Tamana (also Rotcher Island) is the smallest island in the

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 ...

. It is accessible both by boat and by air with

Air Kiribati Air Kiribati (pronounced Air Kiri'bas) is the flag carrier of the Republic of Kiribati and operates scheduled passenger services to 20 atolls spread over an area of 3.5m sq km. It is headquartered at Bonriki International Airport on the island o ...

and

Coral Sun Airways Coral Sun Airways is the younger of two Kiribati airlines (after flag carrier Air Kiribati), established in January 2009. The airline operated domestic service to all 17 airports in the Gilbert Islands, but stopped any regular service and offers on ...

(once a week;

Tamana Airport Tamana Airport is the airport serving Tamana, Kiribati. The airport is served by Air Kiribati from Tabiteuea North, which is connected directly with the international airport at South Tarawa, but lands at Tamana too on its way from Arorae ba ...

code: TMN). 1,054 people live in Tamana (2020 census). Tamana is the second southernmost island in the Gilbert group and the smallest inhabited island in Kiribati. The island is approximately in length, at its widest point, and has a total land area of . Tamana is a

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

island with no lagoon. The Island Council is located at Bakaakaa, the central village of the island and this is also where the rest of the Government facilities are located such as the CB radio for inter-island communication, the hardware store, and the fuel depot. The schools (Primary and JSS) and the Medical facilities are also located in the same village.

Myths and legends

The name Tamana is understood to mean ‘his/her father’; although in some myths it is understood to mean ‘a stronghold or strong place, or original settlement’.

History

In 1606, Spanish explorers became the first Europeans to discover the island. Tamana in September 1942 was the southernmost island touched by the

Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands The Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands was the period in the history of Kiribati between 1941 and 1945 when Imperial Japanese forces occupied the Gilbert Islands during World War II, in the Pacific War theatre. From 1941 to 1943, Imper ...

but Japanese troops did not occupy the atoll. Tamana Post Office opened around 1915.

Notes

References

Exhibit: The Alfred Agate Collection: The United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842
from the Navy Art Gallery Gilbert Islands Islands of Kiribati Coral islands {{Kiribati-geo-stub