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Maneaba
The heart of any Kiribati community is its maneaba or meeting house. The maneaba is not just the biggest building in any village, it is the centre of village life and the basis of island and national governance. A traditional maneaba is an imposing structure, with slabs of coral supporting a huge roof formed from coconut wood, held together with coconut string and thatched with pandanus leaves. The whole community is involved in its construction, and every aspect of the maneaba has a symbolic as well as a practical function. A maneaba serves a similar cultural role to a Polynesian marae. In the neighbouring islands of Tuvalu (formerly called the Ellice Islands), the meeting house is called the maneapa or ahiga. The sharing of the name is the result of Kiribati and Tuvalu being previously the British crown colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean was part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. It was a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kiribati
Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The state comprises list of islands of Kiribati, 32 atolls and one remote raised coral atoll, raised coral island, Banaba. Its total land area is dispersed over of ocean. The islands' spread straddles the equator and the 180th meridian. The International Date Line goes around Kiribati and swings far to the east, almost reaching 150th meridian west, 150°W. This brings Kiribati's easternmost islands, the southern Line Islands south of Hawaii, into the same day as the Gilbert Islands and places them in the most advanced time zone on Earth: UTC+14:00, UTC+14. Kiribati gained its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming a sovereign state in 1979. The capital, South Tarawa, now the most populated area, consists of a number of islets, connect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pandanus
''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with about 578 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. Common names include pandan, screw palm and screw pine. The genus is classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae, and is the largest in the family. Description The species vary in size from small shrubs less than tall, to medium-sized trees tall, typically with a broad canopy, heavy fruit, and moderate growth rate. The trunk is stout, wide-branching, and ringed with many leaf scars. Mature plants can have branches. Depending on the species, the trunk can be smooth, rough, or warty. The roots form a pyramidal tract to hold the trunk. They commonly have many thick stilt roots near the base, which provide support as the tree grows top-heavy with leaves, fruit, and branches. These roots are adventitious and often branched. The top of the plant has one or more crowns of strap-shaped leaves that may be s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marae
A ' (in Māori language, New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian language, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan language, Tongan), ' (in Marquesan language, Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan language, Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian culture, Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term also means cleared and free of weeds or trees. generally consist of an area of cleared land roughly rectangular (the itself), bordered with stones or wooden posts (called ' in Tahitian and Cook Islands Māori) perhaps with ' (terraces) which were traditionally used for ceremonial purposes; and in some cases, such as Easter Island, a central stone ' or ''a'u'' is placed. In the Easter Island Rapa Nui people, Rapa Nui culture, the term ''ahu'' or ''a'u'' has become a synonym for the whole marae complex. In some modern Polynesian societies, notably that of the Māori people, Māori of New Zealand, the marae is still a vital part of everyd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tuvalu
Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Vanuatu, southeast of Nauru, south of Kiribati, west of Tokelau, northwest of Samoa and Wallis and Futuna, and north of Fiji. Tuvalu is composed of three reef islands and six atolls spread out between the latitude of 5th parallel south, 5° and 10th parallel south, 10° south and between the longitude of 176th meridian east, 176° and 180th meridian, 180°. They lie west of the International Date Line. The 2022 census determined that Tuvalu had a population of 10,643, making it List of countries and dependencies by population, the second-least populous country in the world, behind Vatican City. Tuvalu's total land area is . The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesians arriving as part of the History of the Polynesian people, migration of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crown Colony
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by Kingdom of England, England, and then Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English overseas possessions, English and later British Empire. There was usually a Governor#United Kingdom overseas territories, governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarch on the advice of the Government of the United Kingdom, UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local council. In some cases, this council was split into two: an executive council and a legislative council, and the executive council was similar to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, Privy Council that advises the monarch. Members of executive councils were appointed by the governors, and British citizens resident in Crown colonies either had no representation in local government, or limited representation in a lower house. In several Crown colonies, this limited representation g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilbert And Ellice Islands
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean was part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. It was a British protectorate, protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a crown colony, colony until 1 January 1976, and was administered as part of the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) until it became independent as two separate states. The history of GEIC was mainly characterized by phosphate mining in Banaba and Nauru, phosphate mining on Ocean Island. In October 1975, these islands were divided by force of law into two separate colonies, and they became independent nations shortly thereafter: the Ellice Islands became Tuvalu in 1978, and the Gilbert Islands with Banaba (Ocean Island) became part of Kiribati in 1979. Location The Gilbert IslandsReilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. sometimes also known as ''Kingsmill Islands' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Assembly (Kiribati)
The House of Assembly (, ) is the sole chamber of the Parliament of Kiribati. Since 2016, it has 45 members, 44 elected for a four-year term in 23 single-seat and multi-seat constituencies and 1 non-elected delegate from the Banaban community on Rabi Island in Fiji. From 1979 to 2016, the Attorney general was an ''ex officio'' member of the legislature until a change of the constitution modified this provision. Created by the Constitution of 12 July 1979, in a Westminster system, its seat has been at Ambo in South Tarawa since October 2000. From 1979 to 2000, it was at Bairiki, where the House of Assembly was created in 1974, on the base of the Legislative Council of the British colony, created in 1970, and a previous House of Representatives of 1967 in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. History Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony With decolonisation, starting with a Colony conference in 1956, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands initiated to organise a first form of Parliamentary sys ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culture Of Kiribati
Contemporary Kiribati culture is centered on the family, the church and the sea. Music Kiribati folk music is generally based around chanting or other forms of vocalizing, accompanied by body percussion. Public performances in modern Kiribati are generally performed by a seated chorus, accompanied by a guitar. However, during formal performances of the standing dance (''Te Kaimatoa'') or the hip dance (''Te Buki'') a wooden box is used as a percussion instrument. This box is constructed so as to give a hollow and reverberating tone when struck simultaneously by a chorus of men sitting around it. Traditional songs are often love-themed, but there are also competitive, religious, children's, patriotic, war and wedding songs. There are also Dance in Kiribati#Tirere, stick dances (which accompany legends and semi-historical stories. These stick dances or 'tirere' (pronounced seerere) are only performed during major festivals. Dance The uniqueness of Kiribati when compared with o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and private physical structures such as roads, railways, bridges, airports, public transit systems, tunnels, water supply, sewers, electrical grids, and telecommunications (including Internet connectivity and broadband access). In general, infrastructure has been defined as "the physical components of interrelated systems providing commodities and services essential to enable, sustain, or enhance societal living conditions" and maintain the surrounding environment. Especially in light of the massive societal transformations needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change, contemporary infrastructure conversations frequently focus on sustainable development and green infrastructure. Acknowledging this importance, the international co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thatched Buildings
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, Phragmites, water reed, Cyperaceae, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), Juncus, rushes, Calluna, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of the vegetation stays dry and is densely packed—trapping air—thatching also functions as roof insulation, insulation. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates. Thatch is still employed by builders in developing countries, usually with low-cost local vegetation. By contrast, in some developed countries it is the choice of some affluent people who desire a rustic look for their home, would like a more ecologically friendly roof, or who have purchased an originally thatched abode. History Thatching methods have traditionally been passed down from generation to generation and numerous descriptions of the materials and methods used in Europe over the past ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
