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Banaba
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Banaba
Banaba (/bəˈnɑːbə/; formerly Ocean Island) is an island of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean. A solitary raised coral island west of the Gilbert Island Chain, it is the westernmost point of Kiribati, lying 185 miles (298 km) east of Nauru, which is also its nearest neighbour. It has an area of six square kilometres (2.3 sq mi), and the highest point on the island is also the highest point in Kiribati, at 81 metres (266 ft) in height. Along with Nauru and Makatea (French Polynesia), it is one of the important elevated phosphate-rich islands of the Pacific.
According to Te Rii ni Banaba (The Backbone of Banaba) by Raobeia Ken Sigrah, Banaban oral history supports the claim that the people of the Te Aka clan, which originated in Melanesia, were the original inhabitants of Banaba, having arrived before the arrival of later migrations from the East Indies and Kiribati. The name Banaba in the local Gilbertese language is correctly spelled Bwanaba, but the Constitution of Kiribati (12 July 1979) writes Banaba, meaning "hollow land".
Settlement of Banaba began over 2,000 years ago, over the course of at least three waves of migration. Like the indigenous inhabitants of Nauru and Rapa Nui, Banaba was viewed as the buto, the navel or centre, of the world by the Banabans. Unlike other Pacific island societies, land on Banaba was held by individuals, rather than communally held by chiefs or aristocratic families. Several categories of both landholding and land-based transfers and transactions were recognized, including land for the aged, land for adopted children, land of marriage, and so on.
Sigrah makes also the controversial (and politically loaded) assertion that Banabans are ethnically distinct from other I-Kiribati. The Banabans were assimilated only through forced migrations and the heavy impact of the discovery of phosphate in 1900.
Ocean Island had been hastily added to the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) in 1900 to take advantage of the improved shipping connections resulting from the Pacific Phosphate Company's increased activities.
Prior to the deportation of its inhabitants at the end of World War II, there were four villages on the island: Ooma (Uma), Tabiang (Antereen), Tapiwa (Tabwewa) and Buakonikai. The local capital was Tabiang, now called Antereen.
The first known sighting of Banaba by Europeans occurred on 3 January 1801. Captain Jared Gardner of the American vessel Diana sighted the island. Then in 1804, Captain John Mertho of the convict transport and merchant ship Ocean sighted the island and named it after his vessel.
Whaling vessels often visited the island in the nineteenth century for water and wood. The first recorded visit was by the Arabella in March 1832. The last known visit was by the Charles W. Morgan in January 1904.
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Banaba
Banaba (/bəˈnɑːbə/; formerly Ocean Island) is an island of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean. A solitary raised coral island west of the Gilbert Island Chain, it is the westernmost point of Kiribati, lying 185 miles (298 km) east of Nauru, which is also its nearest neighbour. It has an area of six square kilometres (2.3 sq mi), and the highest point on the island is also the highest point in Kiribati, at 81 metres (266 ft) in height. Along with Nauru and Makatea (French Polynesia), it is one of the important elevated phosphate-rich islands of the Pacific.
According to Te Rii ni Banaba (The Backbone of Banaba) by Raobeia Ken Sigrah, Banaban oral history supports the claim that the people of the Te Aka clan, which originated in Melanesia, were the original inhabitants of Banaba, having arrived before the arrival of later migrations from the East Indies and Kiribati. The name Banaba in the local Gilbertese language is correctly spelled Bwanaba, but the Constitution of Kiribati (12 July 1979) writes Banaba, meaning "hollow land".
Settlement of Banaba began over 2,000 years ago, over the course of at least three waves of migration. Like the indigenous inhabitants of Nauru and Rapa Nui, Banaba was viewed as the buto, the navel or centre, of the world by the Banabans. Unlike other Pacific island societies, land on Banaba was held by individuals, rather than communally held by chiefs or aristocratic families. Several categories of both landholding and land-based transfers and transactions were recognized, including land for the aged, land for adopted children, land of marriage, and so on.
Sigrah makes also the controversial (and politically loaded) assertion that Banabans are ethnically distinct from other I-Kiribati. The Banabans were assimilated only through forced migrations and the heavy impact of the discovery of phosphate in 1900.
Ocean Island had been hastily added to the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) in 1900 to take advantage of the improved shipping connections resulting from the Pacific Phosphate Company's increased activities.
Prior to the deportation of its inhabitants at the end of World War II, there were four villages on the island: Ooma (Uma), Tabiang (Antereen), Tapiwa (Tabwewa) and Buakonikai. The local capital was Tabiang, now called Antereen.
The first known sighting of Banaba by Europeans occurred on 3 January 1801. Captain Jared Gardner of the American vessel Diana sighted the island. Then in 1804, Captain John Mertho of the convict transport and merchant ship Ocean sighted the island and named it after his vessel.
Whaling vessels often visited the island in the nineteenth century for water and wood. The first recorded visit was by the Arabella in March 1832. The last known visit was by the Charles W. Morgan in January 1904.
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