![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/08\/Tuvalu-on-the-Globe-1-300x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were\u00a0Polynesians<\/a>, according to well-established theories regarding a\u00a0migration of Polynesians into the Pacific<\/a>\u00a0that began about three thousand years ago.<\/sup>\u00a0Long before European contact with the Pacific islands, Polynesians frequently voyaged by canoe between the islands.\u00a0Their navigation<\/a>\u00a0skills enabled them to make elaborately planned journeys in either double-hulled sailing canoes or\u00a0outrigger canoes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scholars believe that the Polynesians spread out from\u00a0Samoa<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Tonga<\/a>\u00a0into the Tuvaluan atolls, which then served as a stepping stone for further migration into the\u00a0Polynesian outliers<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Melanesia<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Micronesia<\/a>.<\/sup><\/p>\n In 1568, Spanish navigator\u00a0\u00c1lvaro de Menda\u00f1a<\/a>\u00a0became the first European to sail through the archipelago, sighting the island of\u00a0Nui<\/a>\u00a0during an expedition he was making in search of\u00a0Terra Australis<\/a>. The island of\u00a0Funafuti<\/a>\u00a0was named Ellice’s Island in 1819. Later, after the work of English hydrographer\u00a0Alexander George Findlay<\/a>, the name Ellice began to be applied to the whole nine-island group. In the late 19th century, Great Britain claimed control over the Ellice Islands, designating them as within their sphere of influence as the result of a treaty between Great Britain and Germany that demarcated their respective spheres of influence in the Pacific Ocean.<\/sup>\u00a0Between 9 and 16 October 1892, Captain Gibson of\u00a0HMS\u00a0Curacoa<\/i><\/a>\u00a0declared each of the Ellice Islands to be a\u00a0British Protectorate<\/a>. Britain assigned a\u00a0resident commissioner<\/a>\u00a0to administer the Ellice Islands as part of the\u00a0British Western Pacific Territories<\/a>\u00a0(BWPT). From 1916 to 1975, they were managed as part of the\u00a0Gilbert and Ellice Islands<\/a>\u00a0colony.<\/p>\n A\u00a0referendum was held in 1974<\/a>\u00a0to determine whether the Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands should each have their own administration. Due to the results of the referendum, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony legally ceased to exist on 1 October 1975, and on 1 January 1976, the old administration was officially separated,<\/sup>\u00a0and two separate British colonies,\u00a0Kiribati<\/a>\u00a0and Tuvalu, were formed. On 1 October 1978, Tuvalu became fully independent as a\u00a0sovereign state<\/a>\u00a0within the\u00a0Commonwealth<\/a>. On 5 September 2000, Tuvalu became the\u00a0189th member of the United Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n The\u00a0origins of the people of Tuvalu<\/a>\u00a0are addressed in the theories regarding the migration into the Pacific that began about 3000 years ago. During pre-European-contact times, there was frequent canoe voyaging between the nearer islands including Samoa and\u00a0Tonga<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Eight of the nine islands of Tuvalu were inhabited. This explains the origin of the name, Tuvalu, which means “eight standing together” in\u00a0Tuvaluan<\/a>\u00a0(compare to\u00a0*walo<\/i>\u00a0meaning “eight” in\u00a0Proto-Austronesian<\/a>). Possible evidence of human-made fires in the\u00a0Caves of Nanumanga<\/a>\u00a0suggests humans may have occupied the islands for thousands of years.<\/p>\n An important\u00a0creation myth in the islands of Tuvalu<\/a>\u00a0is the story of the\u00a0te Pusi mo te Ali<\/i>\u00a0(the Eel and the Flounder), who are said to have created the\u00a0islands of Tuvalu<\/a>.