Gilbert Islands
Colony of Gilbert Islands | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976–1979 | |||||||||
| Anthem: "God Save the King" | |||||||||
| Status | Colony of the United Kingdom | ||||||||
| Capital | South Tarawa | ||||||||
| Common languages | English, Gilbertese | ||||||||
| Monarch | |||||||||
• 1976–1979 | Elizabeth II | ||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||
• 1976–1978 | John Hilary Smith | ||||||||
• 1978–1979 | Reginald James Wallace | ||||||||
| Chief Minister | |||||||||
• 1978–1979 | Ieremia Tabai | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Colony | 1 January 1976 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 12 July 1979 | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1978 | 56,213 | ||||||||
| Currency | Australian dollar | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Kiribati | ||||||||
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The Gilbert Islands (Gilbertese: Tungaru; formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill Islands) are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Papua New Guinea and Hawaii. They constitute the main part of the country of Kiribati (the name of which is a rendering of "Gilberts" in the phonology of the indigenous Gilbertese).