History of Nauru
The history of Nauru has been intrinsicly linked with the extraction of phosphate. The island was colonized by the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and Japan, before gaining independence in 1968.
Early history
The first Nauruans were Polynesian and Melanesian explorers. In 1798 John Fearn, a British captain of the whaling ship 'Hunter', became the first European to land on the island, naming it Pleasant Island.
Nauru had little contact with the outside world until whaling ships and other traders began to visit in the 1830s.
The whole island was governed by kings. When the Europeans, especially the Germans, came to Nauru, a local chieftain called Auweyida was the king of the land. He kept to be Nauru's king, although the Europeans took over-hand.
European Control
In the nineteenth century the first Europeans came to Nauru. Many Nauruans blame the Europeans for breaking up the social structure of the island with its traditional 12 tribes. A ten-year internal war reduced the population from 1400 to 900.
The 1886 Anglo-German Convention led to the annexation of Nauru by Germany in 1888. In around 1899, the massive phosphate resources on the island were discovered. Beginning in 1906, the Pacific Phosphate Company started exploitation of the rock.
In 1914 Australia took control of Nauru. Then Britain held control until 1920, when the League of Nations gave Britain, Australia and New Zealand a Trustee Mandate over the territory. The British Phosphate Commissioners (BPC) were given the rights to phosphate mining.
Japanese Occupation
In 1942 the Japanese occupied Nauru. The native Nauruans were badly treated by the occupying forces. One one occasion 49 leprosy sufferers were reputedly loaded on to boats which were towed out to sea and sunk. In 1943 some 1200 Nauruans were taken by Truk (now Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia) as slave labourers.
On January 1, 1946 with Micronesia now under American control, the 800-odd Nauruans still surviving were returned to Nauru on a BPC ship 'Trienza'. During the post-war period, Nauru was administered by Australia as a UN Trust Territory.
Independence
On January 31, 1968 Nauru became an the world's smallest independent republic. Phosphate rights were acquired from Britain in 1970. Money gained from the exploitation of phosphate gave Nauruans one of the highest living standards in the Pacific.
Modern-day Nauru
By the close of the twentieth century, the phosphate supplies were fast running out. Nauru finally joined the UN in 1999.
In 2001, Nauru was brought to world attention by the saga of the MS Tampa, a Norwegian cargo ship at the centre of a diplomatic dispute between Australia, Norway and Indonesia. The ship carried asylum seekers, hailing primarily from Afghanistan, who were rescued while attempting to reach Australia. After much debate many of the immigrants were transported to Nauru, an arrangement known in Australia as the "Pacific Solution." Shortly thereafter, the Nauruan government closed its borders to most international visitors, preventing outside observers from monitoring the refugees' condition.
In December of 2003, several dozen of these refugees, in protest of the conditions of their detention on Nauru, began a hunger strike. The hunger strike was concluded in early January 2004 when an Australian medical team agreed to visit the island.
- See also : Nauru, King Auweyida, NPC
External Link
- Timeline BBC News