Micronesia · KIR
Kiribati
The story · 8 chapters
How it was drawn
Three scattered groups of atolls, gathered into a British colony, became one country spread across more than 3 million square kilometres of ocean.
Play the story Take the first lessonThrough the ages
Rivals in history
The kingdoms, empires and states Kiribati fought or stood against, from the first to today.
- United States1856 to 1979
Under its Guano Islands Act of 1856 the United States claims several Phoenix and Line Islands, and from 1939 it shares Canton and Enderbury with Britain. In the Treaty of Tarawa, signed in 1979, it gives up these claims.
- Peruvian slave traders1862 to 1863
In 1862 and 1863 ships from Peru raid Pacific islands for labour. Gilbertese are among the thousands of islanders taken, and few of them ever return home.
- British Empire1892 to 1979
Britain rules the Gilberts from 1892 and lets phosphate companies strip Banaba. The resettled Banabans sue the British government in London in the 1970s and win little. Kiribati becomes independent in 1979.
- Empire of Japan1941 to 1945
Japan occupies Butaritari and Tarawa from December 1941 and Banaba in 1942. American Marines retake Tarawa in November 1943. On Banaba, Japanese troops kill most of the islanders still there in 1945, just after the war ends.
Today
Kiribati now
Kiribati is made up of three distinct island groups -- the Gilbert Islands, the Line Islands, and the Phoenix Islands. D. 200 by Micronesians. Around 1300, Samoans and Tongans invaded the southern Gilbert Islands, then known as Tungaru, bringing Polynesian cultural elements with them.
- Capital
- South Tarawa
- Government
- presidential republic
- Head of government
- Taneti Maamau
- Languages
- English, Gilbertese
- Area
- 811 km²
Through time
Then and now
- Population132,5002023 · 37,900 in 1950
- Life expectancy66.5 years2023 · 45.7 years in 1950
- Living in cities63%2025 · 11% in 1950
- Literacy99%2020 · 93% in 1950
- Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
- War deathsNone2025
Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.
Relations
Close partners and tensions
Close partners
- Australia
- United States
- New Zealand
- Japan
- China
Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.