Misplaced Pages

#858141

44-657: Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati , in the Micronesia region of the central Pacific Ocean. It comprises North Tarawa , which has 6,629 inhabitants and much in common with other more remote islands of the Gilbert group , and South Tarawa , which has 56,388 inhabitants as of 2015, half of the country's total population. The atoll was the site of the Battle of Tarawa during World War II . Tarawa

88-508: A reef knoll refers to the elevated remains of an ancient atoll within a limestone region, appearing as a hill. The second largest atoll by dry land area is Aldabra , with 155 km (60 sq mi). Huvadhu Atoll , situated in the southern region of the Maldives, holds the distinction of being the largest atoll based on the sheer number of islands it comprises, with a total of 255 individual islands. In 1842, Charles Darwin explained

132-861: A ring-shaped ribbon reef enclosing a lagoon". There are approximately 440 atolls in the world. Most of the world's atolls are in the Pacific Ocean (with concentrations in the Caroline Islands , the Coral Sea Islands , the Marshall Islands , the Tuamotu Islands , Kiribati , Tokelau , and Tuvalu ) and the Indian Ocean (the Chagos Archipelago , Lakshadweep , the atolls of the Maldives , and

176-415: A sleeping mat twenty-five years later, described the situation: "In those days death was on the right hand and on the left. If we wandered north, we were killed or raped. If we wandered south, we were killed or raped. If we returned alive from walking abroad, our husbands themselves killed us, for they said that we had gone forth seeking to be raped. That was indeed just, for a woman who disobeys her husband

220-442: A very different origin of formation. In most cases, the land area of an atoll is very small in comparison to the total area. Atoll islands are low lying, with their elevations less than 5 metres (16 ft). Measured by total area, Lifou (1,146 km , 442 sq mi) is the largest raised coral atoll of the world, followed by Rennell Island (660 km , 250 sq mi). More sources, however, list Kiritimati as

264-525: A volcanic island in the tropical sea will grow upward as the island subsides (sinks), becoming an "almost atoll", or barrier reef island, as typified by an island such as Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, and Bora Bora and others in the Society Islands. The fringing reef becomes a barrier reef for the reason that the outer part of the reef maintains itself near sea level through biotic growth, while

308-549: Is a woman of no account, and it matters not how she dies. Yet how beautiful is life in our villages, now that there is no killing and war is no more... Behold my son and my grandson! These would have died with me that day at Nea if the warship had not arrived. And these"-she pointed out her great and great-great-grandchildren-"would never have been born. We live because the Government of Kuini Kabitoria brought peace to us, and here I sit plaiting this mat to be buried in because of

352-801: Is an officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of the High Commission of the Commonwealth of Australia to Kiribati , located in Tarawa. The position has the rank and status of an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and is currently held by David Yardley. As fellow members of the Commonwealth of Nations , diplomatic relations between Australia and Kiribati are between high commissioners rather than ambassadors. The High Commission

396-579: Is an old Gilbertese form for Te Rawa , meaning "The Passage" (of the Lagoon), named for the unusual large ship channel to the lagoon. In the popular etymology based on Kiribati mythology , Nareau , the God-spider, distinguished Karawa , the sky, from Marawa , the Sea, from Tarawa , the land. Tarawa has a large lagoon , 500 square kilometres (193 square miles) in total area, and a wide reef. The lagoon

440-540: Is one of four diplomatic missions in Kiribati, alongside New Zealand, Taiwan and Cuba. The High Commission supports and manages Australia's extensive Official Development Assistance program to Kiribati, which constitutes 31% of all ODA to the country (15% of Kiribati's GDP). Australia formally recognised Kiribati on its independence from the United Kingdom in 1979, but diplomatic contacts were much earlier with

484-414: Is widely open to the ocean, with a large ship pass. Although naturally abundant in fish and shellfish of all kinds, marine resources are being strained by the large and growing population. Drought is frequent, but in normal years rainfall is sufficient to maintain breadfruit , papaya and banana trees as well as coconut and pandanus . North Tarawa consists of a string of islets from Buariki in

