Gilbert and Ellice Islands
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The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean was part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. It was a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976, and was administered as part of the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) until it became independent as two separate states. The history of GEIC 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 with Banaba (Ocean Island) became part of Kiribati in 1979.
LocationEdit
_MAP_OF_THE_TOKELU,_ELLICE_AND_GILBERT_ISLANDS.jpg){kind=link}
The Gilbert Islands<ref name="Name">Reilly Ridgell. Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95.</ref> sometimes also known as Kingsmill Islands or King's-Mill IslandsTemplate:Refn are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the western Pacific Ocean. They are part of Remote Oceania, and traditionally part of the Micronesia subregion of Oceania. The Gilbert Islands are the main part of what is now the Republic of Kiribati ("Kiribati" is the Gilbertese rendition of "Gilberts"<ref name="Name"/>) The atolls of the Gilbert Islands are arranged in an approximate north-to-south line.
Geographically, the Equator is the dividing line between the northern Gilbert Islands and the southern Gilbert Islands. South of the Gilbert Islands lie the Ellice Islands (now called Tuvalu), which were previously politically connected as part of the GEIC.<ref name="Maritime">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Ellice Islands comprise three reef islands and six true atolls, spread out between the latitude of 5° to 10° south and longitude of 176° to 180°, west of the International Date Line.<ref name="MAP">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Ellice Islands are midway between Hawaii and Australia, and they, too, lie in the Polynesia subregion of Oceania.
European discovery and namingEdit
In 1568, when Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira was commissioned to explore the South Pacific, he sailed relatively close to the Gilbert Islands. He sailed between the Line Islands and the Phoenix Islands, but without sighting land. He ultimately sailed past what he called "Isla de Jesús", (probably Nui, amongst the Ellice island group).<ref>Maude, pp. 53–56.</ref>
In 1606, Pedro Fernandes de Queirós sighted two of the islands in the Gilbert island group: Butaritari and Makin, which he named the Buen Viaje Islands ('good trip' islands in Spanish).<ref name="HEMaude59">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Kelly, Celsus, O.F.M. La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo. The Journal of Fray Martín de Munilla O.F.M. and other documents relating to the Voyage of Pedro Fernández de Quirós to the South Sea (1605-1606) and the Franciscan Missionary Plan (1617-1627) Cambridge, 1966, pages 39, 62.</ref>
In 1788, Thomas Gilbert, a British captain, encountered the archipelago while commanding one of two ships of the First Fleet that were looking for an outer passage route from Port Jackson to Canton. In 1820, a Russian admiral, Johann von Krusenstern, named the group "îles Gilbert" (French for Gilbert Islands) in honor of Captain Gilbert's earlier voyage. Around that time, the French captain Louis Duperrey became the first to map the whole Gilbert Islands archipelago. He commanded La Coquille, circumnavigating the globe between 1822 and 1825.<ref name="KSDDM">Template:Cite journal</ref>
The first recorded sighting by Europeans of an Ellice Island was on 16 January 1568, during the voyage of Álvaro de Mendaña from Spain, who sailed past Nui and charted it as Isla de Jesús (Spanish for "Island of Jesus") because the previous day was the feast of the Holy Name. Mendaña made contact with the islanders but was unable to land.<ref>Maude, H.E. "Spanish discoveries in the Central Pacific. A study in identification", in Journal of the Polynesian Society, Wellington, LXVIII, (1959), pages 299,303.</ref><ref name="HEMaude59b">Template:Cite journal</ref> During Mendaña's second voyage across the Pacific, he passed Niulakita on 29 August 1595, which he named La Solitaria.<ref name="HEMaude59"/><ref name="KSDDMb">Template:Cite journal</ref> Captain John Byron passed through the Ellice islands in 1764, during his circumnavigation of the globe as captain of the Template:HMS.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He charted the atolls as Lagoon Islands. Nanumea was sighted by Spanish naval officer Francisco Mourelle de la Rúa who sailed past it on 5 May 1781 with frigate La Princesa, when attempting a southern crossing of the Pacific from the Philippines to New Spain. He charted Nanumea as San Augustin.<ref name=autogenerated1>Keith S. Chambers & Doug Munro, The Mystery of Gran Cocal: European Discovery and Mis-Discovery in Tuvalu, 89(2) (1980) The Journal of the Polynesian Society, pages 167-198</ref><ref>Laumua Kofe, Palagi and Pastors, Tuvalu: A History, Chapter 15, (USP / Tuvalu government)</ref>
