Stories From Kiribati

Land and Ocean

The Republic of Kiribati comprises of 33 islands located somewhere at the heart of the Pacific Ocean. The islands are small and scattered over 3.5 million square kilometres (1.35 million sq.miles) of ocean. These islands are fragmented extending 3,870 km from Banaba (Ocean Island) in the far-west to Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in the far-east end.

The land and ocean areas of Kiribati are distributed throughout the three island groups namely the Gilbert, Phoenix and Line Group.

The Gilbert Group (also called Western Group) consists of 17 islands (12 atolls, 4 low coral islands and 1 raised limestone island). The sizes of the islands vary from 4.73 sq.km to 37.63 sq.km. South Tarawa is the capital island with the highest number of 40311 out of the total population of 92533. Almost 1/2 of the population of Kiribati lives on this island (2005 census)

The Phoenix Group (also called Central Group) consists of 8 low islands with closed lagoons. All the islands in this group are uninhabited exept Kanton with only 41 people (2005 census).

The Line Group (or Eatern Group) also consists of 8 islands - 3 in the North namely Teraina (Washngton), Tabuaeran (Fanning) and Kiritimati (Christmas) and the rest are in the South (Millenium Island - formerly Caroline is among them). Teraina, Tabuaeran and Kiritimati are the ones having few thousands people while the 5 remaining islands are still without people (2005 census).

Republic of Kiribati – islands, groups and ocean

Climate

Kiribati is located in the dry belt of the equatorial oceanic climate zone meaning its daily temperatures vary from 26 to 32 degrees celcius. Annual rainfall varies annually and between islands. In the Gilbert group, rainfall ranges from 1000 mm to 3000 mm. The Line group has the highest rainfall of about 700 mm to 4000 mm.

There are two main climatic seasons - Dry and Wet seasons. Dry season is from June to November with southeast winds and Wet season is from December to May along with northeast winds. The former usually brings less rain while the latter brings more rain. Droughts are usually experienced during dry months whereas storms are usually experienced during wet season.

Gilbert Group - 17 islands

Table of Information about these islands.

Abbreviation: DFT = Distant From Tarawa

                   FEC = First European Contact

There are 17 islands making up the Gilbert Group. Tab-S and Tab-N made up Tabiteuea Island. The islands are arranged from the most north down to south.

Phoenix Group – 8 low islands.

All the above Phoenix Islands marked with (*) remain uninhabited except Kanton (Tunaari)

Line Group - 8 islands

Abbreviations: DFT = Distant From Tarawa

                     FEC = First European Contact

Note: The last 5 islands in the above table remain uninhabited! Millenium Island (formerly Caroline) is one of them!

Note: The above table contains important information of the South islands in the Line Group

Info source: CDRC material - This is Kiribati (6th edition) plus internet.