This week in our online classes we leave Melanesia for the many tiny yet infinitely beautiful islands of Micronesia. Let’s start in Kiribati, formerly known as the Gilbert Islands, a group of 32 very close-to-sea-level atolls and one island (Banaba) sprinkled along the very hot equator and stretching from the easternmost point of the eastern hemisphere across the International Date Line and into the western hemisphere. Kiribati, pronounced “Kiribas,” was populated some time about 3000 B.C. and maintained continuous contact with Polynesian islands like Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. Unlike other Micronesian islands it was not part of the Spanish or German colonial sphere, but instead the British settled starting in 1837; the Gilberts became a British protectorate in 1892. The Japanese occupied the Gilberts during World War II and the Americans fought a bloody battle to get them back. After the War the U.S. used some of the Gilbert islands as test sites for nuclear weapons but in 1979 allowed i-Kiribati (the people of Kiribati) to become independent. Kiribati became a member of the United Nations in 1999.
We are revising the AllAroundThisWorld.com site and are currently using a new (better!) site — ExploreEverywhere.com — to tell you all about our curriculum offerings and how to become one of our teachers. That said, if you were on ExploreEverywhere, you clicked to find more information about a song or lesson, and landed here, you’re in the right place! Some links may be broken and a detail or two may be out of date…but close the popup window and enjoy!
