Nauru

Nauru was first inhabited by Micronesians and Polynesians at least 3,000 years ago. It was annexed and claimed as a colony by the German Empire in the late 19th century. It gained its independence in 1968, and became a member of the Pacific Community in 1969. It accepted aid from the Australian Government from 2001 to 2008, and again from 2012.

About Nauru in brief

Summary Nauru Nauru is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. It is the third-smallest country in the world behind Vatican City, and Monaco, making it the smallest republic. Its population of 10,670 is the world’s second smallest, after Vatican City. Nauru was first inhabited by Micronesians and Polynesians at least 3,000 years ago. It was annexed and claimed as a colony by the German Empire in the late 19th century. It gained its independence in 1968, and became a member of the Pacific Community in 1969. It accepted aid from the Australian Government from 2001 to 2008, and again from 2012, in exchange for hosting the controversial offshore Australian immigration detention facility. Some sources have identified NaurU as a client state of Australia. It lies northwest of Tuvalu, 1,300 km northeast of the Solomon Islands, east-northeast of Papua New Guinea, southeast of the Federated States of Micronesia and south of the Marshall Islands. The name may derive from the Nauruan word Anáoero, which means ‘I go to the beach’. In 1798, the British sea captain John Fearn, on his trading ship Hunter, became the first Westerner to report sighting Naurus. The islanders traded food for alcoholic palm wine and firearms. There were traditionally 12 clans or tribes on Nauran, which are represented in the twelve-pointed star on the country’s flag. The last whaler to call during the age of sail visited in 1904.

Around this time, deserters from European ships began to live on the island. After an agreement with Great Britain, Naurum was annexed by Germany in 1888 and incorporated into Germany’s Marshall Islands Protectorate for administrative purposes. In 1907, Nauuru was captured by Australian troops under the Allied Powers. In 1914, following the outbreak of World War I, it was agreed that it should be administering its first shipment of Phosphate by His Majesty His Majesty the Queen. The first shipment was exported in 1907. The phosphate reserves were exhausted, and the island’s environment had been seriously harmed by mining, the trust that had been established to manage the island’s wealth diminished in value. The most widely known or widely known name for the island is ‘Nawodo’ or ‘Onawero’. In 1888, German settlers arrived from the Gilbert Islands and ruled the island for almost three decades. In 1890, a German trader married a woman, who was the first administrator, appointed in 1890. The German settlers called the island “Nauruan” or “Onowero”. During World War II, the island was occupied by Japanese troops, and was bypassed by the Allied advance across the Pacific. After the war ended, the country entered into United Nations trusteeship. In 1998, the U.N. trusteeship was replaced by the League of Nations mandate administered by Australia, New Zealand and the UK.