In 1809, Captain Patterson in the brig Elizabeth sighted Nanumea while passing through the northern Tuvalu waters on a trading voyage from Port Jackson, Sydney, Australia to China.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> Captain Arent de Peyster sighted the rest of the Ellice island group in 1819, while sailing the ship Rebecca. He named Funafuti atoll "Ellice's Island", after Edward Ellice, a British politician and merchant who owned the ship's cargo.<ref>Miscellanies: by an officer, Volume 1, Chapter LXXX By John Watts De Peyster, A.E. Chasmer & Co. (1888).</ref><ref name="TAHLK">Template:Cite book</ref> After the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay was published, the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands in the Ellice Island group, which is now called Tuvalu.<ref>Findlay Alexander George, A Directory for the Navigation of the Pacific Ocean: With Description of Its Coasts, Islands, Etc. from the Strait of Magalhaens to the Arctic Sea.</ref>
Two ships of the United States Exploring Expedition, Template:USS and Template:USS, under the command of Captain Hudson, surveyed the Gilbert Islands of Tabiteuea, Nonouti, Aranuka, Maiana, Abemama, Kuria, Tarawa, Marakei, Butaritari, and MakinTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn (then called the Kingsmill Islands or Kingsmill Group in English). While in the Gilberts, they devoted considerable time to mapping and charting reefs and anchorages.<ref>Tyler, David B. – 1968 The Wilkes Expedition. The First United States Exploring Expedition (1838–42). Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society</ref> Alfred Thomas Agate made drawings of men of Butaritari and Makin.
'Spheres of influence' in the western and central PacificEdit
In 1876 Britain and Germany agreed to divide up the western and central Pacific, with each claiming a 'sphere of influence'.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="TAHNPT">Template:Cite book</ref> In the previous decade German traders had become active in the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, Marshall Islands and the Caroline Islands. In 1877 the Governor of Fiji was given the additional title of High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. However, the claim of a 'sphere of influence' that included the Ellice Islands and the Gilbert Islands did not result in the immediate move to govern those islands.<ref name="TAHNPT"/> Ships from the navies of the United States of America and European powers that visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands included:
United KingdomEdit
Ships of the Royal Navy, on the Australian Station, were involved in suppressing the coercive labour recruitment practices, known as blackbirding in the South Pacific Ocean.
1872, from 10 to 14 October, the sloop Template:HMS, under Captain Cortland Herbert Simpson, visited Tawara, Abaiang and Butaritari. Also in 1872, the sloop Template:HMS, under Captain John Moresby,<ref name="JM">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> visited the Gilberts, and the corvette Template:HMS, under Captain Lewis James Moore, visited Tabiteuea.
1873, from 28 to 30 June, the schooner Template:HMS, under Captain Francis W. Sanders, lands islanders on Tabiteuea and Maiana who had been kidnapped in 1871 by the brig Carl.<ref name="AC">Template:Cite journal</ref> The screw sloop Template:HMS also visited the Gilberts in 1873.
1874, in August, the screw sloop Template:HMS, under Commander Arthur Edward Dupuis, visited Tawara and Abaiang searching for William "Bully" Hayes, who was notorious for his blackbirding activities.<ref name="AR1">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="AR2">Template:Cite book</ref>
1875, the survey ship Template:HMS, under Commander Richard Hare, visited the Gilberts.
1876, from April to June, the schooner Template:HMS, under Lieutenant Horace J. M. Pugh, visited Abaiang and Tawara, regarding the murders in 1874, of Cornelius Sullivan on Tarawa, and St. John C. Keyes on Abaiang. The screw sloop Template:HMS, under Commander Noel Stephen Fox Digby, was also sent to the Gilberts in support of HMS Renard.
