Kiribati

Getting started with Republic of Kiribati research

The Republic of Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas) is an island nation covering a vast area of the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The islands straddling the equator and border the International Date Line to the east. North of Fiji and southwest of Hawaii.
Kiribati was formerly known as the Gilbert Islands and was named after the British Captain Thomas Gilbert, who sighted the islands in 1788. The name Kiribati is derived from the local pronunciation of "Gilberts".

Kiribati consists of about 32 atolls and one island, Banaba. The groups of islands being:

• Banaba (or Ocean Island): an isolated volcanic island between Nauru and the Gilbert Islands
• Gilbert Islands: made up of 16 atolls located some 930 miles (1,500 km) north of Fiji.
• Line Islands: made up of 8 atolls and one reef, located about 2,050 miles (3,300 km) east of the Gilbert Islands. These include Kirisimati, or Christmas Island, which is the largest coral atoll.
• Phoenix Islands: made up of 8 atolls and coral islands located some 1,100 miles (1,800 km) south-east of the Gilbert Islands.

The population in 1995 was about 80,000.

Jurisdictions

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Research Tools

Family History Library Catalog
Microfilms from the LDS Family History Library can be viewed at Family History Centers near where you live.

• Nationwide Kiribati sources.
• Individual island sources.

Records Available

• Civil registration (birth, marriage and death records) began in 1898.
• Land records and land court records are microfilmed from 1948-1991.
• Some genealogies go back 16 generations.

Web sites

• Pacific Island Guide to Family History Research (Wiki article click here)
• Micronesia Genealogy Project for Kiribati
• The Parliament of Kiribati
• The Phoenix Islands
• (helpful tools and resources, gazetteers)
• (language dictionary, handwriting guide or tutorial, etc.)

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