Kiribati - Historical Timeline - Orbitrock

2025 - The state pursues a long-term adaptation and land-use plan for South Tarawa congestion and outer-island resilience; fisheries value-addition, renewables for outer clinics and schools, and skills-to-migration pathways underpin incomes. Diplomacy centers on loss-and-damage, maritime security, and fair tuna access, while communities push practical water harvesting, elevating homes/roads, and preserving cultural ties to land and sea.

2024 - Intensified coastal-protection, freshwater, and housing programs respond to king-tide flooding and drought cycles; climate-finance packages and fisheries-reform roadmaps advance. Work continues on safe-boats policy, inter-island communications, and health evacuation capacity refined after the ferry tragedy and the pandemic.

2023 - Kiribati re-enters the Pacific Islands Forum after high-level reconciliation. Government signals changes to PIPA management (including reopening parts to tuna fishing for equity and revenue), igniting debate between conservation aims and national development priorities.

2022 - First community COVID-19 outbreak follows a repatriation flight; lockdowns and vaccination drives roll out nationwide. Kiribati withdraws from the Pacific Islands Forum amid regional leadership grievances, sparking diplomatic repair efforts.

2021 - Maamau is re-elected; stringent COVID-19 border controls keep the virus out for much of the year but hit tourism and travel-dependent incomes; repatriations proceed in phases.

2020 - Maamau is re-elected; stringent COVID-19 border controls keep the virus out for much of the year but hit tourism and travel-dependent incomes; repatriations proceed in phases.

2019 - Kiribati switches diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to the People's Republic of China, reshaping aid, infrastructure plans, and fisheries cooperation.

2018 - The MV Butiraoi ferry disaster claims more than 80 lives between Nonouti and South Tarawa, prompting maritime-safety inquiries, fleet standards reviews, and emergency-response upgrades.

2016 - Taneti Maamau is elected president, emphasizing livelihoods, fisheries revenue, and infrastructure. Former president Teatao Teannaki dies (major political death), closing a chapter in early independence leadership.

2015 - No-take rules come into force across PIPA as Paris-era climate diplomacy peaks; outer-island water tanks, causeways, and coastal-protection pilots scale up with partners.

2014 - The government purchases 5,000+ acres on Vanua Levu (Fiji) to bolster long-term food security and climate contingency planning.

2010 - PIPA is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, anchoring science partnerships and blue-economy ambitions.

2008 - Creation of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA)—then one of the world's largest marine protected areas—signals leadership on ocean conservation.

2003 - Anote Tong wins the presidency; launches the "Migration with Dignity" strategy (skills, education) while pressing global forums on sea-level rise, water security, and disaster risk.

1999 - Kiribati joins the United Nations, elevating its advocacy on oceans, climate, and atoll livelihoods.

1995 - Kiribati shifts the International Date Line eastward to place the entire country on the same calendar day; the far-eastern Caroline Island is later dubbed "Millennium Island" to welcome the first sunrise of 2000.

1994 - Teburoro Tito becomes president amid debates over fiscal prudence, localization of senior posts, and outer-island services.

1980 - Nation-building on a shoestring: a national airline and shipping links improve; scholarships create a public-service cadre; remittances (seafarers, overseas workers) become a lifeline alongside copra and tuna licensing.

1979 - Independence (12 July): the Republic of Kiribati is born with Ieremia Tabai as the first president. A friendship treaty with the United States settles old guano-era claims and clarifies maritime boundaries; Kiribati enters the Commonwealth.

1975 - The Ellice Islands vote to separate (becoming Tuvalu in 1978), foreshadowing the Gilberts' own path to statehood.

1970 - Copra and public service employment anchor household cash; phosphate revenues fund colonial budgets and scholarships, while outer-island out-migration to South Tarawa begins to quicken.

1950 - Copra and public service employment anchor household cash; phosphate revenues fund colonial budgets and scholarships, while outer-island out-migration to South Tarawa begins to quicken.

1945 - The oceanic phosphate island of Banaba (Ocean Island)—mined for decades by the British Phosphate Commission—sees the mass relocation of Banabans to Rabi Island (Fiji) after wartime displacement and environmental damage, inaugurating long legal and moral claims for redress.

1943 - World War II reaches the atolls: Japanese forces occupy parts of the Gilberts; The Battle of Tarawa (Betio Islet) is fought at immense cost, becoming a turning point in the Central Pacific campaign and leaving deep local scars.

1941 - World War II reaches the atolls: Japanese forces occupy parts of the Gilberts; The Battle of Tarawa (Betio Islet) is fought at immense cost, becoming a turning point in the Central Pacific campaign and leaving deep local scars.

1916 - Protectorate becomes the Colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands; colonial administration, schools, and health posts expand unevenly across dispersed atolls.

1892 - Britain proclaims the Protectorate of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, formalizing external rule while leaving most village life to traditional councils.

1892 - Intensifying whaling, copra trade, and missions bring new diseases, firearms, and Christianity; local hierarchies adapt to cash crops and outside labor recruiters.

1820 - Intensifying whaling, copra trade, and missions bring new diseases, firearms, and Christianity; local hierarchies adapt to cash crops and outside labor recruiters.