1881, from 13 May to 6 June, the corvette HMS Template:HMS, under Captain William Maxwell, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.
1883, from 26 May to 10 June, the sloop Template:HMS, under Captain Cyprian Bridge, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.
1884, from 13 June to 26 July, the survey ship Template:HMS, under Lieutenant-Commander W. W. Moore, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.<ref name="DAR"> Moore, W.U., Lt. Reports of Proceedings of H.M.S. 'Dart' in the Fiji, Ellice, Gilbert, Marshall, New Britain, &c., Gr oups, from May to September, 1884. in: RNAS XVI, 26. Government Printer, Sydney.</ref>
1886, from 10 May to 26 June, the sloop Template:HMS, under Commander Eustace Rooke, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.<ref name="JRCD">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="ROO"> Rooke, Eustace. Reports of Commander Eustace Rooke, HMS Miranda, of Proceedings when visiting Islands of the Union Group, Sophia and Rotuman Islands, the Ellice Group and the Gilbert Group. April to July 1886. 29pp (NS National Archives). Royal Navy, Australian Station, Gov't Printer, Sydney.</ref>
1892, from 14 April to 30 August, the screw sloop Template:HMS, under Captain Edward Davis, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.<ref name="JRCD"/><ref name="BM">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
United StatesEdit
1825, the schooner Template:USS, under Lieutenant Hiram Paulding, visited Nikunau and Tabiteuea.<ref name="PHD">Paulding, Hiram. Journal of a Cruise of the United States Schooner Dolphin, Among the Islands of the Pacific Ocean; and a Visit to the Mulgrave Islands, in Pursuit of the Mutineers of the Whale Ship Globe. New York: G. & C. & H. Carvill, 1831.</ref>
1870, from 15 to 26 May, the sloop Template:USS, under Captain William Truxtun, visited Tawara, Abaiang and Butaritari.
1872, in August, the sloop Template:USS visited Nikunau, Beru, Tabiteuea, Abaiang and Tawara.
1889, the steam powered sloop Template:USS visited Butaritari.
FranceEdit
1874, the corvette L'Ariane visited Arorae and Ocean Island.
1888, the cruiser Le Fabert, under Commander Benoit, visited Nikunau, Nonouti and Butaritari to deliver Father Joseph Leray, Father Edward Bontemps and Brother Conrad Weber, Roman Catholic Missionaries of the Sacred Heart,<ref name="MKT">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> who were the first Roman Catholic missionaries to arrive in the Gilberts.
GermanyEdit
SMS Eber of the German {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Imperial Navy), was sent to the Pacific to serve in the German colonial empire. In 1888 she visited the Gilberts, and also disarmed the inhabitants of Nauru,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> ending their civil war and annexing the island to the German Empire.
1891, the steam corvette SMS Template:SMS visited the Gilberts (Marakei, Tawara, Abaiang, Abemama and Tabiteuea). Also in 1891, the gunboat Template:SMS visited Tawara, Abaiang and Maiana, and the cruiser SMS Template:SMS visited Butaritari, Maiana and Tabiteuea.<ref name="JRCD"/>
Administration of the Gilbert and Ellice IslandsEdit
The Pacific Islanders Protection Act 1872 & 1875Edit
_Pandanus_Pine_1d._carmine.jpg){kind=link}
In 1872, the United Kingdom passed legislation in an attempt to control the coercive labour recruitment practices known as blackbirding: the Pacific Islanders Protection Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 19) (the principal act), which was amended by the Pacific Islanders Protection Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 51). The principal act provided for the governor of one of the Australian colonies to have the authority to licence British vessels in the South Pacific Ocean to carry "native labourers". The 1875 act amended that licensing system and stated that any "British vessel may, under the principal Act, be detained, seized, and brought in for adjudication by any officer, all goods and effects found on board such vessel may also be detained, seized, and brought in for adjudication by such officer, either with or without such vessel" with the "High Court of Admiralty of England and every Vice-Admiralty Court in Her Majesty's dominions out of the United Kingdom shall have jurisdiction to try and condemn as forfeited to Her Majesty or restore any vessel, goods, and effects alleged to be detained or seized in pursuance of the principal Act or of this Act".<ref name="PIPA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Refn The 1875 act also provided authority for "Her Majesty to exercise power and jurisdiction over Her subjects within any islands and places in the Pacific Ocean not being within Her Majesty's dominions, nor within the jurisdiction of any civilized power, in the same and as ample a manner as if such power or jurisdiction had been acquired by the cession or conquest of territory",<ref name="PIPA"/> although the 1875 act did not specify any Pacific islands to which this authority was to be applied.
