Nonouti is an

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

and

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

. The atoll is located in the Southern

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...

, 38 km north of

Tabiteuea Tabiteuea (formerly Drummond's Island) is an atoll in the Gilbert Islands, Kiribati, farther south of Tarawa. This atoll is the bigger and the most populated of the Gilbert Islands but Tarawa. The atoll consists of one main island, in the nor ...

, and 250 km south of

Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

and is the island where the Roman Catholic religion was first established in Kiribati, in 1888.

Geography

The eastern side of the atoll is the primary permanent landmass. There is an islet on the northwest side of the atoll called Noumatong, which is uninhabited and is reserved as a bird sanctuary. The eastern area of the atoll consists of tiny

islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanent ...

s and

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

s which form a continuous line.

Villages

Taboiaki Taboiaki is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on the atoll of Nonouti Nonouti is an atoll and district of Kiribati. The atoll is located in the Southern Gilbert Islands, 38 km north of Tabiteuea, and 250 km south of Tarawa. ...

is the largest village of Nonouti with a population of 675 people (2020 Census). Matang village is the administrative centre and as such has better infrastructure and facilities; it is also the second largest village on Nonouti with 537 people, about a fifth of the total population. Benuaroa (a combined name for the islets of Mataboou and Tebuange) village held the least number of residents, with only 84 people or three percent of the total. The government station on the island is located in the village of Matang. The island clerk is the highest ranking government official on the island. The former

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Ieremia Tabai Ieremia Tienang Tabai (modern spelling: Tabwai; born 16 December 1949) is an I-Kiribati politician who served as the first Beretitenti President of the Republic of Kiribati, after being the youngest ever Chief minister of the Commonwealth of Na ...

, is from Nonouti. Nonuti hosts seven primary schools and one Junior Secondary School, and is home to George Eastman High School, run privately by the Kiribati Protestant Church. The land areas of Nonouti islets and the village populations are as follows:

History

The island was surveyed by the

US Exploring Expedition The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby ...

in 1841. In the late 19th century, Nonouti was briefly conquered by the king of

Abemama Abemama (Apamama) is an atoll, one of the Gilberts group in Kiribati, and is located southeast of Tarawa and just north of the Equator. Abemama has an area of and a population of 3,299 . The islets surround a deep lagoon. The eastern part of ...

Tembinok' Tembinok', or Tem Binoka, (reigned 1878 – 10 November 1891) was the ''Uea'' (High Chief) of Abemama, Aranuka and Kuria, in the Gilbert Islands, during the late 19th century. Biography Tembinok'′s grandfather, Temkarotu (d. 1860), was ...

. The latter was driven out of Nonouti by a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

warship. The first Catholic missionaries were

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

-based Frenchmen, who arrived on the island of Nonouti, Gilbert Islands in the early 1880s and began translating texts and compiling dictionaries. The first priests in the Gilbert Islands, members of the

Missionaries of the Sacred Heart The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC; la, Missionarii Sacratissimi Cordis; french: Missionnaires du Sacré-Coeur) are a missionary congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1854 by Servant of God Jules Chevalier (182 ...

, left France in 1888 and arrived on Nonouti on 10 May 1888. They arrived to find quite a large number of Gilbertese who were already exposed to the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

. Many of the Gilbertese natives had been taken by blackbirders in the 1870s to work on plantations on other islands in the Pacific, where they were met by Protestant missionaries. Two of these laborers, Betero and Tiroi, returned to Nonouti and instructed the local people about Christianity. They built churches, where people assembled each Sunday to sing

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

s and recite prayers. At the time of the arrival of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Betero and Tiroi had already baptized 560 people and were instructing an additional 600. Close to where the first Catholic missionaries arrived in 1888, just behind the apse of the Catholic Church in Taboiaki village, are the six graves of important foreign missionaries and people to the Catholic Church. Opposite this Catholic Church is the biggest

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 impos ...

in Kiribati known as the Aake Maneaba. Nonouti Post Office opened around 1923.

Education

Currently there is one Christian senior high,

George Eastman High School George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Preside ...

."TABITEUEA NORTH 2008 Socio-Economic Profile
Part 2 of 4
''Strengthening Decentralized Governance in Kiribati Project '',

Ministry of Internal and Social Affairs (Kiribati) Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

. p. 48 (PDF p. 13/15)
Part 1 is here

References

from the Navy Art Gallery {{Authority control Gilbert Islands Atolls of Kiribati