These are five Independent Island republics,

how many do you know?

Maldives

This is a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean.

There are 1,190 coral islets over 35,200 square

miles.

Maldives is directly threatened by global warming

as none of the islands is more than six feet above

sea level.

The Maldives were first settled in the 5th Century b.c.

by Buddhist seafarers from India and Sri Lanka. Islam

was adopted in 1153.

The Maldives fell under British protection in 1887

and received independence in 1965.

A republican form of government was adopted in 1952

but the sultanate was restored in 1954. In 1968,

by referendum, a republic was again established.

The 2004 tsunami effected the Maldives which reported

82 deaths and suffered enormous damage. 14 of the

Islands are now permanently uninhabitable and residents

had to be relocated.

Kiribati

Formerly called the Gilbert Islands, these are three

widely separated groups in the southwest Pacific.

Kiribati consists of low lying coral atolls built on

a submerged volcanic chain and encircled by reefs.

One of the islands, Ocean Island, was mined out of

phosphates in 1981.

Originally settled by Australonesian people

before the 1st century, Fijians and Tongans

arrived in about the 14th.

The British sighted the islands in the late 18th

century and by 1892 it had become a British

protectorate. In 1915 it was a Crown Colony

The Kiritimanti atoll was added in 1919 and

the Phoenix island in 1937.

Tarawa and other islands were occupied by Japan

during World War II.

It was not until 1979 that Kiribati became independent.

It’s first act was to move the international date line

far to the east which would allow Kiribati to be the

first country to see the dawn on January 1, 2000.

Marshall Islands

This country is made up of two chains of islands; the

Eastern and Western. These are coral reefs which

only rise a few feet above sea level.

Micronesians were the first inhabitants and the

islands were first visited by the Spanish in the

16th century.

They were named for a British captain in 1788.

Germany unsuccessfully tried to colonise the

islands in 1885, Japan claimed them in 1914,

and after World War II, America claimed them.

Nuclear testing took place between 1946 and

1958 on the islands of Bikini and Eniwetock.

The people of Bikini were moved to another island

and a total of 23 US atomic and hydrogen bomb tests

were conducted.

Because of the nuclear contamination, the US

paid $183.7 Million in damages in 1983 and in

1999 approved a 3.8 Billion payment to the

relocated people of Bikini atoll.

Kwajalein atoll is the site of an American

military base.

Nauru

Nauru is an island of 8 square miles.

90% of the population is unemployed.

Mining of Phosphate has destroyed the

islands ecology, turning its tropical

vegetation into a barren wasteland.

In 1798 the British first visited the

island. Germany annexed it in 1888 and

phosphate mining began in the 1900s.

The Japanese occupied the island during

WWII and forced two thirds of the population

to relocate.

In 1947 Nauru became a UN trusteeship, and

it was not until 1967 phosphate mining

finally came under Nauru control.

For a short time, Nauru had the highest

per capital income after Saudi Arabia, but

when the phosphates began to run out, so

did the money.

The strip mining reduced Nauru to a waste

land and it appealed to the International

Court of Justice for compensation after

a century of strip mining by foreign

companies.

In 1993 Australia offered Nauru an out of

Court settlement of 2.5 million dollars

a year for the next 20 years.

New Zealand and the UK agreed a one

time settlement of $12M each.

However, the economy of Nauru collapsed

in 1990.

Russian criminals used the island for money

laundering which kept the island functioning,

but this was stopped in 2000.

Currently, Nauru survives by taking boatloads

of Asian refugees, for which Australia pays

the island $20 Million.

Palau

Palau consists of about 200 islands in the

Western Pacific. Only eight of the islands

are permanently inhabited.

It is believed the original settlers arrived

from Indonesia in 2500 b.c.

The islands were taken by the Spanish in 1543

until they were sold to Germany in 1899.

Japan occupied the islands during WWI and

received a mandate over them from the

League of Nations in 1920.

They remained in Japanese control until

the US seised them during WWII.

Palau became a sovereign state in 1994.

America maintains a military base there

and the U.S. dollar is the currency.