GILBERT AND ELLICE. – A British colony (since 1915) comprising, in addition to the two archipelagos of the GILBERT ISLANDS (16 islands, situated astride the Equator: 400 sq. km with 28,000 inhabitants) and the ELLICE ISLANDS (9 southern islands: 36 sq. km with 3,555 inhabitants) and Ocean Island (56 sq. km with 2,744 inhabitants), which belong to Micronesia, the three islands of Christmas, Fanning, and Washington (altogether 662 sq. km with 334 inhabitants) of the Polynesian Sporades.
In 1937, eight coral islets known as the Phoenix Islands (61 sq. km with 62 inhabitants) were annexed to the colony; two of these (Canton and Enderbury) have been jointly administered by Great Britain and the United States since 1938. All the islands are coral atolls, except Ocean or Banaba, which is rich in phosphates. The population consists of indigenous Micronesians and Polynesians engaged in agriculture (tropical crops); the whites number only about 250. The colony is governed by a resident who is subordinate to the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific Islands.
APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF THE GILBERT ISLANDS. – In 1888 two priests 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. Previously they had belonged to the Apostolic Vicariate of Micronesia (v. RABAUL) and to them were annexed the Ellice Islands, Banaba, and Nauru.
The missionaries of the vicariate exercise their ministry in the Phoenix Islands, but the others—Howland, Palmyra, Fanning, Christmas, Jarvis—do not belong to II. The area of the 36 islands is about 500 sq. km, enclosed between the 165th meridian east and west and between the Equator 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 inhabitants are of Polynesian race, having come from Samoa between 1440 and 1500. Protestants preceded Catholics in the work of evangelization. Some islands have been declared closed to missionary work by the civil authorities.
The population is 40,000, of whom 14,050 are Catholics and 21,504 Protestants. Several still remain pagan. In addition (1949), there are 20 missionaries, 3 brothers, and 26 sisters; 130 catechists; 16 quasi-parishes; 99 secondary stations; 40 churches; 16 dispensaries; 125 elementary schools with 2,434 pupils; 2 secondary schools with 320 pupils; and 1 normal school with 42 pupils. A periodical is published with about 500 copies. The difficulties of communication between the various islands hinder a greater development of the mission.