\u00a0Te Ali<\/i>\u00a0(the\u00a0flounder<\/a>) is believed to be the origin of the flat\u00a0atolls<\/a>\u00a0of Tuvalu and the\u00a0te Pusin<\/i>\u00a0(the Eel) is the model for the\u00a0coconut<\/a>\u00a0palms that are important in the lives of Tuvaluans. The stories of the ancestors of the Tuvaluans vary from island to island. On\u00a0Niutao<\/a>,<\/sup>\u00a0Funafuti and\u00a0Vaitupu<\/a>, for instance, the founding ancestor is described as being from Samoa,\u00a0whereas on\u00a0Nanumea<\/a>, the founding ancestor is described as being from\u00a0Tonga<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tuvalu was first sighted by Europeans on 16 January 1568, during the voyage of\u00a0\u00c1lvaro de Menda\u00f1a<\/a>\u00a0from Spain, who sailed past\u00a0Nui<\/a>\u00a0and charted it as\u00a0Isla de Jes\u00fas<\/i>\u00a0(Spanish for “Island of Jesus”) because the previous day was the feast of the\u00a0Holy Name<\/a>. Menda\u00f1a made contact with the islanders but was unable to land.<\/sup>\u00a0During Menda\u00f1a’s second voyage across the Pacific, he passed\u00a0Niulakita<\/a>\u00a0on 29 August 1595, which he named\u00a0La Solitaria<\/i>.<\/sup><\/p>\n Captain\u00a0John Byron<\/a>\u00a0passed through the islands of Tuvalu in 1764, during his circumnavigation of the globe as captain of the\u00a0Dolphin<\/i>\u00a0(1751)<\/span><\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0He charted the atolls as\u00a0Lagoon Islands<\/i>. Keith S. Chambers and Doug Munro (1980) identified\u00a0Niutao<\/a>\u00a0as the island that\u00a0Francisco Mourelle de la R\u00faa<\/a>\u00a0sailed past on 5 May 1781, thus solving what Europeans had called\u00a0The Mystery of Gran Cocal<\/i>.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0Mourelle’s map and journal named the island\u00a0El Gran Cocal<\/i>\u00a0(‘The Great Coconut Plantation’); however, the latitude and longitude was uncertain.<\/sup>\u00a0Longitude could be reckoned only crudely at the time, as accurate\u00a0chronometers<\/a>\u00a0did not become available until the late 18th century.<\/p>\n The next European to visit was American Arent Schuyler de Peyster, of New York, captain of the armed\u00a0brigantine<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0privateer<\/a>\u00a0Rebecca<\/i>, sailing under British colors.\u00a0He passed through the southern Tuvaluan waters in May 1819. De Peyster sighted\u00a0Nukufetau<\/a>\u00a0and Funafuti, which he named Ellice’s Island after an English politician,\u00a0Edward Ellice<\/a>, the Member of Parliament for Coventry and the owner of the\u00a0Rebecca<\/i>‘<\/span>s cargo.\u00a0The name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English\u00a0hydrographer<\/a>\u00a0Alexander George Findlay<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 1820, the Russian explorer\u00a0Mikhail Lazarev<\/a>\u00a0visited Nukufetau as commander of the\u00a0Mirny<\/a><\/i>.\u00a0Louis Isidore Duperrey<\/a>, captain of\u00a0La Coquille<\/i><\/a>, sailed past\u00a0Nanumanga<\/a>\u00a0in May 1824 during a circumnavigation of the earth (1822\u20131825).<\/sup>\u00a0A Dutch expedition (the frigate\u00a0Maria Reigersberg<\/i>) found\u00a0Nui<\/a>\u00a0on the morning of 14 June 1825, and named the main island (Fenua Tapu<\/a>) as\u00a0Nederlandsch Eiland<\/i>.<\/p>\n Whalers<\/a>\u00a0began roving the Pacific, although they visited Tuvalu only infrequently because of the difficulties of landing on the atolls. The American Captain George Barrett of the\u00a0Nantucket<\/a>\u00a0whaler\u00a0Independence II<\/i> has been identified as the first whaler to hunt the waters around Tuvalu. He bartered coconuts from the people of\u00a0Nukulaelae<\/a>\u00a0in November 1821, and also visited\u00a0Niulakita<\/a>.\u00a0He established a shore camp on\u00a0Sakalua<\/a>\u00a0islet of\u00a0Nukufetau<\/a>, where coal was used to melt down the whale blubber.<\/p>\n For less than a year between 1862 and 1863, Peruvian ships engaged in the so-called “blackbirding<\/a>” trade, by which they recruited or impressed workers, combed the smaller islands of\u00a0Polynesia<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Easter Island<\/a> in the eastern Pacific to Tuvalu and the southern atolls of the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati). They sought recruits to fill the extreme labor shortage in Peru. <\/sup>While some islanders were voluntary recruits, the “blackbirders” were notorious for enticing islanders on to ships with tricks, such as pretending to be Christian missionaries, as well as kidnapping islanders at gunpoint. The Rev. A. W. Murray, the earliest European missionary in Tuvalu, reported that in 1863 about 170 people were taken from Funafuti and about 250 were taken from Nukulaelae,\u00a0as there were fewer than 100 of the 300 recorded in 1861 as living on Nukulaelae.