SECTION 10

#1732786815859

528-853: The Outer Islands of Seychelles ). In addition, Indonesia also has several atolls spread across the archipelago, such as in the Thousand Islands , Taka Bonerate Islands , and atolls in the Raja Ampat Islands . The Atlantic Ocean has no large groups of atolls, other than eight atolls east of Nicaragua that belong to the Colombian department of San Andres and Providencia in the Caribbean. Reef-building corals will thrive only in warm tropical and subtropical waters of oceans and seas, and therefore atolls are found only in

572-606: The Royal Society of London carried out drilling on Funafuti atoll in Tuvalu for the purpose of investigating the formation of coral reefs . They wanted to determine whether traces of shallow water organisms could be found at depth in the coral of Pacific atolls. This investigation followed the work on the structure and distribution of coral reefs conducted by Charles Darwin in the Pacific. The first expedition in 1896

616-575: The high commissioner in Nauru dual-accredited as Commissioner to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (1972–1976) and the Gilbert Islands (1976–1979), and then non-resident accredited high commissioner to Kiribati from 1979. In 1981, The Australian Government announced that it would open a resident High Commission in Kiribati in recognition of "the importance which Australia attached to relations with not only Kiribati but to its regional neighbours in

660-519: The Equator is Aranuka of Kiribati. Its southern tip is just 13 km (8 mi) north of the Equator. Bermuda is sometimes claimed as the "northernmost atoll" at a latitude of 32°18′ N. At this latitude, coral reefs would not develop without the warming waters of the Gulf Stream . However, Bermuda is termed a pseudo-atoll because its general form, while resembling that of an atoll, has

704-586: The Gilbertese) are still excellent seafarers, capable of making ocean crossings in locally made vessels using traditional navigation techniques. Thomas Gilbert , captain of the East India Company vessel Charlotte , was the first European to describe Tarawa, arriving on 20 June 1788. He did not land. He named it Matthew Island, after the owner of his ship Charlotte . He named the lagoon Charlotte Bay. Gilbert's 1788 sketches survive. The island

748-630: The Island. The Kiribati Government began a road restoration project funded in part by the World Bank in 2014 to re-surface the main road from Betio in the west to Bonriki in the east, upgrading the main road that transits Tarawa from a dirt road. As of 2018, all that remained to be completed of this project was the sealing of the Japanese Causeway, connecting Bairiki and Betio, done in 2019. Atoll Two different, well-cited models,

792-584: The annual average is 3,000 mm (120 in) in the north and 500 mm (20 in) in the south of the Gilbert Islands. Most of these islands are in the dry belt of the equatorial oceanic climatic zone and experience prolonged droughts. Tarawa atoll has three administrative subdivisions: Betio Town Council (or BTC), on Betio Islet; Teinainano Urban Council  [ it ] (or TUC), from Bairiki to Tanaea; and Eutan Tarawa Council (or ETC), for North Tarawa or Tarawa Ieta , consisting of all

836-520: The antecedent karst model as they found that the morphology of modern atolls are independent of any influence of an underlying submerged and buried island and are not rooted to an initial fringing reef/barrier reef attached to a slowly subsiding volcanic edifice. In fact, the Neogene reefs underlying the studied modern atolls overlie and completely bury the subsided island are all non-atoll, flat-topped reefs. In fact, they found that atolls did not form doing

880-714: The atoll. The Marines captured the island after 76 hours of intense fighting that killed 6,000 people in total. The fierce fighting was the subject of a documentary film produced by the Combat Photographers of the Second Marine Division entitled With the Marines at Tarawa . It was released in March 1944 at the insistence of President Roosevelt . It became the first time many Americans viewed American servicemen dead on film.. The US built bases on

924-417: The creation of coral atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean based upon observations made during a five-year voyage aboard HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836. Darwin's explanation suggests that several tropical island types: from high volcanic island, through barrier reef island, to atoll, represented a sequence of gradual subsidence of what started as an oceanic volcano. He reasoned that a fringing coral reef surrounding

SECTION 20

#1732786815859

968-436: The direct result of the interaction between subsidence and preferential karst dissolution that occurred in the interior of flat topped coral reefs during exposure during glacial lowstands of sea level. The elevated rims along an island created by this preferential karst dissolution become the sites of coral growth and islands of atolls when flooded during interglacial highstands. The research of A. W. Droxler and others supports

