The Republic of Kiribati, so established in 1979, has been inhabited for millennia by the Micronesian I-Kiritati, who have in turn been introduced to Melanesian, Polynesian, British, Southeast Asian, and many other cultures and influences through the centuries. Called the Gilbert and Ellice Islands by the British (Gilbert for the explorer Thomas Gilbert who sighted many of the islands in the late 1780s) (the Ellice Islands would later become Tuvalu), Kiribati (the Gilbertese rendering of Gilberts) stretches across 1.3 million square miles of equatorial Pacific, many of the islands floating just above sea level. Read J. Maarten Troost’s The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific to learn more about Kiribati. And also just to read a great book.
Stamp details: Top left: Issued on: February 11, 1911 From: Banaba, Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate MC #8
Top right: Issued in: 1916 From: Banaba, Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony MC #15
Second row: Issued on: May 26, 1975 From: Tarawa, Gilbert and Ellice Islands MC #BL2
Third row: Issued on: January 2, 1976 From: Tarawa, Gilbert Islands MC #262
Fourth row: Issued on: October 4, 1979 From: South Tarawa, Republic of Kiribati MC #BL6
Stamps on bottom: Issued on: November 1, 2018 From: South Tarawa, Republic of Kiribati Colnect #2018-02SS
Recognized as a sovereign state by the UN: Yes (since September 14, 1999) Official name: Republic of Kiribati; Ribaberiki Kiribati Member of the Universal Postal Union: Yes (since August 14, 1984)