The 1872 and 1875 acts were intended to work in conjunction with the British Slave Trade Act 1839Template:Which to provide the authority to arrest blackbirding ships, and charge their captains and owners with slavery charges. However, this approach to suppressing blackbirding was not successful. In 1869, Commander George Palmer of HMS Rosario, commenced a prosecution in the New South Wales courts of Thomas Pritchard and Captain Dagget of the Daphne. Commander Palmer had found the Daphne in harbour at Levuka in Fiji fitted out like an "African slaver", and filled with Islanders on board looking emaciated and having little knowledge of why they were on the ship.<ref name="RLRN">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Daphne was owned by Henry Ross Lewin, a long time blackbirder who had been commissioned to import south sea islanders for Robert Towns' sugar plantations (the entrepreneur after whom Townsville is named). Despite this, Sir Alfred Stephen, the Chief Justice of New South Wales, found Pritchard and Dagget innocent on the grounds that the Slave Trade Act 1839 did not apply to the South Pacific Ocean.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Protectorate administered as part of the British Western Pacific TerritoriesEdit
In 1877, the United Kingdom established a protectorate over the islands designated as being British Western Pacific Territories.
In 1886, an Anglo-German agreement partitioned the "unclaimed" central Pacific, leaving Nauru in the German sphere of influence, while placing Ocean Island and the future GEIC in the British sphere of influence.
German New Guinea was established in 1884, and German protectorates were established on the Marshall Islands and Nauru, in 1885 and 1888, respectively. Then, between 27 May and 17 June 1892, partly in response to the presence of the United States in Butaritari,<ref>The Reluctant Empire Builders.</ref> Captain Edward Davis of Template:HMS made the sixteen islands of the Gilbert Islands a British protectorateTemplate:Broken anchor.<ref name="JRdd">Template:Cite book</ref> Between 9 and 16 October of the same year, Captain Herbert Gibson of Template:HMS declared the Ellice Islands to be a British protectorate.<ref name="TAHNPT"/> The British government found it administratively convenient to govern the Ellice and Gilberts islands together.<ref>A History of Kiribati, Michael Ravell Walsh, 2020, pages 170-171.</ref>
At first, the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) were administered by a high commissioner who resided in Fiji (and later in the British Solomon Islands). Then, Sir John Bates Thurston appointed Charles Richard Swayne as the first resident commissioner of the Ellice Islands in 1892 and as the first resident commissioner of the Gilbert Islands in 1893. He was succeeded in 1895 by William Telfer Campbell, who established himself on Tarawa,Template:Refn and remained in office until 1908. Campbell was criticised for his legislative, judicial and administrative management. It was alleged that he extracted forced labour from the islanders. An inquiry into this allegation was held by Arthur Mahaffy, a former district officer in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (1896–1898) and Solomon Islands (1898-1904),<ref name="BRL7">Template:Cite book</ref> and he issued his findings, which were published in 1910.<ref name="AM1909">Template:Cite book</ref> In 1913, an anonymous correspondent to The New Age journal described the maladministration of Telfer Campbell, linked it to criticisms of the Pacific Phosphate Company, which was operating on Ocean Island, and challenged Mahaffy's impartiality, because he was a former colonial official in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate.<ref name="AN">Template:Cite journal</ref>
In 1908, the government's headquarters was moved to Ocean Island (today known as Banaba). Ocean Island had been hastily added to the protectorate in 1900 to take advantage of the improved shipping connections resulting from the Pacific Phosphate Company's increased activities. On 12 January 1916, the islands' status was changed to that of a Crown Colony.<ref name="PRIVY">Template:Cite book</ref> The British colonial authorities emphasised that their role was to procure labour for phosphate mining on Ocean Island, and to maintain law and order among the workers.<ref name="TAHNPT"/>
Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (GEIC)Edit
The islands became a Crown colony on 12 January 1916 by the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Order in Council, 1915.Template:Refn
During the year 1916, the Union Islands (Tokelau) were also annexed to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony. On 28 November 1919, Great Britain reasserted its claim to Christmas Island and annexed it to the colony.
