Nauru
Nauru is a small oval-shaped island in the western Pacific Ocean,
located just 42 kilometers (26 mi.) south of the Equator. It is one
of three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean--the
others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Makatea in French
Polynesia. Until recently Nauru's phosphate reserves were thought to
be nearly depleted, but there are some indications that the
potential for continued productive mining might exist. Phosphate
mining in the central plateau has left a barren terrain of jagged,
prehistoric coral pinnacles, up to 15 meters (49 ft.) high. A
century of mining has stripped and devastated four-fifths of the
total land area. Efforts to rehabilitate the mined-out areas have
been unsuccessful.
The island is surrounded by a coral reef, exposed at low tide and
dotted with pinnacles. The reef is bounded seaward by deep water,
inside by a narrow sandy beach. A 150-300-meter (492-984 ft.) wide
fertile coastal strip lies landward from the coast, ending in
forested coral cliffs that rise to the now mined-out central
plateau. The highest point of the plateau is 65 meters (213 ft.)
above sea level. The island's only fertile areas are within the
narrow coastal belt, where there are coconut palms, pandanus trees,
and indigenous hardwoods, and the land surrounding the inland Buada
lagoon on the central plateau, where bananas, pineapples, and some
vegetables are grown. Some secondary vegetation has begun to cover
the scarred central plateau and its coral pinnacles.
Nauruans descended from Polynesian and Micronesian seafarers.
Grouped in clans or tribes, early Nauruans traced their descent on
the female side. They believed in a female deity, Eijebong, and a
spirit land, also an island, called Buitani. Two of the 12 original
tribal groups became extinct during the 20th century. Because of
poor diet, alcohol abuse, and a sedentary lifestyle, Nauru has one
of the world's highest levels of diabetes, renal failure and heart
disease, exceeding 40% of the population. |
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Nauru had little contact with Europeans until whaling ships and
other traders began to visit in the 1830s. The introduction of
firearms and alcohol destroyed the peaceful coexistence of the 12
tribes living on the island. A 10-year internal war began in 1878
and resulted in a reduction of the population from 1,400 (1843) to
around 900 (1888).
The island was allocated to Germany under the 1886 Anglo-German
Convention. Phosphate was discovered a decade later and the Pacific
Phosphate Company started to exploit the reserves in 1906, by
agreement with Germany. Following the outbreak of World War I,
Australian forces captured the island in 1914. After the war, the
League of Nations assigned a joint trustee mandate over the island
to Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. The three governments
established the British Phosphate Commissioners, who exercised the
rights to phosphate mining.
During World War II Japan occupied Nauru in August 1942 and deported
1,200 Nauruans to work as laborers in the Caroline Islands, where
463 died. The survivors returned to Nauru in January 1946.
After the war the island became a UN Trust Territory under
Australia, in line with the previous League of Nations mandate, and
it remained one until it became an independent republic in 1968. A
plan by the partner governments to resettle the Nauruans (due to
dwindling phosphate reserves and damage to the island from extensive
mining) on Curtis Island off the north coast of Queensland,
Australia, was abandoned in 1964 when the islanders decided not to
move. In 1967, the Nauruans purchased the assets of the British
Phosphate Commissioners, and in June 1970 control passed to the
Nauru Phosphate Corporation.
In 1989 Nauru filed suit against Australia in the International
Court of Justice in The Hague for damages caused by mining while the
island was under Australian jurisdiction. Australia settled the case
out of court in 1993, agreeing to pay a lump sum settlement of A$107
million (U.S. $85.6 million) and an annual stipend of the equivalent
of A$2.5 million in 1993 dollars toward environmental
rehabilitation. |
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