Gilbert and Ellice Islands

, 1884 The Gilbert Islands sometimes also known as Kingsmill Islands or ''King's-Mill Islands'' are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the western Pacific Ocean. They are part of Remote Oceania, and traditionally part of the Micronesia subregion of Oceania. The Gilbert Islands are the main part of what is now the Republic of Kiribati ("Kiribati" is the Gilbertese rendition of "Gilberts" The Ellice Islands comprise three reef islands and six true atolls, spread out between the latitude of 5° to 10° south and longitude of 176° to 180°, west of the International Date Line. The Ellice Islands are midway between Hawaii and Australia, and they, too, lie in the Polynesia subregion of Oceania. ==European discovery and naming==

In 1568, when Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira was commissioned to explore the South Pacific, he sailed relatively close to the Gilbert Islands. He sailed between the Line Islands and the Phoenix Islands, but without sighting land. He ultimately sailed past what he called "Isla de Jesús", (probably Nui, amongst the Ellice island group). In 1606, Pedro Fernandes de Queirós sighted two of the islands in the Gilbert island group: Butaritari and Makin, which he named the Buen Viaje Islands ('good trip' islands in Spanish). Nikunau received its first recorded British visitors on 2 July 1765, namely Commodore John Byron and the English ships and crew under his command (i.e., HMS Dolphin and HMS Tamar (1758) on their circumnavigation of the world (the island was referred to on European maps for a while as Byron's Island in his honour and I-Nikunau going away to work as whaling ships' crew were sometimes given the surname, Byron). In 1788, Thomas Gilbert, a British captain, encountered the archipelago while commanding one of two ships of the First Fleet that were looking for an outer passage route from Port Jackson to Canton. In 1820, a Russian admiral, Johann von Krusenstern, named the group "îles Gilbert" (French for Gilbert Islands) in honor of Captain Gilbert's earlier voyage. Around that time, the French captain Louis Duperrey became the first to map the whole Gilbert Islands archipelago. He commanded La Coquille, circumnavigating the globe between 1822 and 1825. The first recorded sighting by Europeans of an Ellice Island was on 16 January 1568, during the voyage of Álvaro de Mendaña from Spain, who sailed past Nui and charted it as Isla de Jesús (Spanish for "Island of Jesus") because the previous day was the feast of the Holy Name. Mendaña made contact with the islanders but was unable to land. During Mendaña's second voyage across the Pacific, he passed Niulakita on 29 August 1595, which he named La Solitaria. Commodore John Byron passed through the Ellice islands in 1764, during his circumnavigation of the globe on . He charted the atolls as Lagoon Islands. Nanumea was sighted by Spanish naval officer Francisco Mourelle de la Rúa who sailed past it on 5 May 1781 with frigate La Princesa, when attempting a southern crossing of the Pacific from the Philippines to New Spain. He charted Nanumea as San Augustin. In 1809, Captain Patterson in the brig Elizabeth sighted Nanumea while passing through the northern Tuvalu waters on a trading voyage from Port Jackson, Sydney, Australia to China. After the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay was published, the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands in the Ellice Island group, which is now called Tuvalu. , drawn by Alfred Thomas Agate (1841) Two ships of the United States Exploring Expedition, and , under the command of Captain Hudson, surveyed the Gilbert Islands of Tabiteuea, Nonouti, Aranuka, Maiana, Abemama, Kuria, Tarawa, Marakei, Butaritari, and Makin (then called the Kingsmill Islands or Kingsmill Group in English). While in the Gilberts, they devoted considerable time to mapping and charting reefs and anchorages. Alfred Thomas Agate made drawings of men of Butaritari and Makin. =='Spheres of influence' in the western and central Pacific==

Nikunau was the centre of New England and other Atlantic whalers' operations in the 1820s to 1860s on the On-the-Line grounds (the Line refers to the Equator). Coconut oil and copra trading companies from New South Wales, New Zealand and California followed, setting up stations on Butaritari. In 1876 Britain and Germany agreed to divide up the western and central Pacific, with each claiming a 'sphere of influence'. In the previous decade German traders had become active in Samoa, the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, Marshall Islands and the Caroline Islands. In 1877 the Governor of Fiji was given the additional title of High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. However, the claim of a 'sphere of influence' that included the Ellice Islands and the Gilbert Islands did not result in the immediate move to govern those islands. visited the Gilberts, and the corvette , under Captain Lewis James Moore, visited Tabiteuea. 