In July 1920, the Pacific Phosphate Company was liquidated and its assets sold to the British Phosphate Commission (BPC), a consortium established by the governments of Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. The mining of the phosphate on Ocean Island represented the main revenue of the colony until it ended in 1979.
In 1925, Great Britain asked New Zealand to accept responsibility for the administration of the Union Islands (Tokelau) and invited the United States to annex Swains Island. On 4 March 1925, the United States officially annexed Swains Island as part of the territory of American Samoa. On 11 February 1926, an Order in Council transferred responsibility for administration of the Union Islands (Tokelau) to New Zealand which in turn placed administration of the islands under its Western Samoan mandate.
Fanning Island and Washington Island also became included in the colony together with the Union Islands (now known as Tokelau); Christmas Island was included in 1919 but was unofficially contested by the USA under its Guano Islands Act of 1856.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Union Islands were transferred to New Zealand in 1926, but formally only in 1948.Template:Refn
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony continued to be administered by a Resident Commissioner. In 1930 the Resident Commissioner, Arthur Grimble, issued revised laws, Regulations for the good Order and Cleanliness of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, which replaced laws created during the BWTP.<ref name="TAHNPT"/>
In the 1930s, British officials tried to choose a less cumbersome name for the GEIC. Critics jocularly called the arbitrary collection of atolls scattered across the central Pacific the "Gilbert and Sullivans" (a reference to the famous light opera composers). One official suggested renaming the islands "Quateria" (after the word "quarters"), because the main inhabited archipelago extends over four notable quarters of the globe: It lies partly north and partly south of the equator, and also partly east and partly west of the international dateline. There were indigenous names, such as Tungaru and Tuvalu, but they were used to refer to only some of the islands in the group; they did not include the mostly uninhabited Phoenix and Line island groups, or Banaba (also called Ocean Island), whose phosphate rocks provided half of the GEIC's tax revenue. Further complicating the naming problem, the Tokelau atolls were made part of the colony for a decade (1916–1926), and at one point a governor of Fiji, Sir J.B. Thurston, suggested adding Rotuma to the colony to enable a more organized administration of islands that were scattered over such a vast expanse of water. In 1969, after political issues arose that had led to the creation, four years earlier, of the Gilbertese National Party, the hybrid term "Tungavalu" was suggested (combining the indigenous names for the islands of Tungaru and Tuvalu); the idea was rejected because of political tensions between those islands.<ref>David Chappell, Water Nations: Colonial Bordering, Exploitation, and Indigenous Nation-Building in Kiribati and Tuvalu, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, 2016, Pacific-Asia Inquiry (U. Guam), Volume 7, Number 1 (Fall), pages 8-25.</ref>
On 31 December 1936, the population of the Crown Colony totalled 34,443 inhabitants, including 32,390 Gilbert and Ellice Islanders, 262 Europeans and 923 Chinese ("Mongoloids"). Henry Evans Maude, the land commissioner of the colony, considered the then colony overcrowded. The Phoenix Islands were added to the colony in 1937 with the view of a Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme.<ref name="Macdonald, B. K. 1982">Template:Cite book</ref> On 6 August 1936, a party from HMS Leith landed on Canton Island in the Phoenix Group and planted a sign asserting British sovereignty in the name of King Edward VIII. On 18 March 1937, Great Britain annexed the uninhabited Phoenix Islands (except Howland and Baker Islands) to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony.
