Island Marshall Religion

The original inhabitants of Kiribati are Gilbertese, a Micronesian people. Approximately 90% of the population of Kiribati lives on the atolls of the Gilbert Islands. Although the Line Islands are about 2,000 miles east of the Gilbert Islands, most inhabitants of the Line Islands are also Gilbertese. Owing to an annual population growth rate of around 2.5% and severe overcrowding in the capital on South Tarawa, a program of migration has been implemented to move nearly 5,000 inhabitants to outlying atolls, mainly in the Line Islands. The Phoenix Islands have never had any permanent population. A British effort to settle Gilbertese there in the 1930s failed due to lack of water. A new program of settlement to the Phoenix Islands was begun in 1995. ... [Read More]

US Department Of State Post Report

The outside world had little contact with the islands until the mid-19th century, when American whalers and missionaries entered the region. Spain claimed the Caroline and Mariana Islands in 1885 and retained them until 1899, when Germany purchased most of the island chains in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War. Germany, in turn, lost its possession to Japan in 1914 at the beginning of World War I. The League of Nations formally extended a mandate to Japan in 1920, thus confirming the Japanese era of colonization. Intensive crop production began, and the islands became exporters of many agricultural products. In 1945, after World War II, control passed to the U.S. Navy and then to the Department of Interior under a Trusteeship under U.N. auspices which began in 1947. The FSM, together with the Marshall Islands, Palau, and Northern Mariana Islands, made up the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The FSM came into existence in 1979, and on November 3, 1986, the FSM and the Uni ... [Read More]

Palau (11/04)

The Republic of Palau consists of eight principal islands and more than 250 smaller ones lying roughly 500 miles southeast of the Philippines. The islands of Palau constitute part of the Caroline Islands chain. About 70% of the Palauan population lives in the capital city of Koror on Koror Island. The constitution calls for a new capital to be established on the bigger but less developed island of Babeldaob--the second-largest island in Micronesia after Guam. ... [Read More]

Tuvalu (05/05)

The Spanish were the first Europeans to see the islands in the 1500s. However, in 1819 an American ship captain, De Peyster, named the main island in the group Ellice's Island after a British politician who owned the cargo aboard his ship. In 1841, the U.S. Exploring Expedition commanded by Charles Wilkes visited three of Tuvalu's islands and welcomed visitors to his ships. Other early interactions with the outside world were far less benign--in 1863, hundreds of people from the southern islands were kidnapped when they were lured them aboard slave ships with promises that they would be taught about Christianity. Those islanders were forced to work under horrific conditions in the guano mines of Peru. ... [Read More]

Micronesia (10/04)

The ancestors of the Micronesians settled the Caroline Islands over 4,000 years ago. A decentralized chieftain-based system eventually evolved into a more centralized economic and religious empire centered on Yap. European explorers--first the Portuguese in search of the Spice Islands (Indonesia) and then the Spanish--reached the Carolines in the 16th century, with the Spanish establishing sovereignty. The current FSM passed to German control in 1899, then to the Japanese in 1914, and finally to the U.S. under UN auspices in 1947 as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. ... [Read More]

Dominican Republic (05/05)

About half of Dominicans live in rural areas; many are small landholders. Haitians form the largest foreign minority group. All religions are tolerated; the state religion is Roman Catholicism. ...

The island of Hispaniola, of which the Dominican Republic forms the eastern two-thirds and Haiti the remainder, was originally occupied by Tainos, an Arawak-speaking people. The Tainos welcomed Columbus in his first voyage in 1492, but subsequent colonizers were brutal, reducing the Taino population from about 1 million to about 500 in 50 years. To ensure adequate labor for plantations, the Spanish brought African slaves to the island beginning in 1503. ... [Read More]

Greece (02/05)

At independence, Greece had an area of 47,515 square kilometers (18,346 square mi.), and its northern boundary extended from the Gulf of Volos to the Gulf of Arta. Under the influence of the "Megali Idea," the expansion of the Greek state to include all areas of Greek population, Greece acquired the Ionian islands in 1864; Thessaly and part of Epirus in 1881; Macedonia, Crete, Epirus, and the Aegean islands in 1913; Western Thrace in 1918; and the Dodecanese islands in 1947. ... [Read More]

US Department Of State Post Report

     How and when the Palauan Islands were first settled is uncertain.  Perhaps about 10,000 years ago, people moved into the Micronesian islands from what is now Indonesia and the Philippines.  The first permanent settlements, however, may not have been before 500 A.D.  The first extended contact with Western civilization occurred in 1783 when the British vessel ‘Antelope’ shipwrecked near Koror.  Outside important trade routes, Palau was generally left alone until Spain formalized claims to Palau in 1885.  In 1899 Germany purchased most of Spain's Micronesian island chains in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War.  Germany lost possession to Japan in 1914.  The League of Nations formally extended Japan's mandate in 1920.  During World War II, on September 15, 1944, U.S. forces landed on the Palauan islands of Peleliu and Angaur where they fought one of the memorable battles of the Pacific war.  In 1945 control of Pa ... [Read More]

US Department Of State Post Report

The Bahamas stretch over a distance of some 760 miles from northwest to southeast and includes 30 inhabited islands, 661 cays, and about 2,387 exposed reefs. The total land area is approximately 5,380 square miles, about the size of Wales or two‑thirds the size of Massachusetts. The largest island is Andros, with an area of 2,300 square miles and the smallest inhabited island is Spanish Wells, with an area of one-half mile. The highest point is 206‑foot high Como Hill on Cat Island. Some of the most beautiful beaches and lagoons in the world are located in the Bahamas. ... [Read More]