History: Betio, Phosphate and Independence

Betio, November 1943

Three square kilometres, seventy-six hours, and one of the costliest assaults of the Pacific war. The battle described factually and soberly, and the reason the guns are still where they stopped.

By the Visit Kiribati desk · 6 min read

The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony

The colonial administration, how the territory was assembled and governed, and the separation that produced two countries.

By the Visit Kiribati desk · 3 min read

Topographic map of Banaba Island showing elevation contour lines and coastal reef outline

Phosphate and Banaba

The mining of Banaba, the displacement of its people, and the revenue that funded an administration. One of the harder chapters in the country's record, told plainly.

By the Visit Kiribati desk · 5 min read

Independence, 1979

The route to independence, the constitutional settlement, and what a newly independent state inherited.

By the Visit Kiribati desk · 4 min read

The Relics Are Still on the Beach

Coastal guns, bunkers and wrecks in the landscape at Betio and elsewhere — what they are, why they remain, and how a place lives alongside them.

By the Visit Kiribati desk · 3 min read