Gilbertese language

Additional Oddities of Kiribati’s Line Islands

Australia and Pacific, Cultural Geography, Environmental Geography, Geopolitics / By

Before moving on from the current series of posts on Kiribati, it is worth exploring a few additional aspects of this intriguing country.

Triangle Polynesia Map 1The first of these points may be somewhat trivial but is still worth mentioning: The recent Gilbertese colonization of the Line Islands undermines the stock idea that Polynesia can be delimited within a vast triangle, with apexes situated in New Zealand, Hawaii, and Easter Island (Rapa Nui).

Historically speaking, “Triangular Polynesia” is still a useful heuristic devise. The indigenous peoples of this vast area… – Read More

The Recent Gilbertese Settlement of the Line Islands

Australia and Pacific, Cultural Geography, Linguistic Geography, Migrations / By

Map of KiribatiIt is difficult to convey the immensity and emptiness of the Republic of Kiribati. The country extends across more than 3.5 million square kilometers (1,351,000 sq mi) of oceanic space, an area considerably larger than India. The distance between its western and eastern islands is comparable to the distance across the United States. Yet Kiribati contains only 800 square kilometers (310 sq mi) of land, an area slightly larger than the city-state of Singapore, and considerably smaller than the city of Los Angeles.

With some 103,000 inhabitants (in 2010), Kiribati has only a… – Read More