1012-561: The dolomitization of calcite and aragonite within them. They are the evaporative, seepage-reflux, mixing-zone, burial, and seawater models. Although the origin of replacement dolomites remains problematic and controversial, it is generally accepted that seawater was the source of magnesium for dolomitization and the fluid in which calcite was dolomitized to form the dolomites found within atolls. Various processes have been invoked to drive large amounts of seawater through an atoll in order for dolomitization to occur. In 1896, 1897 and 1898,

1056-446: The flat surface of coral reef, it is exposed to the atmosphere as a flat topped island which is dissolved by rainfall to form limestone karst . Because of hydrologic properties of this karst, the rate of dissolution of the exposed coral is lowest along its rim and the rate of dissolution increases inward to its maximum at the center of the island. As a result, a saucer shaped island with a raised rim forms. When relative sea level submerges

1100-466: The high commissions of Australia and New Zealand. The United Nations are also present in Kiribati, including UNICEF , UNDP , UNFPA , UNOPS , UN Women , WHO and FAO . In Kiribati mythology, Tarawa was the earth when the land, ocean and sky had not been cleaved yet by Nareau the spider. Thus, after calling the sky karawa and the ocean marawa , he called the piece of rock that Riiki (another god that Nareau found) had stood upon when he lifted up

1144-472: The inner part of the reef falls behind, becoming a lagoon because conditions are less favorable for the coral and calcareous algae responsible for most reef growth. In time, subsidence carries the old volcano below the ocean surface and the barrier reef remains. At this point, the island has become an atoll. As formulated by J. E. Hoffmeister, F. S. McNeil, E. G. Prudy, and others, the antecedent karst model argues that atolls are Pleistocene features that are

1188-545: The island again, the rim provides a rocky core on which coral grow again to form the islands of an atoll and the flooded bottom of the saucer forms the lagoon within them. The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu ( އަތޮޅު , pronounced [ˈat̪oɭu] ). Dhivehi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Maldives . The word's first recorded English use was in 1625 as atollon . Charles Darwin coined

1232-403: The island or rising oceans). An alternative model for the origin of atolls is called the antecedent karst model. In the antecedent karst model, the first step in the formation of an atoll is the development of a flat top, mound-like coral reef during the subsidence of an oceanic island of either volcanic or nonvolcanic origin below sea level. Then, when relative sea level drops below the level of

1276-684: The islets on the east side from Buota northwards. The meaning of Te inainano in Gilbertese language is "down of the mast", alluding to the sail-shape of the atoll South Tarawa hosts the capital of the Republic of Kiribati and was also the central headquarters of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands since 1895. The House of Assembly is in Ambo, and the State House is in Bairiki . The offices of

1320-469: The kindness of that woman, with all my generations around me to wrap me in it when I die." The aftermath of land claims and counter-claims between Auatubu and Teabike nevertheless caused high tension for years afterwards. Charles Richard Swayne , the first Resident Commissioner , decided to install the central headquarters of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands protectorate in Tarawa in 1895. Tarawa Post Office opened on 1 January 1911. Sir Arthur Grimble

1364-412: The largest atoll in the world in terms of land area. It is also a raised coral atoll (321 km , 124 sq mi land area; according to other sources even 575 km , 222 sq mi), 160 km (62 sq mi) main lagoon, 168 km (65 sq mi) other lagoons (according to other sources 319 km , 123 sq mi total lagoon size). The geological formation known as

Tarawa - Misplaced Pages Continue

1408-404: The north to Buota in the south. The islets are separated in places by wide channels that are best crossed at low tide, and there is a ferry service between Buota and Abatao. Only Buota is connected by road to South Tarawa, via a bridge. On South Tarawa , the construction of causeways has now created a single strip of land from Betio in the west to Tanaea in the northeast. Previously, Benito,

1452-482: The ocean. As the volcanic island subsides, the coral fringing reef becomes a barrier reef that is detached from the island. Eventually, reef and the small coral islets on top of it are all that is left of the original island, and a lagoon has taken the place of the former volcano. The lagoon is not the former volcanic crater. For the atoll to persist, the coral reef must be maintained at the sea surface, with coral growth matching any relative change in sea level (sinking of

