Kiribati (pronounced "keer-ah-bhass") consists of 32 low-lying
atolls and one raised island scattered over an expanse of the
Pacific Ocean equivalent in size to the continental United
States. The islands straddle the Equator, as well as the
International Date Line, and lie roughly halfway between Hawaii
and Australia.. The three main groupings are the Gilbert
Islands, Phoenix Islands, and Line Islands. In 1995 Kiribati
unilaterally moved its date line to include its easternmost
islands, putting the country in the same date and time zone.
Kiribati is a group of 33 coral atolls with 102,000 people.
Kiribati includes Kiritimati (Christmas Island), the largest
coral atoll in the world, and Banaba (Ocean Island), one of the
three great phosphate islands in the Pacific. Except on Banaba,
very little land is more than three meters above sea level. The
Gilbert Islands became a British protectorate in 1892 and a
colony in 1915. They were captured by the Japanese in the
Pacific War in 1941. The islands of Makin and Tar