drugs:

widespread harvesting of small plots of marijuana; transit country
for South Asian heroin destined for Europe and North America; Indian
methaqualone also transits on way to South Africa; significant
potential for money-laundering activity given the country's status
as a regional financial center; massive corruption, and relatively
high levels of narcotics-associated activities

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

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@Kiribati

Introduction
Kiribati

Background:

The Gilbert Islands became a British protectorate in 1892 and a
colony in 1915; they were captured by the Japanese in the Pacific
War in 1941. The islands of Makin and Tarawa were the sites of major
US amphibious victories over entrenched Japanese garrisons in 1943.
The Gilbert Islands were granted self-rule by the UK in 1971 and
complete independence in 1979 under the new name of Kiribati. The US
relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited Phoenix and Line
Island groups in a 1979 treaty of friendship with Kiribati.

Geography
Kiribati

Location:

Oceania, group of 33 coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean, straddling
the Equator; the capital Tarawa is about half way between Hawaii and
Australia; note - on 1 January 1995, Kiribati proclaimed that all of
its territory lies in the same time zone as its Gilbert Islands
group (UTC +12) even though the Phoenix Islands and the Line Islands
under its jurisdiction lie on the other side of the International
Date Line

Geographic coordinates:

1 25 N, 173 00 E

Map references:

Oceania

Area:

total: 811 sq km
land: 811 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: includes three island groups - Gilbert Islands, Line Islands,
Phoenix Islands

Area - comparative:

four times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:

0 km

Coastline:

1,143 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:

tropical; marine, hot and humid, moderated by trade winds

Terrain:

mostly low-lying coral atolls surrounded by extensive reefs

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Banaba 81 m

Natural resources:

phosphate (production discontinued in 1979)

Land use:

arable land: 2.74%
permanent crops: 47.95%
other: 49.31% (2005)

Irrigated land:

NA

Natural hazards: