1.
Atoll
–
An atoll, sometimes called a coral atoll, is a ring-shaped coral reef including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands/cays on the rim, the coral of the atoll often sits atop the rim of an extinct seamount or volcano which has eroded or subsided partially beneath the water. The lagoon forms over the crater or caldera while the higher rim remains above water or at shallow depths that permit the coral to grow. For the atoll to persist, continued erosion or subsidence must be at a slow enough to permit reef growth upwards and outwards to replace the lost height. The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu, meaning an administrative subdivision, the distribution of atolls around the globe is instructive, most of the worlds atolls are in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean has no large groups of atolls, other than eight atolls east of Nicaragua that belong to the Colombian department of San Andres and Providencia in the Caribbean. Reef-building corals will thrive only in tropical and subtropical waters of oceans and seas. The northernmost atoll of the world is Kure Atoll at 28°24 N, the southernmost atolls of the world are Elizabeth Reef at 29°58 S, and nearby Middleton Reef at 29°29 S, in the Tasman Sea, both of which are part of the Coral Sea Islands Territory. The next southerly atoll is Ducie Island in the Pitcairn Islands Group, at this latitude coral reefs would not develop without the warming waters of the Gulf Stream. However, Bermuda is termed a pseudo-atoll because its general form, while there is no atoll directly on the equator, the closest atoll to the Equator is Aranuka of Kiribati, with its southern tip just 12 km north of the equator. In most cases, the area of an atoll is very small in comparison to the total area. Atoll islands are low lying, with their elevations less than 5 meters, measured by total area, Lifou is the largest raised coral atoll of the world, followed by Rennell Island. More sources however list as the largest atoll in the world in terms of land area Kiritimati, the remains of an ancient atoll as a hill in a limestone area is called a reef knoll. The second largest atoll by dry land area is Aldabra with 155 km², the largest atoll in terms of island numbers is Huvadhu Atoll in the south of the Maldives with 255 islands. In 1842, Charles Darwin explained the creation of coral atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean based upon observations made during a voyage aboard the HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836. In time, subsidence carries the old volcano below the ocean surface, at this point, the island has become an atoll. Atolls are the product of the growth of marine organisms. Volcanic islands located beyond the water temperature requirements of hermatypic organisms become seamounts as they subside and are eroded away at the surface
2.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Tuvalu
–
It comprises three reef islands and six true atolls spread out between the latitude of 5° to 10° south and longitude of 176° to 180°, west of the International Date Line. Tuvalu has a population of 10,640, the total land area of the islands of Tuvalu is 26 square kilometres. The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesians, in 1568, Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to sail through the archipelago, sighting the island of Nui during his expedition in search of Terra Australis. In 1819 the island of Funafuti was named Ellices Island, the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay. A referendum was held in December 1974 to determine whether the Gilbert Islands, as a consequence of the referendum, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony ceased to exist on 1 January 1976 and the separate British colonies of Kiribati and Tuvalu came into existence. Tuvalu became fully independent within the Commonwealth on 1 October 1978, on 5 September 2000 Tuvalu became the 189th member of the United Nations. The origins of the people of Tuvalu are addressed in the theories regarding 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 Tonga. Eight of the nine islands of Tuvalu were inhabited, thus the name, Tuvalu, possible evidence of fire in the Caves of Nanumanga may indicate human occupation for thousands of years. The stories as to the ancestors of the Tuvaluans vary from island to island, on Niutao, Funafuti and Vaitupu the founding ancestor is described as being from Samoa, whereas on Nanumea the founding ancestor is described as being from Tonga. Mendaña made contact with the islanders but was unable to land, during Mendañas second voyage across the Pacific he passed Niulakita on 29 August 1595, which he named La Solitaria. Captain John Byron passed through the islands of Tuvalu in 1764 during his circumnavigation of the globe as captain of the Dolphin, Byron charted the atolls as Lagoon Islands. Chambers and Doug Munro identified Niutao as the island that Francisco Mourelle de la Rúa sailed past on 5 May 1781, mourelles map and journal named the island El Gran Cocal, however, the latitude and longitude was uncertain. Longitude could only be reckoned crudely as accurate chronometers were unavailable until the late 18th century, the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay. In 1820 the Russian explorer Mikhail Lazarev visited Nukufetau as commander of the Mirny, Louis Isidore Duperrey, captain of La Coquille, sailed past Nanumanga in May 1824 during a circumnavigation of the earth. A Dutch expedition found Nui on the morning of 14 June 1825, whalers began roving the Pacific, although visiting Tuvalu only infrequently because of the difficulties of landing on the atolls. Captain George Barrett of the Nantucket whaler Independence II has been identified as the first whaler to hunt the waters around Tuvalu, in November 1821 he bartered coconuts from the people of Nukulaelae and also visited Niulakita. A shore camp was established on Sakalua islet of Nukufetau, where coal was used to melt down the whale blubber, the Rev. A. W. Elekana began proselytising Christianity. He was trained at Malua Theological College, a London Missionary Society school in Samoa, in 1865 the Rev. A. W. Murray of the LMS – a Protestant congregationalist missionary society – arrived as the first European missionary where he too proselytised among the inhabitants of Tuvalu
4.
