Kiribati

I love Kiribati’s flag. It’s so pretty!

On 12 July in 1979 (the year of my birth, in case anyone wants to know that…) Kiribati attained its independence from the United Kingdom—so today they’re celebrating their Independence Day. Fantastic!

I’m guessing there are a lot of people who get a bit hazy on their geography when it comes to Oceania. Kiribati is between the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu—east of Papua New Guinea (which, of course, is above Australia, sitting north of Queensland.) Got it? The islands—32 atolls and a raised coral island, spread over three and a half million square kilometres, is scattered around the equator—and it borders the international date line. In fact, the international dateline used to run through the country—not terribly convenient. It was moved east of the Line Islands group in 1995. The main island chain is the Gilberts.

Micronesians have lived in the islands for quite a while—we don’t really know how long. They could have arrived as early as 3000 BCE, they could have showed up around the 14th century. Well, according to Wikipedia. (I’m actually starting to think, by the by, that next year I’ll update these entries to make them a little less dry, and a little more informative.) The colonising folks showed up in the 18th and 19th century. Whalers, merchants and slavers visited the islands. As was so often the case they broke guns and germs with them. (I don’t know about steel, Jared Diamond.) British settlers came to the party in 1837, and the Gilbert Islands got together with the neighbouring Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu) to become a British protectorate.

Remembering the French continuing their nuclear tests in the Pacific in the 1990s? The trend’s been in place for a while—the British thought Kiribati would make a good spot for testing in the late 1960s. No, they didn’t worry about evacuating the locals.

Self-rule came in 1971, and then the Gilberts separated from the Ellice Islands with internal self-government. The country became Kiribati at the same time as it gained its independence—Kiribati is the Gibertese for Gilberts. Oh, and I learned only a few days ago that the “ti” syllable is pronounced more as a “-ts” sound.

Since independence there’ve been a few issues—overcrowding for one. Some residents were resettled from the main island group of the nation to less-populated islands. More recently there’s been a law enacted that allows the government to shut down newspapers—not a huge vote of confidence in media freedom. Still, more the more general human rights record is good.

Today’s poem is by the I-Kiribati poet Teresia Teaiwa. I found it online here.


Te onauti *


Be te onauti

And fly.

Walking is for

Pathetic bipeds,

And swimming

Only half an option.

Men see one horizon

Where you always see two.

Perhaps that is why

fishermen lost and

unable to stomach

any more of the sea

feel fortunate to

catch you

so they may suck on your eyes.

Fish out of water: fly.

Fish, out of water, see two horizons.


* Kiribati for 'flying fish'


— Teresia Teaiwa