<\/p>\n Christianity came to Tuvalu in 1861 when\u00a0Elekana<\/a>, a deacon of a\u00a0Congregational church<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Manihiki<\/a>,\u00a0Cook Islands<\/a>, became caught in a storm and drifted for eight weeks before landing at Nukulaelae on 10 May 1861.\u00a0Elekana began\u00a0preaching<\/a>\u00a0Christianity. He was trained at\u00a0Malua<\/a>\u00a0Theological College, a\u00a0London Missionary Society<\/a>\u00a0(LMS) school in Samoa, before beginning his work in establishing the\u00a0Church of Tuvalu<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 1865, the Rev. A. W. Murray of the LMS, a\u00a0Protestant<\/a> congregationalist missionary society, arrived as the first European missionary; he also evangelized among the inhabitants of Tuvalu. By 1878 Protestantism was considered well established, as there were preachers on each island.\u00a0In the later 19th and early 20th centuries, the ministers of what became the\u00a0Church of Tuvalu<\/a>\u00a0(Te Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu<\/i>) were predominantly Samoans, who influenced the development of the\u00a0Tuvaluan language<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0music of Tuvalu<\/a>.<\/p>\n The islands came into Britain’s sphere of influence in the late 19th century, when each of the Ellice Islands was declared a\u00a0British protectorate<\/a>\u00a0by Captain Gibson of\u00a0HMS\u00a0Curacoa<\/i><\/a>, between 9 and 16 October 1892.<\/p>\n Trading companies became active in Tuvalu in the mid-19th century; the trading companies engaged\u00a0palagi<\/a>\u00a0traders who lived on the islands. John (also known as Jack) O’Brien was the first European to settle in Tuvalu; he became a trader on Funafuti in the 1850s. He married Salai, the daughter of the paramount chief of Funafuti.\u00a0Louis Becke<\/a>, who later found success as a writer, was a trader on\u00a0Nanumanga<\/a>\u00a0from April 1880 until the trading station was destroyed later that year in a\u00a0cyclone<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0He then became a trader on\u00a0Nukufetau<\/a>.<\/sup><\/p>\n In 1892, Captain Davis of\u00a0HMS\u00a0Royalist<\/i><\/a>\u00a0reported on trading activities and traders on each of the islands visited. Captain Davis identified the following traders in the Ellice Group: Edmund Duffy (Nanumea<\/a>);\u00a0Jack Buckland<\/a>\u00a0(Niutao<\/a>); Harry Nitz (Vaitupu<\/a>); Jack O’Brien (Funafuti);\u00a0Alfred Restieaux<\/a>\u00a0and Emile Fenisot (Nukufetau<\/a>); and\u00a0Martin Kleis<\/a>\u00a0(Nui<\/a>).\u00a0During this time, the greatest number of palagi traders lived on the atolls, acting as agents for the trading companies. Some islands would have competing traders, while dryer islands might only have a single trader.<\/sup><\/p>\n In the later 1890s and into first decade of the 20th century, structural changes occurred in the operation of the Pacific trading companies; they moved from a practice of having traders resident on each island to instead becoming a business operation where the\u00a0supercargo<\/a>\u00a0(the cargo manager of a trading ship) would deal directly with the islanders when a ship visited an island. From 1900, the numbers of palagi traders in Tuvalu declined; the last of them were\u00a0Fred Whibley<\/a>\u00a0on Niutao,\u00a0Alfred Restieaux<\/a>\u00a0on Nukufetau, and\u00a0Martin Kleis<\/a>\u00a0on Nui.<\/sup> By 1909 there were no more resident palagi traders representing the trading companies, although Whibley, Restieaux and Kleis\u00a0remained in the islands until their deaths.<\/p>\n The\u00a0United States Exploring Expedition<\/a>\u00a0under\u00a0Charles Wilkes<\/a>\u00a0visited Funafuti,\u00a0Nukufetau<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Vaitupu<\/a>\u00a0in 1841.