Polynesia · TUV
Tuvalu
The story · 8 chapters
How it was drawn
Nine low atolls, once the Ellice Islands of a British colony, voted to separate from the Gilberts in 1974 and became independent in 1978.
Play the story Take the first lessonThrough the ages
Rivals in history
The kingdoms, empires and states Tuvalu fought or stood against, from the first to today.
- Peruvian slave traders1862 to 1863
In 1863 ships from Peru, recruiting labour by trickery and force, carry off hundreds of people from Funafuti and Nukulaelae. Almost none of them ever return, and both atolls are left badly depopulated.
- British Empire1892 to 1978
Britain declares a protectorate over the Ellice Islands in 1892 and rules them from the Gilberts as one colony from 1916. It agrees to separation after the 1974 referendum and grants independence in 1978.
- Empire of Japan1942 to 1945
Japanese aircraft bomb Funafuti in 1943, where American forces have built airfields to strike the Japanese held Gilberts. The Ellice Islands are never occupied.
- Gilbert Islands1960 to 1975
Inside the Gilbert and Ellice colony, Polynesian Ellice Islanders compete with the Micronesian majority for jobs and influence. In 1974 they vote to separate, and the split of 1975 leaves Tuvalu with only a small share of the colony's assets.
Today
Tuvalu now
, and the islands provided a stepping-stone for various Polynesian communities that subsequently settled in Melanesia and Micronesia. Tuvalu eventually came under Samoan and Tongan spheres of influence, although proximity to Micronesia allowed some Micronesian communities to flourish in Tuvalu, in particular on Nui Atoll. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, a series of American, British, Dutch, and Russian ships visited the islands, which were named the Ellice Islands in 1819.
- Capital
- Funafuti
- Government
- parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm
- Head of government
- Ben Do
- Head of state
- Charles III
- Languages
- Tuvaluan, English
- Area
- 26 km²
Through time
Then and now
- Population9,8002023 · 4,800 in 1950
- Life expectancy67.1 years2023 · 40.0 years in 1950
- Living in cities65%2025 · 12% in 1950
- Literacy100%2022
- 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
- New Zealand
- Australia
- United States
- Japan
- France
Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 24 October 2026.