1873, from 28 to 30 June, the schooner , under Captain Francis W. Sanders, lands islanders on Tabiteuea and Maiana who had been kidnapped in 1871 by the brig Carl. The screw sloop also visited the Gilberts in 1873. 1874, in August, the screw sloop , under Commander Arthur Edward Dupuis, visited Tawara and Abaiang searching for William "Bully" Hayes, who was notorious for his blackbirding activities. 1875, the survey ship , under Commander Richard Hare, visited the Gilberts. 1876, from April to June, the schooner , under Lieutenant Horace J. M. Pugh, visited Abaiang and Tawara, regarding the murders in 1874, of Cornelius Sullivan on Tarawa, and St. John C. Keyes on Abaiang. The screw sloop , under Commander Noel Stephen Fox Digby, was also sent to the Gilberts in support of HMS Renard. 1881, from 13 May to 6 June, the corvette HMS , under Captain William Maxwell, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. 1883, from 26 May to 10 June, the sloop , under Captain Cyprian Bridge, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. 1884, from 13 June to 26 July, the survey ship , under Lieutenant-Commander W. W. Moore, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. 1886, from 10 May to 26 June, the sloop , under Commander Eustace Rooke, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. 1892, from 14 April to 30 August, the screw sloop , under Captain Edward Davis, visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. United States 1825, the schooner , under Lieutenant Hiram Paulding, visited Nikunau and Tabiteuea. 1870, from 15 to 26 May, the sloop , under Captain William Truxtun, visited Tawara, Abaiang and Butaritari. 1872, in August, the sloop visited Nikunau, Beru, Tabiteuea, Abaiang and Tawara. 1889, the steam powered sloop visited Butaritari. France 1874, the corvette ''L'Ariane'' visited Arorae and Ocean Island. 1888, the cruiser Le Fabert, under Commander Benoit, visited Nikunau, Nonouti and Butaritari to deliver Father Joseph Leray, Father Edward Bontemps and Brother Conrad Weber, Roman Catholic Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, who were the first Roman Catholic missionaries to arrive in the Gilberts. Germany SMS Eber of the German (Imperial Navy), was sent to the Pacific to serve in the German colonial empire. In 1888 she visited the Gilberts, and also disarmed the inhabitants of Nauru, ending their civil war and annexing the island to the German Empire. 1891, the steam corvette SMS visited the Gilberts (Marakei, Tawara, Abaiang, Abemama and Tabiteuea). Also in 1891, the gunboat visited Tawara, Abaiang and Maiana, and the cruiser SMS visited Butaritari, Maiana and Tabiteuea. ==Administration of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands==

The Pacific Islanders Protection Act 1872 & 1875 '' pine (1911) In 1872, the United Kingdom passed legislation in an attempt to control the coercive labour recruitment practices known as blackbirding: the Pacific Islanders Protection Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 19) (the principal act), which was amended by the Pacific Islanders Protection Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 51). The principal act provided for the governor of one of the Australian colonies to have the authority to licence British vessels in the South Pacific Ocean to carry "native labourers". The 1875 act amended that licensing system and stated that any "British vessel may, under the principal Act, be detained, seized, and brought in for adjudication by any officer, all goods and effects found on board such vessel may also be detained, seized, and brought in for adjudication by such officer, either with or without such vessel" with the "High Court of Admiralty of England and every Vice-Admiralty Court in Her Majesty's dominions out of the United Kingdom shall have jurisdiction to try and condemn as forfeited to Her Majesty or restore any vessel, goods, and effects alleged to be detained or seized in pursuance of the principal Act or of this Act". The 1875 act also provided authority for "Her Majesty to exercise power and jurisdiction over Her subjects within any islands and places in the Pacific Ocean not being within Her Majesty's dominions, nor within the jurisdiction of any civilized power, in the same and as ample a manner as if such power or jurisdiction had been acquired by the cession or conquest of territory", The Daphne was owned by Henry Ross Lewin, a long time blackbirder who had been commissioned to import south sea islanders for Robert Towns' sugar plantations (the entrepreneur after whom Townsville is named). Despite this, Sir Alfred Stephen, the Chief Justice of New South Wales, found Pritchard and Dagget innocent on the grounds that the Slave Trade Act 1839 did not apply to the South Pacific Ocean. Protectorate administered as part of the British Western Pacific Territories In 1877, the United Kingdom established a protectorate over the islands designated as being British Western Pacific Territories. In 1886, an Anglo-German agreement partitioned the "unclaimed" central Pacific, leaving Nauru in the German sphere of influence, while placing Ocean Island and the future GEIC in the British sphere of influence. German New Guinea was established in 1884, and German protectorates were established on the Marshall Islands and Nauru, in 1885 and 1888, respectively. Then, between 27 May and 17 June 1892, partly in response to the presence of the United States in Butaritari, Captain Edward Davis of made the sixteen islands of the Gilbert Islands a British protectorate. Between 9 and 16 October of the same year, Captain Herbert Gibson of declared the Ellice Islands to be a British protectorate. At first, the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) were administered by a high commissioner who resided in Fiji (and later in the British Solomon Islands). Then, Sir John Bates Thurston appointed Charles Richard Swayne as the first resident commissioner of the Ellice Islands in 1892 and as the first resident commissioner of the Gilbert Islands in 1893. He was succeeded in 1895 by William Telfer Campbell, who established himself on Tarawa, and remained in office until 1908. Campbell was criticised for his legislative, judicial and administrative management. It was alleged that he extracted forced labour from the islanders. An inquiry into this allegation was held by Arthur Mahaffy, a former district officer in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (1896–1898) and Solomon Islands (1898–1904), and he issued his findings, which were published in 1910. In 1913, an anonymous correspondent to The New Age journal described the maladministration of Telfer Campbell, linked it to criticisms of the Pacific Phosphate Company, which was operating on Ocean Island, and challenged Mahaffy's impartiality, because he was a former colonial official in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate. : Government Steamer Gilbert & Ellice Islands Protectorates (30 April 1909) In 1908, the government's headquarters was moved to Ocean Island (today known as Banaba). Ocean Island had been hastily added to the protectorate in 1900 to take advantage of the improved shipping connections resulting from the Pacific Phosphate Company's increased activities. On 12 January 1916, the islands' status was changed to that of a Crown Colony. The British colonial authorities emphasised that their role was to procure labour for phosphate mining on Ocean Island, and to maintain law and order among the workers. The Union Islands were transferred to New Zealand in 1926, but formally only in 1948. The Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony continued to be administered by a Resident Commissioner. In 1930 the Resident Commissioner, Arthur Grimble, issued revised laws, Regulations for the good Order and Cleanliness of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, which replaced laws created during the BWTP. On 31 December 1936, the population of the Crown Colony totalled 34,443 inhabitants, including 32,390 Gilbert and Ellice Islanders, 262 Europeans and 923 Chinese ("Mongoloids"). Henry Evans Maude, the land commissioner of the colony, considered the then colony overcrowded. The Phoenix Islands were added to the colony in 1937 with the view of a Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme. On 6 August 1936, a party from HMS Leith landed on Canton Island in the Phoenix Group and planted a sign asserting British sovereignty in the name of King Edward VIII. On 18 March 1937, Great Britain annexed the uninhabited Phoenix Islands (except Howland and Baker Islands) to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony. Japanese plane wrecked in Tarawa Banaba (Ocean Island) remained the headquarters of the colony until the British evacuation in 1942 during the Pacific War when Ocean Island and the Gilbert Islands were occupied by the Japanese. The United States forces landed in Funafuti on 2 October 1942 and on Nanumea and Nukufetau in August 1943 and constructed an airfield on each island and other bases. The atolls of Tuvalu acted as a staging post during the preparation for the Battle of Tarawa and the Battle of Makin that commenced on 20 November 1943. Colonel Vivian Fox-Strangways, was the Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony in 1941, who was located on Funafuti. , 1942 After World War II, the colony headquarters was re-established on Tarawa, first on Betio islet and subsequently on Bairiki islet. In November 1945, Fox-Strangways was replaced as Resident Commissioner by Henry Evans Maude (1946 to 1949). He was succeeded by John Peel, who retired in 1951. By the Tokelau Act of 1948, sovereignty over Tokelau was transferred to New Zealand. The five islands of the Central and Southern Line Islands were added to the colony in 1972. A Colony Conference was organised at Marakei in 1956, which was attended by officials and representatives (magistrates) from each island in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, conferences were held every two years until 1962. The development of