<\/sup>\u00a0During this expedition, engraver and illustrator\u00a0Alfred Thomas Agate<\/a> recorded the dress and tattoo patterns of the men of Nukufetau.<\/p>\n In 1890,\u00a0Robert Louis Stevenson<\/a>, his wife\u00a0Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson<\/a>\u00a0and her son\u00a0Lloyd Osbourne<\/a>\u00a0sailed on the\u00a0Janet Nicoll<\/i>, a trading steamer owned by\u00a0Henderson and Macfarlane<\/a>\u00a0of Auckland, New Zealand, which operated between Sydney and Auckland and into the central Pacific.<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0Janet Nicoll<\/i>\u00a0visited three of the Ellice Islands;<\/sup>\u00a0while Fanny records that they made landfall at Funafuti, Niutao and\u00a0Nanumea<\/a>, Jane Resture suggests that it was more likely they landed at Nukufetau rather than Funafuti.<\/sup>\u00a0An account of this voyage was written by Fanny Stevenson and published under the title\u00a0The Cruise of the Janet Nichol<\/i>,<\/sup>\u00a0together with photographs taken by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne.<\/p>\n In 1894, Count Rudolf\u00a0Festetics<\/a>\u00a0de Tolna, his wife Eila (n\u00e9e<\/i>\u00a0Haggin) and her daughter Blanche Haggin visited Funafuti aboard the yacht\u00a0Le Tolna<\/i>.<\/sup> The Count spent several days photographing men and woman on Funafuti.<\/sup><\/p>\n The boreholes on Funafuti, at the site now called\u00a0Darwin’s Drill<\/i>,<\/sup>\u00a0are the result of drilling conducted by the\u00a0Royal Society of London<\/a>\u00a0for the purpose of investigating the\u00a0formation of coral reefs<\/a>\u00a0to determine whether traces of shallow water organisms could be found at depth in the\u00a0coral<\/a>\u00a0of Pacific atolls. This investigation followed the work on\u00a0The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs<\/a><\/i>\u00a0conducted by\u00a0Charles Darwin<\/a>\u00a0in the Pacific. Drilling occurred in 1896, 1897 and 1898.<\/sup>\u00a0Professor\u00a0Edgeworth David<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0University of Sydney<\/a>\u00a0was a member of the 1896 “Funafuti Coral Reef Boring Expedition of the Royal Society”, under\u00a0Professor William Sollas<\/a>\u00a0and led the expedition in 1897.<\/sup> Photographers on these trips recorded people, communities, and scenes at Funafuti.<\/p>\n Charles Hedley<\/a>, a naturalist at the\u00a0Australian Museum<\/a>, accompanied the 1896 expedition, and during his stay on Funafuti he collected\u00a0invertebrate<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ethnological<\/a>\u00a0objects. The descriptions of these were published in\u00a0Memoir III of the Australian Museum Sydney<\/i>\u00a0between 1896 and 1900. Hedley also wrote the\u00a0General Account of the Atoll of Funafuti<\/i>,\u00a0The Ethnology of Funafuti<\/i>, <\/sup>and\u00a0The Mollusca of Funafuti<\/i>.\u00a0Edgar Waite<\/a>\u00a0was also part of the 1896 expedition and published\u00a0The mammals, reptiles, and fishes of Funafuti<\/i>. William Rainbow<\/a>\u00a0described the spiders and insects collected at Funafuti in\u00a0The insect fauna of Funafuti<\/i>.<\/p>\n Harry Clifford Fassett<\/a>, captain’s clerk and photographer, recorded people, communities and scenes at Funafuti in 1900 during a visit of\u00a0USFC\u00a0Albatross<\/i><\/a>\u00a0when the\u00a0United States Fish Commission<\/a> was investigating the formation of coral reefs on Pacific atolls.<\/p>\n During the\u00a0Second World War<\/a>, Ellice Islands were informally aligned with the\u00a0Allies<\/a>. Early in the war, the\u00a0Japanese invaded and occupied<\/a>\u00a0Makin<\/a>,\u00a0Tarawa<\/a>\u00a0and other islands in what is now\u00a0Kiribati<\/a>.<\/p>\n The\u00a0United States Marine Corps<\/a>\u00a0landed on Funafuti on 2 October 1942<\/sup>\u00a0and on Nanumea and Nukufetau in August 1943. Funafuti was used as a base to prepare for the subsequent seaborne attacks on the Gilbert Islands (Kiribati<\/a>) that were occupied by Japanese forces.<\/p>\n The islanders assisted the American forces building airfields on Funafuti, Nanumea and Nukufetau and to unload supplies from ships.