| Year
|
Event
|
| 1300's |
Islands settled from Samoa, Fiji and Tonga |
| 1537 |
Christmas Island sighted by Spanish explorers |
| 1606 |
Pedro Fernández Quirós (Spain) discovers Butaritari |
| 1765 |
Commodore John Byron (Britain) reaches Nikunau |
| 1777 |
Capt. James Cook visits, names Christmas Island Dec. 25 |
| 1788 |
Capts. Thomas Gilbert and John Marshall sail through islands,
sight Tarawa and Aranuka |
| ~1820 |
Gilbert Islands named for Gilbert by Russian hydrographer Adam Krusenstern |
| 1820 |
American and British whalers operate in Kiribati waters through 1870 |
| 1837 |
First Europeans settle in the islands |
| 1838 |
United States Exploring Expedition charts islands, whaling areas through 1842
|
| 1857 |
Rev. Hiram Bingham establishes American Protestant mission on Abaiang
|
| 1877 |
Britain establishes High Commission for the Western Pacific
|
| 1888 |
Catholic priests first come to the islands
|
| 1888 |
Britain annexes Christmas, Fanning and Washington Islands
|
| 1892 |
Capt. E.H.M. Davis (Britain) proclaims a protectorate over the Gilberts
|
| 1900 |
Britain annexes Banaba
|
| 1916 |
Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate becomes British Crown Colony
|
| 1917 |
American missions are replaced by London Missionary Society
|
| 1919 |
Christmas Island added to Gilbert & Ellice Islands Colony
|
| 1937 |
Phoenix Islands added to Gilbert & Ellice Islands Colony
|
| 1942 |
Japanese occupy major islands through Nov. 1943
|
| 1946 |
Banabans resettled on the island of Rabi in Fiji to allow continued mining
|
| 1962 |
U.S. conducts nuclear tests on Christmas Island
|
| 1967 |
Marine training school begins training seamen
|
| 1972 |
All but three Line Islands join colony
|
| 1976 |
Ellice Islands secede from colony to become Tuvalu
|
| 1977 |
Kiribati becomes self-governing Jan. 1
|
| 1977 |
Cholera outbreak accelerates water and sewage projects
|
| 1978 |
Tuvalu gains independence
|
| 1979 |
Phosphate deposits on Banaba exhausted
|
| 1979 |
Kiribati gains independence Jul. 12
|
| 1979 |
Ieremia Tebai becomes first President of the Republic of Kiribati
|
| 1979 |
Christmas Island, renamed Kiritimati Atoll, becomes part of Kiribati
|
| 1979 |
Kiribati signs Treaty of Friendship with U.S.
|
| 1981 |
Direct phone link to Australia established
|
| 1982 |
Ieremia Tebai reelected President in May
|
| 1982 |
Ieremia Tebai fails no-confidence vote in Dec., Parliament dissolved
|
| 1983 |
U.S. Senate ratifies Treaty of Friendship, ceding all claims to Line and Phoenix Groups
|
| 1983 |
Ieremia Tebai reelected President in Feb.
|
| 1985 |
Satellite link to Australia established
|
| 1985 |
Signs Raratonga Agreement declaring South Pacific Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone
|
| 1985 |
Signs one-year fishing agreement with U.S.S.R., not renewed
|
| 1985 |
Christian Democratic Party founded in response to U.S.S.R. treaty
|
| 1985 |
Project to extract salt through evaporation begun
|
| 1987 |
Ieremia Tebai reelected President in May
|
| 1987 |
Japanese explore building space launch facility on Kiritimati, investing $8 billion
|
| 1991 |
Teatao Teannaki elected President
|
SOURCES: Academic American Encyclopedia, 1993; Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1989;
Encyclopedia Americana, 1993; Encyclopedia of World Cultures, 1991; Oceania, 1984;
World Book Encyclopedia, 1994; Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations: Asia &
Oceania, 1988.