administration continued with the creation in 1963 of an Advisory Council of five officials and 12 representatives who were appointed by the Resident Commissioner. It became apparent that the Elliceans were concerned about their minority status on the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, and the Elliceans wanted equal representation to that of the Gilbertese. A new constitution was introduced in 1971, which provided that each of the Ellice Islands (except Niulakita) elected one representative. However, that did not end the Tuvaluan movement for separation. In 1974 Ministerial government was introduced in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony through a change to the Constitution. • 1974 Gilbert and Ellice Islands general election Dissolution of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony A referendum was held in Ellice Islands, including Elliceans living in Ocean Island and Tarawa, from July to September 1974, using a rolling ballot, to determine whether the Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands should each have their own administration. The result of the referendum, was that 3,799 Elliceans voted for separation from the Gilbert Islands and continuance of British rule as a separate colony, and 293 Elliceans voted to remain as the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony. There were 40 spoilt papers. As a consequence of the 1974 Ellice Islands self-determination referendum, separation occurred in two stages. The Tuvaluan Order 1975 made by the Privy Council, which took effect on 1 October 1975, recognised Tuvalu as a separate British dependency with its own government. The second stage occurred on 1 January 1976 when two separate administrations were created out of the civil service of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. The Gilbert Islands attained independence on 12 July 1979 under the name Kiribati by the Kiribati Independence Order 1979, as a republic with Commonwealth membership. That day the colonial flag was lowered for the last time with a parade commemorating both the newly independent state and in memorial of the intense battles fought on Tarawa in World War II. The parade included many dignitaries from home and abroad. The name Kiribati (pronounced kʲiriˈbas) is the local writing rendition of "Gilberts" in the Gilbertese language. Banaba, formerly rich in phosphates before becoming fully depleted in the latter colonial years, also sued for independence in 1979 and boycotted the Kiribati ceremonies. The Banabans wanted greater autonomy and reparations of around $250 million for revenue they had not received and for environmental destruction caused by phosphate mining practices similar to those on Nauru. The British authorities had relocated most of the population to Rabi Island, Fiji, after 1945, but by the 1970s some were returning to Banaba. The British rejected the Banaban independence proposal, and the island remained under the jurisdiction of Kiribati. ==Social history==

In 1926, Donald Gilbert Kennedy was the headmaster of Elisefou (New Ellice) on Vaitupu. He was instrumental in establishing the first co-operative store (fusi) on Vaitupu, which became a model for the bulk purchasing and selling cooperative stores established in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony to replace the stores operated by Palangi traders. In 1935, there were 33,713 people in the Colony. (Compared to 1934 when the figures were): Gilbertese, 29,291 (28,654); Ellice Islanders, 4,154 (4,042); Europeans, 244 (254); Chinese (exclusive of indentured labourers), 24 (41). In 1935, there were 6,924 children receiving primary standard education through 4 government schools and 79 mission schools operated by the London Missionary Society (LMS) and the Roman Catholic Sacred Heart Order. Throughout the Gilbert Islands, instruction was given in the Gilbertese language, except at the King George V. School (Tarawa) and the Sacred Heart Boys' School (Butaritari), where instruction was delivered in English. In the Ellice Islands, instruction was delivered in the Samoan language, due to the influence of the early LMS Samoan missionaries and the affinity of the Ellice language with Samoan. New premises for the King George V. School were opened on Bikenibeu, Tarawa, with 109 students, some of whom came from the Government Temporary School at Abemama and other boys came from Elisefou school on Vaitupu, which was also closed. A larger team was sent to the 1966 Pacific Games at Nouméa, New Caledonia, including athletes to compete in the half-mile, mile and the high jump event. A census in 1968 counted the population of the colony at 53,517 residents. 44,206 were in the Gilbert Islands, 5,782 in the Ellice Islands, 2,192 in Ocean Island and 1,180 in the Line Islands. From this total 7,465 were "Polynesians" (mostly from the Ellice Islands) and 1,155 "Others" (Europeans and Mongoloids). ==Postal history==

The Gilbert and Ellice Islands used their own postage stamps from 1911. ==See also==