KIRIBATI

KITIBATI.

Islands of Kiribati.
Map of Kanton Island.
Third stamp in a set of 4, issued on 14.02.1984.
Face value: 35 cents of Kiribati dollar.
Printing: Offset lithography.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 437.
- Scott No. 438.
- StampWorld No. 116.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 217.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 116.

Republic of Kiribati (in Gilbertese, Ribaberiki Kiribati) is an independent island nation in the central Pacific Ocean. It comprises 32 atolls and one raised coral island, Banaba. Its total land area is 811 km² (313 sq mi) and the islands are dispersed over 3.5 million km² (1.4 million sq mi) on both sides of the equator. The permanent population is over 119,000 (2020). Kiribati gained its independence from the United Kingdom on July 12, 1979. The capital, South Tarawa, is the most populated area in the country and consists of several islets, connected by a long road. Kiribati is a member of the Pacific Community, the Commonwealth of Nations, the IMF and the World Bank, the Pacific Islands Forum, the Alliance of Small Island States, and a full member of the United Nations since 1999. Before its independence it was called the Gilbert Islands, in honor of Thomas Gilbert, who sighted some of the islands in 1788.

Kanton Atoll (also known as Canton Island or Abariringa), previously known as Mary Island, Mary Balcout's Island or Swallow Island, is the largest, northernmost, and the sole inhabited island of the Phoenix Islands, in the Republic of Kiribati. The island is a narrow ribbon of land around a lagoon, an area of 40 km² (15.44 sq mi). As of 2015, the population of the atoll was 20 people, down from 61 in 2000. The island's sole village is called Tebaronga. Kanton Island is included among the 8 Kiribati atolls declared in 2006 Phoenix Islands Protected Area, expanded in 2008. Modern Canton derives its name from the whaler Canton, which was wrecked on its outer shore in March 1854.