Kiribati with the capital city South Tarawa is located in Oceania (Oceania, group of 33 coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean). It covers some 811 square kilometres (four times the size of Washington, DC) with 110,000 citizens.

About the flag and history of Kiribati

The upper half is red with a yellow frigatebird flying over a yellow rising sun, and the lower half is blue with three horizontal wavy white stripes to represent the Pacific ocean; the white stripes represent the three island groups - the Gilbert, Line, and Phoenix Islands; the 17 rays of the sun represent the 16 Gilbert Islands and Banaba (formerly Ocean Island); the frigatebird symbolizes authority and freedom.

The Gilbert Islands became a British protectorate in 1892 and a colony in 1915; they were captured by the Japanese in the Pacific War in 1941. The islands of Makin and Tarawa were the sites of major US amphibious victories over entrenched Japanese garrisons in 1943. The Gilbert Islands were granted self-rule by the UK in 1971 and complete independence in 1979 under the new name of Kiribati. The US relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited Phoenix and Line Island groups in a 1979 treaty of friendship with Kiribati.

National administrative regions of Kiribati

• Gilbert Islands
• Line Islands
• Phoenix Islands

Geography Quick-Facts

List of current world heritage sites