<\/sup>\u00a0On Funafuti, the islanders shifted to the smaller islets so as to allow the American forces to build the airfield and to build naval bases and port facilities on\u00a0Fongafale<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0A Naval Construction Battalion (Seabees<\/a>) built a seaplane ramp on the lagoon side of Fongafale islet, for seaplane operations by both short- and long-range seaplanes, and a compacted coral runway was also constructed on Fongafale, with runways also constructed to create\u00a0Nanumea Airfield<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0and\u00a0Nukufetau Airfield<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0USN\u00a0Patrol Torpedo Boats<\/a> (PTs) were based at Funafuti from 2 November 1942 to 11 May 1944.<\/p>\n The atolls of Tuvalu acted as staging posts during the preparation for the\u00a0Battle of Tarawa<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Battle of Makin<\/a>\u00a0that commenced on 20 November 1943, which were part of the implementation of “Operation Galvanic”.<\/sup>\u00a0After the war, the military airfield on Funafuti was developed into\u00a0Funafuti International Airport<\/a>.<\/p>\n The formation of the United Nations after World War II resulted in the\u00a0United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization<\/a> committing to a process of decolonization; as a consequence, the British colonies in the Pacific started on a path to self-determination<\/a>.<\/sup><\/p>\n In 1974, the ministerial government was introduced to the\u00a0Gilbert and Ellice Islands<\/a> Colony through a change to the Constitution. In that year a general election was held,\u00a0and a\u00a0referendum was held in 1974<\/a> to determine whether the Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands should each have their own administration.\u00a0 As a consequence of the referendum, separation occurred in two stages. The Tuvaluan Order 1975, which took effect on 1 October 1975, recognized Tuvalu as a separate British dependency with its own government. The second stage occurred on 1 January 1976, when separate administrations were created out of the civil service of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.<\/p>\n Elections to the House of Assembly of the British Colony of Tuvalu were held on 27 August 1977, with\u00a0Toaripi Lauti<\/a>\u00a0being appointed Chief Minister in the House of Assembly of the Colony of Tuvalu on 1 October 1977. The House of Assembly was dissolved in July 1978, with the government of Toaripi Lauti continuing as a\u00a0caretaker government<\/a> until the 1981 elections were held. Toaripi Lauti became the first\u00a0Prime Minister<\/a> on 1 October 1978, when Tuvalu became an independent nation. That date is also celebrated as the country’s\u00a0Independence Day<\/a> and is a public holiday.<\/p>\n Tuvalu became fully independent within the\u00a0Commonwealth<\/a>\u00a0on 1 October 1978. On 5 September 2000, Tuvalu became the\u00a0189th member of the United Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tuvalu is a volcanic archipelago, and consists of three\u00a0reef<\/a>\u00a0islands (Nanumanga<\/a>,\u00a0Niutao<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Niulakita<\/a>) and six true\u00a0atolls<\/a>\u00a0(Funafuti, Nanumea,\u00a0Nui<\/a>, Nukufetau,\u00a0Nukulaelae<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Vaitupu<\/a>). Its small, scattered group of low-lying atolls have poor soil and a total land area of only about 26 square kilometres (10 square miles) making it the\u00a0fourth smallest country in the world<\/a>. The highest elevation is 4.6 meters (15 ft) above sea level on\u00a0Niulakita<\/a>. Over four decades, there had been a net increase in land area of the islets of 73.5\u2009ha (2.9%), although the changes are not uniform, with 74% increasing and 27% decreasing in size. The sea level at the Funafuti tide gauge has risen at 3.9\u00a0mm per year, which is approximately twice the global average.<\/sup>\u00a0The rising sea levels are identified as creating an increased transfer of wave energy across reef surfaces, which shifts sand, resulting in accretion to island shorelines.