Banaba (Ocean Island) remained the headquarters of the colony until the British evacuation in 1942 during the Pacific War when Ocean Island and the Gilbert Islands were occupied by the Japanese. The United States forces landed in Funafuti on 2 October 1942 and on Nanumea and Nukufetau in August 1943 and constructed an airfield on each island and other bases. The atolls of Tuvalu acted as a staging post during the preparation for the Battle of Tarawa and the Battle of Makin that commenced on 20 November 1943. Colonel Vivian Fox-Strangways, was the Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony in 1941, who was located on Funafuti.<ref name="LNKFK2">Template:Cite book</ref>
.jpg){kind=link}
After World War II, the colony headquarters was re-established on Tarawa, first on Betio islet and subsequently on Bairiki islet.<ref name="Macdonald, B. K. 1982"/><ref>Maude, H. E., & Doran, E., Jr. (1966). The precedence of Tarawa Atoll. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 56, 269-289.</ref><ref name="WM">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="PIM1950-3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In November 1945, Fox-Strangways was replaced as Resident Commissioner by Henry Evans Maude (1946 to 1949). He was succeeded by John Peel, who retired in 1951.
By the Tokelau Act of 1948, sovereignty over Tokelau was transferred to New Zealand. The five islands of the Central and Southern Line Islands were added to the colony in 1972.<ref name="Macdonald, B. K. 1982"/>
Transition to self-determinationEdit
In 1946, Tarawa, in the Gilbert Islands, was made the administrative capital, replacing Ocean Island. The headquarters of the Colony were transferred from Betio to Bairiki. This development included establishing the King George V Secondary School for boys and the Elaine Bernacchi Secondary School for girls.<ref name="TAHES">Template:Cite book</ref>
A Colony Conference was organised at Marakei in 1956, which was attended by officials and representatives (magistrates) from each island in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, conferences were held every two years until 1962. The development of administration continued with the creation in 1963 of an Advisory Council of five officials and 12 representatives who were appointed by the Resident Commissioner.<ref name="TAHTI"/><ref name="TAHES"/> In 1964 an Executive Council was established with eight officials and eight representatives. The representative members were elected in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Advisory Council election held in 1964. The Resident Commissioner was now required to consult the Executive Council regarding the creation of laws to make decisions that affected the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.<ref name="TAHTI"/>
The Tungaru Association was created by Reuben Uatioa to "promote Gilbertese culture and interests", and in 1965, the Gilbertese National Party, first political party of the colony, was established with the same leader, protesting about the lack of consideration that British rulers have towards Gilbertese, preferring somehow the Ellicean civil servants. The Elliceans (further Tuvaluans) were concerned about their minority status in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. In 1974, ethnic differences within the colony caused the Polynesians of the Ellice Islands to vote for separation from the Gilbert Islands (later Kiribati). On 1 October 1975, the Ellice Islands became the separate British colony of Tuvalu, but the separation was completed on 1 January 1976.
A Constitution was introduced in 1967, which created a House of Representatives for the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony that comprised seven appointed officials and 23 members elected by the islanders. Tuvalu elected four members of the House of Representatives. The 1967 Constitution also established the Governing Council. The House of Representatives only had the authority to recommend laws; the Governing Council had the authority to enact laws following a recommendation from the House of Representatives.<ref name="TAHTI"/>
A select committee of the House of Representatives was established to consider whether the constitution should be changed to give legislative power to the House of Representatives. The proposal was that Ellice Islanders would be allocated 4 seats out of 24 member parliament, which reflected the differences in populations between Ellice Islanders and Gilbertese.<ref name="PIM1966-8">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It became apparent that the Elliceans were concerned about their minority status on the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, and the Elliceans wanted equal representation to that of the Gilbertese. A new constitution was introduced in 1971, which provided that each of the Ellice Islands (except Niulakita) elected one representative. However, that did not end the Tuvaluan movement for separation.<ref name="PIM1972-11">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1974 Ministerial government was introduced in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony through a change to the Constitution.<ref name="TAHTI"/>
Until 1977, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (GEIC) was designated ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 (country code "GE").
