Prehistory The islands had been inhabited by
Oceanians for several millennia (at least 2,000 years, probably 3,000).
Contact with Europeans islands, drawn by
Alfred Thomas Agate (1841) In 1606, Portuguese navigator
Pedro Fernandes de Queirós sighted
Butaritari and
Makin, which he named the Buen Viaje Islands. The British explorer Vice-Admiral
John Byron passed through the islands in 1765 during his circumnavigation of the globe as captain of . He weighed anchor off
Nikunau. In 1788
Captain Thomas Gilbert on and
Captain John Marshall on crossed through
Kuria,
Aranuka,
Tarawa,
Abaiang, Butaritari, and Makin without attempting to land on the atolls. In 1820, the islands were named the Gilbert Islands or
îles Gilbert (in French) by
Adam Johann von Krusenstern, a
Baltic German Admiral of the Russian
Czar after the British Captain
Thomas Gilbert, who crossed the archipelago in 1788. French captain
Louis Duperrey was the first to map the whole Gilbert Islands archipelago. He commanded
La Coquille on its circumnavigation of the earth (1822–1825).
US exploration Many whaling ships called at the islands in the 19th century. The first recorded visit was by the
Ann and Hope, which called at
Nikunau in December 1799. The main period of whaling occurred from 1825 until the 1860s, when whales were taken in large numbers On-the-Line (i.e., the equator). Two ships of the
United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842), and , under the command of Captain
William L. Hudson, visited many of the Gilbert Islands (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.
Colonial rule In 1886, an
Anglo-German agreement partitioned the "unclaimed" central Pacific, leaving
Nauru in the German sphere of influence, while
Banaba (Ocean Island) and the future
GEIC wound up in the British sphere of influence. A British
protectorate was first proclaimed over the Gilberts by Captain
Edward Davis of on 27 May 1892. British official
Arthur Mahaffy visited the Islands in 1909. He noted that the "villages are kept in admirable order and the roads are scrupulously clean." A hospital was on each island, as well. In 1913 an anonymous correspondent to
The New Age journal described the mis-administration of Telfer Campbell and challenged the impartiality of Arthur Mahaffy as he was a former colonial official in the Gilberts. In 1915, starting from 1916, the
Gilbert and Ellice Islands were proclaimed a
colony of the
British Empire.
Population The natives of the Gilbert Islands are
Austronesian peoples, similar in many respects to the natives of the
Marshalls or the
Carolines. In Mahaffy's 1909 report to the British Government he described the missionaries or Protectorate staff then resident in the Gilbert Islands.
Administration Judged to be about 84% literate, the Gilbertese responded readily to the colony's educational efforts. All education in the islands came under the supervision of the Colonial Education Department whose aims were to educate native boys for employment in government and commercial work, and to standardize the level of education throughout the colony. The bulk of the education was provided by the missions, which maintained all the village schools and trained the native school teachers. With the availability of European-style medical care life improved. The
Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme sought to provide an outlet through the development of three uninhabited atolls in the
Phoenix Islands and was the last attempt at human colonization within the British Empire.
Religion Hiram Bingham II (1831–1908) was the first to translate the
Bible into Gilbertese, and also wrote
hymns for the Gilbertese language.
Joanna Gordon-Clark writes of their religious belief: The Gilbert (and Ellice) Islanders had a strong set of beliefs of their own, pre the Christian missionaries; they had a strong
foundation myth, involving trees and the two genders. Their ancestors, they said, had been white skinned and red haired and came from elsewhere, perhaps the West (possibly coinciding with the outward spread of Homo sapiens from Africa and elsewhere). As might be expected, they gave power to the natural forces and gave them names and godly characteristics (sun, moon,
etc.) but believed in one spirit god, a bit similar to the god of Genesis, in that he/she seemed to have power over dark and light and so on, and was pretty much invisible. They had a strong belief in behaving properly to their ancestors, and especially their parents, and had well-developed community rules for courtesy to others. Read
A Pattern of Islands, by
Arthur Grimble, who worked in these islands and on
Banaba, for the Colonial Administration, from just before the
First World War to the mid thirties, or thereabouts. It is a remarkable, informative, funny and warm-hearted account of these people and their religion. Other religions on the islands figure slightly, and there are remarkable stories of adventures, bravery, political machinations,
etc. Probably out of print, but second hand copies are available I think, I have two, and the illustrations are delightful.
World War II On the same day as the
attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded the Gilbert Islands, occupying 3 of them by 9 December 1941. On 17 August 1942, 221
U.S. Marines of the
2nd Marine Raider Battalion raided Makin from two submarines. The raid was intended by the Americans to confuse the Japanese about US intentions in the Pacific, a feint to draw Japanese attention away from the planned invasion route through the
Solomons. It is instead believed to have alerted the Japanese to the strategic importance of the Gilbert Islands and led to their reinforcement and fortification. Marines captured during this operation were subsequently summarily executed by the Japanese, in gross violation of the laws of war. The 19 Marines who died were left behind for the villagers to bury. In 1999, a Marine Honor guard was sent to recover the bodies and found them after a villager showed them where to dig. All were exhumed and were taken to the United States.
Tarawa and
Abemama were occupied in force by the Japanese in September 1942 and during the next year garrisons were built up on
Betio (Tarawa Atoll), and
Butaritari (Makin Atoll). Only nominal forces were placed on other islands in the Gilberts. On 20 November 1943, the
U.S. Army and
U.S. 2nd Marine Division landed on Makin and Tarawa, initiating the battles of
Makin and
Tarawa, in which the Japanese were defeated. The Gilbert Islands were then used to support the
invasion of the Marshall Islands in February 1944. The US built
bases on Islands.
Self-determination The
Gilbert and Ellice Islands became autonomous in 1971. From 1975 to 1978, the
Ellice Islands were separated, and the Gilberts became the
Gilbert Islands colony, which issued stamps under that name. In 1979, the Gilberts opted for independence, becoming the independent state of
Kiribati. The Ellice Islands became the independent state of
Tuvalu in 1978. ==See also==