Nauru

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Nauru fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇩🇪 German Empire1888 to 1914

   Germany annexes Nauru in 1888, ending the clan war by seizing weapons and detaining chiefs. It grants a British firm the right to mine phosphate in 1906 and loses the island to Australian troops in 1914.

2. 🇦🇺 Australia1914 to 1968

   Australia runs Nauru for most of half a century, first under a League mandate shared with Britain and New Zealand, then as a UN trust territory. The three partners mine the phosphate at low prices until Nauruans win independence in 1968.

3. 🇯🇵 Empire of Japan1942 to 1945

   Japan occupies Nauru from 1942 to 1945 and builds an airstrip with forced labour. It deports 1,200 Nauruans to Chuuk in 1943, and only 737 survive to come home in January 1946.

4. 🇦🇺 Australia (phosphate case)1989 to 1993

   In 1989 Nauru takes Australia to the International Court of Justice over the land ruined by mining before independence. In 1993 Australia settles out of court, agreeing to pay about 107 million Australian dollars.

Today

Nauru now

, Micronesian and Polynesian settlers inhabited Nauru, and the island was divided among 12 clans. Nauru developed in relative isolation because ocean currents made landfall on the island difficult. As a result, the Nauruan language does not clearly resemble any other in the Pacific region. In 1798, a British mariner was the first European to spot the island and by 1830, European whalers used Nauru as a supply stop, trading firearms for food. A civil war in 1878 reduced the population by more than a third.

Capital

Yaren District

Government

parliamentary republic

Head of government

David Adeang

Languages

Nauruan, English

Area

21 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population11,9002023 · 3,400 in 1950
• Life expectancy62.1 years2023 · 56.6 years in 1950
• Living in cities100%2025 · 100% in 1950
• Literacy97%2023 · 73% 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

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.