Elections and the transition to parliamentary governmentEdit
The 1967 constitution created a House of Representatives (parliament), whose members were elected in the following elections:
- 1967 Gilbert and Ellice Islands general election
- 1971 Gilbert and Ellice Islands general election<ref name="PIM1971-5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- 1974 Gilbert and Ellice Islands general election<ref name="E1974">Template:Cite book</ref>
Dissolution of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colonyEdit
A referendum was held in Ellice Islands, including Elliceans living in Ocean Island and Tarawa, from July to September 1974, using a rolling ballot, to determine whether the Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands should each have their own administration.<ref name="PIM174-8">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="NGH">Nohlen, D, Grotz, F & Hartmann, C (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p. 831, Template:ISBN</ref> The result of the referendum, was that 3,799 Elliceans voted for separation from the Gilbert Islands and continuance of British rule as a separate colony, and 293 Elliceans voted to remain as the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony. There were 40 spoilt papers.<ref name="PIM1974-11">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
As a consequence of the 1974 Ellice Islands self-determination referendum, separation occurred in two stages. The Tuvaluan Order 1975 made by the Privy Council, which took effect on 1 October 1975, recognised Tuvalu as a separate British dependency with its own government. The second stage occurred on 1 January 1976 when two separate administrations were created out of the civil service of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.<ref name="TAHTI"/> The British conducted a formal inquiry into Tuvaluan attitudes towards secession, and announced that a referendum was to be held, in which Tuvaluans could choose to remain with the Gilberts or secede. They were told that if they separated they would not receive royalties from the Ocean Island phosphate or other assets of the colony. Despite this, 3,799 Tuvaluans (92%) voted to secede, while 293 voted against separation. On 1 October 1975, legal separation from the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati), took place. On 1 January 1976, full administration of the new colony was transferred from South Tarawa to Funafuti. Tuvalu became an independent constitutional monarchy and the 38th member of the Commonwealth of Nations on 1 October 1978.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="TAHTI">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="TPBN">Template:Cite journal</ref>
The Gilbert Islands attained independence on 12 July 1979 under the name Kiribati by the Kiribati Independence Order 1979, as a republic with Commonwealth membership. That day the colonial flag was lowered for the last time with a parade commemorating both the newly independent state and in memorial of the intense battles fought on Tarawa in World War II. The parade included many dignitaries from home and abroad. The name Kiribati (pronounced kʲiriˈbas) is the local writing rendition of "Gilberts" in the Gilbertese language.
Banaba, formerly rich in phosphates before becoming fully depleted in the latter colonial years, also sued for independence in 1979 and boycotted the Kiribati ceremonies. The Banabans wanted greater autonomy and reparations of around $250 million for revenue they had not received and for environmental destruction caused by phosphate mining practices similar to those on Nauru. The British authorities had relocated most of the population to Rabi Island, Fiji, after 1945, but by the 1970s some were returning to Banaba. The British rejected the Banaban independence proposal, and the island remained under the jurisdiction of Kiribati.
