Gilbert and Ellice Islands

The Gilbert and Ellice Islands was a British territory in the southern Pacific Ocean that existed from 1892 to 1976. The Gilbert Islands, now Kiribati, and the Ellice Islands, now Tuvalu, became British protectorates in 1892 under the Western Pacific High Commission. A resident commissioner administered the islands from Tarawa until 1908 and then from Ocean Island, where phosphate mining became economically important. In 1916 the protectorate was converted into a Crown colony, and outlying parts of the Line and Phoenix Islands were added. Japan occupied most of the Gilbert Islands during the Second World War, and the battles of Tarawa and Makin were among the costliest in the Pacific. After the war, the British resumed administration and introduced a new constitution in 1967, followed by self-government in 1972. Tension between the Gilbertese majority and the Tuvaluan minority led to a 1974 referendum in which the Ellice Islands voted for separation. The colony was divided in 1976, and Kiribati and Tuvalu became independent in 1979 and 1978 respectively.