North Tabiteuea is a local council in
Tabiteuea,
Kiribati
Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),[Kiribati]
''The Wor ...
.
North Tabiteuea (in
Gilbertese
Gilbertese or taetae ni Kiribati, also Kiribati (sometimes ''Kiribatese''), is an Austronesian language spoken mainly in Kiribati. It belongs to the Micronesian branch of the Oceanic languages.
The word ''Kiribati'', the current name of the i ...
, ''Tabiteuea Meang'') has a land area of and a population of 4,120 , distributed among twelve villages (capital
Utiroa).
On 1 July 1799, Charles Bishop and George Bass entered the Tabiteuea lagoon, while many pirogues approached the brig ''
Nautilus
The nautilus (, ) is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina.
It comprises six living species in ...
''. Bishop named it Bishop's Island, and named , Drummond's Island.
During the
United States 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 ...
, April 1841, the American captain
William L. Hudson arrived at Tabiteuea, then known as Drummond's Island. Because a crew member who went ashore was missing for no reason, reprisals were decided: at least twenty of the inhabitants were killed by the Americans.
Utiroa was set on fire and the maneaba destroyed, during the
Battle of Drummond's Island.
The Catholic bishop
Octave Terrienne moved the seat of the apostolic vicariate of the Gilbert and Ellice islands to
Tanaeang in today's North Tabiteuea, instead of
Ocean Island, then the capital of the colony.
References
Gilbert Islands
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