Gilbert Islands

Colony of Gilbert Islands
1976–1979
Flag of Gilbert Islands
Flag
of Gilbert Islands
Coat of arms
Anthem: "God Save the Queen"
StatusColony of the United Kingdom
CapitalSouth Tarawa
Common languagesEnglish, Gilbertese
Monarch 
• 1976–1979
Elizabeth II
Governor 
• 1976–1978
John Hilary Smith
• 1978–1979
Reginald James Wallace
History 
• Colony
1 January[1] 1976
• Disestablished
12 July 1979
Population
• 1978
56,213
CurrencyAustralian dollar
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Gilbert and Ellice Islands
Kiribati
Today part ofKiribati

The Gilbert Islands (Gilbertese: Tungaru;[2] formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill Islands[3]) are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Papua New Guinea and Hawaii. They constitute the main part of the nation of Kiribati (the name of which is a rendering of "Gilberts" in the phonology of the indigenous Gilbertese).[2]

  1. ^ W. David McIntyre. "The Partition of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands" (PDF). Island Studies Journal, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2012. pp. 135–146. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b Reilly Ridgell. Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95.
  3. ^ Very often, this name applied only to the southern islands of the archipelago, the northern half being designated as the Scarborough Islands. Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam Webster, 1997. p. 594

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