KIRIBATI

KIRIBATI.

Islands of Kiribati.
Map of Banaba Island.
Last stamp in a set of 4, issued on 14.02.1984.
Face value: 50 cents of Kiribati dollar.
Printing: Offset lithography.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 438.
- Scott No. 439.
- StampWorld No. 117.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 218.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 117.

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.

Banaba (also known as Ocean Island) is a solitary raised coral island west of the Gilbert Island chain, it is the westernmost point of Kiribati, lying 298 km (185 mi) east of Nauru, which is also its nearest neighbour. It has an area of 6.29 km² (2.43 sq mi) and the highest point on the island is also the highest point in Kiribati, at 81 metres (266 ft). The population, in 2020, was 330. Along with Nauru and Makatea (French Polynesia), it is one of the important elevated phosphate-rich islands of the Pacific. The first European to sight the island was the American captain Jared Gardner, of the ship Diana, on January 3, 1801. During the Japanese occupation (February-August 1942), much of the population was killed, and the center of the island was mined.