Tuvalu
The Western Pacific nation of Tuvalu, formerly known as the Ellice
Islands, is situated 4,000 kilometer (2,486 mi.) northeast of
Australia. It is half-way from Hawaii to Australia. Tuvalu consists
of four reef islands and five true atolls, with poor soil and a
total land area of only about 26 sq. km. (10 sq. mi.).
Tuvalu has westerly gales and heavy rain from November to March and
tropical temperatures moderated by easterly winds from
March-November. The land is very low lying with narrow coral atolls.
The highest elevation is five meters above sea level.
96% of Tuvaluans are ethnic Polynesians, closely related to the
people of Samoa and Tonga. The vast majority belong to the Church of
Tuvalu, a Protestant denomination. Conversion began in the 1860s
with the arrival of a Congregationalist missionary from the Cook
Islands. |
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The Spanish were the first Europeans to see the islands in the
1500s. However, in 1819, Captain De Peyster, an American in command
of the British merchant ship Rebecca named the main island in the
group Ellice's Island after a British politician who owned the cargo
aboard his ship. In 1841, the U.S. Exploring Expedition commanded by
Charles Wilkes visited three of Tuvalu's islands and welcomed
visitors to his ships. Other early interactions with the outside
world were far less benign. In 1863, hundreds of people from the
southern islands were kidnapped when they were lured aboard slave
ships with promises that they would be taught about Christianity.
Those islanders were forced to work under horrific conditions in the
guano mines of Peru.
Eventually, the islands came under British influence in the late
19th century. The Ellice Islands were administered by Britain as
part of a protectorate (1892-1916) and later as part of the Gilbert
and Ellice Islands colony (1916-74).
During World War II, several thousand American troops were in the
islands. Beginning in October 1942, U.S. forces built airbases on
the islands of Funafuti, Nanumea, and Nukufetau. Friendly
cooperation was the hallmark of relations between the local people
and the troops, mainly U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy SeaBees. The
airstrip in the capital of Funafuti, originally built by the U.S.
during the war, is still in use, as is the "American Passage" that
was blasted through Nanumea's reef by SeaBees assisted by local
divers.
In 1974 the Ellice Islanders voted for separate British dependency
status as Tuvalu, separating from the Gilbert Islands, which became
Kiribati upon independence. Tuvalu became fully independent in 1978
and in 1979 signed a treaty of friendship with the United States,
which recognized Tuvalu's possession of four islets formerly claimed
by the United States. |
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