Kiribati History Made Easy

In Kiribati, the ocean is not an empty distance. It is a road, a pantry, a battlefield, a boundary, and a future that cannot be ignored. Navigation and maneaba life lead into missionaries, colonial rule, blackbirding, Banaba's phosphate, wartime Tarawa, nuclear testing, independence, the International Date Line, the Phoenix Islands, and the struggle to remain at home in a warming Pacific. These scattered islands carry global stakes.

Did You Know?

- Did you know traditional navigators crossed wide stretches of ocean by reading stars, swells, birds, and currents?

- Did you know the maneaba organized public life, debate, land, and belonging?

- Did you know Banaba's phosphate wealth was extracted while its people were displaced to Rabi?

- Did you know Tarawa became a major battlefield during the Second World War?

- Did you know Kiritimati and nearby islands were used for British and American nuclear testing?

- Did you know Kiribati shifted the International Date Line around its eastern islands so the country could share one calendar day?

What This Book Includes

- The Gilbert, Phoenix, and Line Islands connected through navigation, empire, war, and statehood.

- Navigation, language, religion, colonial labor, war, nuclear legacies, and climate politics.

- Banaban and I-Kiribati experiences distinguished while preserving their shared colonial history.

- Staying, moving, and sovereignty explored as urgent Pacific questions.