Kiribati 1-CENT (KM1)¶
-
Reverse FRIGATEBIRD
-
Obverse Coat of Arms
- Composition
- Bronze
- Country
- Kiribati
- Approx. Size
- 17mm
- Area
- Oceania/Australia
- Animal Class
- Birds
- Species
- Frigatebird
- KM#
- 1
Kiribati's first coin issued features the Frigatebird, which is also featured on the country's coat of arms. It is likely either the Great Frigatebird or the Lesser Frigatebird, both of which are found in Kiribati. It is probably not the Christmas Island Frigatebird (as identified by the Krause catalogue) which is endemic to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean near Australia. (There is also a Christmas Island in Kiribati, which may have caused this confusion.)
Kiribati¶
- Area
- Oceania/Australia
Kiribati -- pronounced Kiribas -- is a country of about 32 atolls (coral islands) and one regular island situated around the equator in the Pacific Ocean. Although the country's land area is less than 800 sq.km, it is spread over more than 3,000,000 sq.km of ocean. The islands were occupied by a single Micronesian ethnic group for 2,000 years before Europeans arrived. Their language -- Gilbertese -- has no s and the sound is represented by the letters ti.In 1788, British captain Thomas Gilbert crossed the islands, and over 30 years later the islands were named the Gilbert Islands. They became a British protectorate in 1892 and a British colony in 1916. Autonomy was achieved in 1971, with full independence following in 1979. At this time, Kiribati obtained the western Phoenix islands and most of the Line islands from the United States. This resulted in the International Date Line dividing Kiribati between two different days, which is a difficult situation. In 1995, the Date Line was changed to jog around the islands, so they would all be included to the west of the line. This made Kiribati the eastern-most country in the world.
Unfortunately, Kiribati's days are numbered due to Global Warming. Two of the smaller islands disappeared underwater in 1999 and rising ocean levels are decreasing arable land due to increased soil salination. It is only a matter of time before Kiribati disappears beneath the ocean.
