Gilbert and Ellice Islands

GILBERT AND ELLICE ISLANDS. - British colony (since 1915), comprising, besides the two archipelagos of the G. (16 islands, situated astride the equator: 400 sq km with 28,000 inhabitants) and of the E. (9 southern islands: 36 sq km with 3,555 inhabitants) and Ocean Island (56 sq km with 2,744 inhabitants) belonging to Micronesia, the three islands of Christmas, Fanning and Washington (in all 662 sq km with 334 inhabitants) of the Polynesian Sporades.

In 1937 the 8 madreporic islets known as the Phoenix Islands (61 sq km with 62 inhabitants) were annexed to the colony, two of which (Canton and Enderbury) were controlled after 1938 jointly by Great Britain and the United States. All the islands are coral atolls, except Ocean or Banaba, which is very rich in phosphates. The population consists of Micronesian and Polynesian natives, devoted to agriculture (tropical crops); the whites number barely 250. The colony is governed by a resident, who depends on the high commissioner of the Western Pacific Islands.

APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of the GILBERT ISLANDS

In 1888 two fathers of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart went to the Gilbert Islands, which were erected into an apostolic vicariate on 28 July 1897. They previously belonged to the apostolic vicariate of Micronesia (v. RABAUL) and to them were annexed the Ellice Islands, Banaba and Nauru.

In the Phoenix Islands the missionaries of the vicariate exercise their ministry, but the others, Howland, Palmyra, Fanning, Christmas, Jarvis, do not belong to it. The area of the 36 islands is about 500 sq km, enclosed between the 165th meridian east and the 165th west and between the 5th parallel north and the 11th parallel south. The region is equatorial and arid, with few resources. The island of Tarawa is the seat of the Ordinary and of the civil administration. The Gilbertese are of the Polynesian race, having come from Samoa between 1440 and 1500. The Protestants preceded the Catholics in the work of evangelization. Some islands have been declared closed to the apostolate following orders of the civil authority.

The inhabitants number 40,000, of whom 14,050 are Catholics and 21,504 Protestants. Several are still pagans. Moreover (1949) there are 20 missionaries, 3 brothers and 26 sisters. Catechists 130; quasi-parishes 16; secondary stations 99; churches 40; dispensaries 16; elementary schools 125 with 2,434 pupils; middle schools 2 with 320 pupils, normal schools 1 with 42 pupils. A periodical is published there with about 500 copies. The difficulties of communication between the various islands prevent a greater development of the mission.

Saverio Paventi