Social historyEdit
In 1926, Donald Gilbert Kennedy was the headmaster of Elisefou (New Ellice) on Vaitupu. He was instrumental in establishing the first co-operative store (fusi) on Vaitupu, which became a model for the bulk purchasing and selling cooperative stores established in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony to replace the stores operated by Palangi traders.<ref name="LH1">Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1935, there were 33,713 people in the Colony. (Compared to 1934 when the figures were): Gilbertese, 29,291 (28,654); Ellice Islanders, 4,154 (4,042); Europeans, 244 (254); Chinese (exclusive of indentured labourers), 24 (41).<ref name="PIM36-4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1935, there were 6,924 children receiving primary standard education through 4 government schools and 79 mission schools operated by the London Missionary Society (LMS) and the Roman Catholic Sacred Heart Order.<ref name="PIM36-5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Throughout the Gilbert Islands, instruction was given in the Gilbertese language, except at the King George V. School (Tarawa) and the Sacred Heart Boys' School (Butaritari), where instruction was delivered in English. In the Ellice Islands, instruction was delivered in the Samoan language, due to the influence of the early LMS Samoan missionaries and the affinity of the Ellice language with Samoan.<ref name="PIM36-5"/> During 1935 two students of the King George V. School were sent to the Central Medical School at Suva, Fiji. This made 4 students, 2 Gilbertese and 2 Ellice Islanders being trained as Native Medical Practitioners (as medical practitioners from the islands were described).<ref name="PIM36-5"/> Eight former students of King George V. School were employed as Native Medical Practitioners in the Colony.<ref name="PIM36-5"/>
In 1953, the enrolments were: in 12 government schools (722 pupils); the London Missionary Society (4,392); the Roman Catholic Sacred Heart Mission (3,088); and the Seventh Day Adventist Mission, which established schools in the Gilberts in 1950 (165).<ref name="PIM1955-3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
New premises for the King George V. School were opened on Bikenibeu, Tarawa, with 109 students, some of whom came from the Government Temporary School at Abemama and other boys came from Elisefou school on Vaitupu, which was also closed.<ref name="PIM1955-3"/> A new curriculum was introduced for primary schools which included instruction in English to the older aged students.<ref name="PIM1955-3"/> The lack of proficiency in the English language was limiting the performance of students at the secondary school level and those seeking to attend universities in other countries.<ref name="PIM1955-3"/>
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands were represented at the 1963 Pacific Games at Suva, Fiji, by tennis players, and also table tennis players who won a bronze medal.<ref name="PIM1966-10">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A larger team was sent to the 1966 Pacific Games at Nouméa, New Caledonia, including athletes to compete in the half-mile, mile and the high jump event.<ref name="PIM1966-10"/>
In 1965 King George V and Elaine Bernacchi School were merged.<ref name=Talup242>Talu, Alaima. "Towards Quality in Education" (Chapter 21, in Part IV: Social Issues). In: Van Trease, Howard (editor). Atoll Politics: The Republic of Kiribati. University of Canterbury MacMillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies and University of the South Pacific Institute of Pacific Studies, 1993. Template:ISBN, 9780958330008. p. 242</ref>
A census in 1968 counted the population of the colony at 53,517 residents. 44,206 were in the Gilbert Islands, 5,782 in the Ellice Islands, 2,192 in Ocean Island and 1,180 in the Line Islands. From this total 7,465 were "Polynesians" (mostly from the Ellice Islands) and 1,155 "Others" (Europeans and Mongoloids).Template:Refn<ref>Barrie Macdonald, Policy and Practice in an Atoll Territory: British Rule in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, 1882-1970. Canberra, May 1971.</ref>
Postal historyEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Gilbert and Ellice Islands used their own postage stamps from 1911.
ReferencesEdit
- Footnotes
- Citations
SourcesEdit
Further readingEdit
- Barrie Macdonald, Cinderellas of the Empire: towards a history of Kiribati and Tuvalu, Suva, Fiji: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 2001. Template:ISBN (Australian National University Press, first published 1982).
- Kiribati. Aspects of History, by Alaima Talu (ed.) and 24 others authors. Published jointly by: the Institute of Pacific Studies and Extension Services, University of the South Pacific and the Ministry of Education, Training and Culture, Kiribati Government, 1979
- Henry Evans Maude: The Gilbert Islands observed. A source book of European contacts with, and observations of, the Gilbert Islands and the Gilbertese, from 1537 to 1873. Compiled by H. E. Maude. Homa Press, Adelaide 2006.
- A Pattern of Islands (US title: We Chose the Islands) by Sir Arthur Grimble, John Murray & Co, London, 1952 (A Pattern of Islands republished 2011 by Eland, London, Template:ISBN)
- Return to the Islands by Sir Arthur Grimble, John Murray & Co, London, 1957 Template:ISBN
- John Smith, An Island in the Autumn: How the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Gained Independence, 2011, Template:ISBN. Publisher: Librario Publishing.
- Ghost Stories and Other Island Tales by I.E. Butler, published by Tom Butler, 2014, Template:ISBN An account of the life of a young colonial officer in the 1950s in the Gilbert Islands.
Template:British overseas territories Template:Authority control Template:Coord