1496-493: The site of the battle of Tarawa , was only 291 acres in size. Tarawa features a tropical rainforest climate under the Köppen climate classification . The climate is pleasant from April to October, with predominant northeastern winds and stable temperatures close to 30 °C (86 °F). From November to March, western gales bring rain and occasional cyclones . Precipitation varies significantly between islands. For example,

1540-459: The sky as, Tarawa . Nareau then created the rest of the islands in Kiribati and also Samoa. Gilbertese arrived at these islands thousands of years ago, and there have been migrations to and from Gilbert Islands since antiquity. Evidence from a range of sources, including carbon dating and DNA analyses, confirms that the exploration of the Pacific included settlement of the Gilbert Islands by around 200 BC. The people of Tungaru (native name of

1584-399: The subsidence model and the antecedent karst model, have been used to explain the development of atolls. According to Charles Darwin 's subsidence model, the formation of an atoll is explained by the sinking of a volcanic island around which a coral fringing reef has formed. Over geologic time, the volcanic island becomes extinct and eroded as it subsides completely beneath the surface of

1628-478: The subsidence of an island until MIS-11, Mid-Brunhes, long after the many the former islands had been completely submerged and buried by flat topped reefs during the Neogene. Atolls are the product of the growth of tropical marine organisms, and so these islands are found only in warm tropical waters. Volcanic islands located beyond the warm water temperature requirements of hermatypic (reef-building) organisms become seamounts as they subside, and are eroded away at

1672-696: The surface. An island that is located where the ocean water temperatures are just sufficiently warm for upward reef growth to keep pace with the rate of subsidence is said to be at the Darwin Point . Islands in colder, more polar regions evolve toward seamounts or guyots ; warmer, more equatorial islands evolve toward atolls, for example Kure Atoll . However, ancient atolls during the Mesozoic appear to exhibit different growth and evolution patterns. Coral atolls are important as sites where dolomitization of calcite occurs. Several models have been proposed for

1716-444: The term in his monograph, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs . He recognized the word's indigenous origin and defined it as a "circular group of coral islets", synonymously with "lagoon-island". More modern definitions of atoll describe them as "annular reefs enclosing a lagoon in which there are no promontories other than reefs and islets composed of reef detritus " or "in an exclusively morphological sense, [as]

1760-756: The tropics and subtropics. The northernmost atoll in the world is Kure Atoll at 28°25′ N, along with other atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands . The southernmost atolls in the world are Elizabeth Reef at 29°57′ S, and nearby Middleton Reef at 29°27′ S, in the Tasman Sea , both of which are part of the Coral Sea Islands Territory. The next southerly atoll is Ducie Island in the Pitcairn Islands Group, at 24°41′ S. The atoll closest to

1804-417: The various ministries of the government range from Betio at the south-west extreme to Nawerewere (on an easterly island in its chain), close to Bonriki (International Airport) and Temwaiku . Settlements on North Tarawa include Buariki , Abaokoro , Marenanuka and Taborio . Four resident diplomatic missions exist: the embassies of China (closed in 2003, re-opened in 2020) and Japan (opened in 2023), and

Tarawa - Misplaced Pages Continue

1848-631: Was a cadet administrative officer based at Tarawa (1913–1919). He became Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony in 1926. During World War II , Tarawa was occupied by the Japanese , and beginning on 20 November 1943 it was the scene of the bloody Battle of Tarawa . On that day U.S. Marines landed on Tarawa and fought Japanese Marines of the Special Naval Landing Forces occupying entrenched positions on

1892-465: Was led by Professor William Johnson Sollas of the University of Oxford . Geologists included Walter George Woolnough and Edgeworth David of the University of Sydney . Professor Edgeworth David led the expedition in 1897. The third expedition in 1898 was led by Alfred Edmund Finckh. List of Australian High Commissioners to Kiribati The high commissioner of Australia to Kiribati

1936-617: Was surveyed in 1841 by the US Exploring Expedition . For nine generations, the island was divided between two warring factions, the House of Auatubu and the House of Teabike, until in 1892 HMS Royalist (1883) arrived, with Captain Edward Davis proclaiming that the island was now a British Protectorate . This saved Auatubu from massacre; the day before, they had been badly defeated by Teabike. A very old lady, plaiting

#858141