 to enforce – legally - the transfer of phosphate from Banaba to Australia and New Zealand, at a fraction of the world’s commercial price. This had become crucial to their developing as producers of temperate agricultural products (and suppliers of cheap food to Britain). There was thus effectively an 'aid programme' from the Colony to those two countries, equivalent over the twentieth century to at least £500 million in today's prices. The interests of the British Phosphate Commission dominated the Colony; this book provides a comprehensive narrative as to how it effectively ‘high-jacked’ the country. Part 2 of the history also analyses how I Tungaru society evolved at this time, balancing its traditional culture with those of the Missionaries and the Colonial authorities. It describes the Japanese and then American occupations during World War II; and the period of ‘stasis’ for 25 years thereafter, when the Gilbert and Ellice Islands became a conventional ‘colony’, and one with no official interest in economic development. This was followed in the 1970s by both a quest for a modern economy, and by very rapid political progress towards independence. Part 2 also covers the separation of the Ellice Islands, and the travails of the Banaban people who had been moved to Fiji after WWII. Part 3 – The Republic of Kiribati - describes how successive Kiribati Governments have challenged the view that the Kiribati economy would not be able to support its regained sovereignty. It describes how the country has maintained a vigorous democracy; and, through, skilful exploitation of its tuna resources, and sensible use of aid, has also maintained standards of living. Problems have nevertheless grown, mostly because of urbanisation - half the population now lives in the capital. This has resulted in pollution there and has caused other health and social problems; it has caused as well the emergence of poverty, which was unknown in traditional society. The book concludes with an assessment as to how global warming is critically affecting the islands. The author of this book has been associated with Kiribati for fifty years; and he married an I Kiribati woman 45 years ago. In places the book is very thus much informed by the memories of his wife and himself and their friendships, including with the two last Colonial Governors and all five Presidents, the current of whom contributes a Forward.