<\/sup> The Tuvalu Prime Minister objected to the report’s implication that there were “alternate” strategies for Islanders to adapt to rising sea levels, and criticized it for neglecting issues such as saltwater intrusion<\/a> into groundwater tables as a result of sea level rise.<\/p>\n Funafuti is the largest atoll, and comprises numerous islets around a central lagoon that is approximately 25.1 kilometres (15.6 miles) (N\u2013S) by 18.4 kilometres (11.4 miles) (W-E), centred on 179\u00b07’E and 8\u00b030’S. On the atolls, an annular reef rim surrounds the lagoon with seven natural reef channels.<\/p>\n Tuvalu’s exclusive economic zone<\/a>\u00a0(EEZ) covers an oceanic area of approximately 900,000\u00a0km2.<\/sup><\/p>\n From 1996 to 2002, Tuvalu was one of the best-performing Pacific Island economies and achieved an average real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 5.6% per annum. Economic growth slowed after 2002, with GDP growth of 1.5% in 2008. Tuvalu was exposed to rapid rises in world prices of fuel and food in 2008, with the level of inflation peaking at 13.4%.<\/p>\n Tuvalu joined the\u00a0International Monetary Fund<\/a> (IMF) on 24 June 2010.<\/sup> The IMP 2010 Report on Tuvalu estimates that Tuvalu experienced zero growth in its 2010 GDP, after the economy contracted by about 2% in 2009. On 5 August 2012, the Executive Board of the IMF concluded the Article IV consultation with Tuvalu, and assessed the economy of Tuvalu: “A slow recovery is underway in Tuvalu, but there are important risks. GDP grew in 2011 for the first time since the global financial crisis, led by the private retail sector and education spending. We expect growth to rise slowly”. The IMF 2014 Country Report noted that real GDP growth in Tuvalu had been volatile averaging only 1 per cent in the past decade. The 2014 Country Report describes economic growth prospects as generally positive as the result of large revenues from fishing licenses, together with substantial foreign aid.\u00a0While a budget deficit of A$0.4\u00a0million was projected for 2015, the\u00a0Asian Development Bank<\/a> (ADB) assessed the budget as being A$14.3m in surplus as the result of high tuna fish license fees. The ADB predicted that the 2% growth rate for 2015 would continue into 2016. Nonetheless, Tuvalu has the smallest GDP of any sovereign nation in the world.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/08\/Alvaro-de-Mendana-y-Neira-233x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>History:<\/h2>\n
Prehistory:<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/08\/Nanumanga.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Early contacts with Other Cultures:<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/2\/2f\/Tuvalu_costume.jpg\/170px-Tuvalu_costume.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/08\/Nukulaelae-205x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Trading Firms and Traders:<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/1\/19\/Tuvalu_-_Location_Map_%282013%29_-_TUV_-_UNOCHA.svg\/300px-Tuvalu_-_Location_Map_%282013%29_-_TUV_-_UNOCHA.svg.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Scientific Expeditions and Travelers:<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/8\/80\/Nukufetauman1831.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"1900,](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/d6\/H-C-Fassett-Ellice-Is-1900.jpg\/220px-H-C-Fassett-Ellice-Is-1900.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Colonial Administration:<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/6\/67\/1939_%26_1956_stamps_of_the_Gilbert_and_Ellice_Islands.jpg\/220px-1939_%26_1956_stamps_of_the_Gilbert_and_Ellice_Islands.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/08\/Fongafale-Islet-300x201.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/span>Post-World War II \u2013 Transition to Independence:<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/08\/Toaripi-Lauti.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Geography:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/08\/Funafuti-Atoll-300x205.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Economy:<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/08\/Tuvalu-Exports-Treemap-2017.png\"){kind=link}