Human settlement
–
In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. A settlement can range in size from a number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of cities with surrounding urbanized areas. Settlements may include hamlets, villages, towns and cities, a settlement may have known historical properties such as the date or era in which it was first settled, or first settled by a particular people. In the field of geospatial predictive modeling, settlements are a city, town, village ghost or other agglomeration of buildings where people live and work. The oldest remains that have found of constructed dwellings are remains of huts that were made of mud. The Natufians built houses, also in the Levant, around 10,000 BC, remains of settlements such as villages become much more common after the invention of agriculture. Landscape history studies the form of settlements – for example whether they are dispersed or nucleated, urban morphology can thus be considered a special type of cultural-historical landscape studies. Settlements can be ordered by size, centrality or other factors to define a settlement hierarchy, geoscience Australia defines a populated place as a named settlement with a population of 200 or more persons. The Committee for Geographical Names in Australasia used the term localities for rural areas, the Bulgarian Government publishes a National Register of Populated Places. The Canadian government uses the term populated place in the Atlas of Canada, Statistics Canada uses the term localities for historical named locations. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics records population in units called settlements, the Census Commission of India has a special definition of census towns. The Central Statistics Office of the Republic of Ireland has a definition of census towns. There are various types of inhabited localities in Russia, Statistics Sweden uses the term localities for various densely populated places. The common English-language translation is urban areas, the UK Department for Communities and Local Government uses the term urban settlement to denote an urban area when analysing census information. The Registrar General for Scotland defines settlements as groups of one or more contiguous localities, the Scottish settlements are used as one of several factors defining urban areas. A populated place is not incorporated and by definition has no legal boundaries. However, a place may have a corresponding civil record. Census − a statistical area delineated locally specifically for the tabulation of Census Bureau data, civil − a political division formed for administrative purposes
5.
Oral history
–
These interviews are conducted with people who participated in or observed past events and whose memories and perceptions of these are to be preserved as an aural record for future generations. Oral history strives to obtain information from different perspectives and most of these cannot be found in written sources, Oral history also refers to information gathered in this manner and to a written work based on such data, often preserved in archives and large libraries. Knowledge presented by Oral History is unique in that it shares the tacit perspective, thoughts, opinions, however, as the Columbia Encyclopedia explains, Primitive societies have long relied on oral tradition to preserve a record of the past in the absence of written histories. In Western society, the use of oral material goes back to the early Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides, the modern concept of oral history was developed in the 1940s by Allan Nevins and his associates at Oral history has become an international movement in historical research. Oral historians in different countries have approached the collection, analysis, however, it should also be noted that there are many ways of creating oral histories and carrying out the study of oral history even within individual national contexts. Authors such as Studs Terkel, Alex Haley, and Oscar Lewis have employed oral history in their books, in another important example of the genre, a massive archive covering the oral history of American music has been compiled at the Yale School of Music. By the end of the 20th cent, Oral history had become a respected discipline in many colleges and universities. At that time the Italian historian Alessandro Portelli and his associates began to study the role that memory itself, whether accurate or faulty, plays in the themes and structures of oral history. Their published work has become standard material in the field. Since the early 1970s, oral history in Britain has grown from being a method in folklore studies to becoming a key component in community histories, Oral history continues to be an important means by which non-academics can actively participate in the compilation and study of history. However, practitioners across a range of academic disciplines have also developed the method into a way of recording, understanding. Influences have included womens history and labour history, in Britain, the Oral History Society has played a key role in facilitating and developing the use of oral history. A more complete account of the history of history in Britain. The Bureau of Military History conducted over 1700 interviews with veterans of the First World War, the documentation was released for research in 2003. During 1998 and 1999,40 BBC local radio stations recorded personal oral histories from a broad cross-section of the population for The Century Speaks series. The result was 640 half-hour radio documentaries, broadcast in the weeks of the millennium, and one of the largest single oral history collections in Europe. The interview based recordings are held by the British Library Sound Archive in the history collection. In one of the largest memory project anywhere, The BBC in 2003-6 invited its audiences to send in recollections of the homefront in the Second World War and it put 47,000 of the recollections online, along with 15,000 photographs
6.
Slavery
–
A slave is unable to withdraw unilaterally from such an arrangement and works without remuneration. Many scholars now use the chattel slavery to refer to this specific sense of legalised. In a broader sense, however, the word slavery may also refer to any situation in which an individual is de facto forced to work against his or her will. Scholars also use the generic terms such as unfree labour or forced labour. However – and especially under slavery in broader senses of the word – slaves may have some rights and/or protections, Slavery began to exist before written history, in many cultures. A person could become a slave from the time of their birth, capture, while slavery was institutionally recognized by most societies, it has now been outlawed in all recognized countries, the last being Mauritania in 2007. Nevertheless, there are still more slaves today than at any point in history. The most common form of the trade is now commonly referred to as human trafficking. Chattel slavery is still practiced by the Islamic State of Iraq. An older interpretation connected it to the Greek verb skyleúo to strip a slain enemy, there is a dispute among historians about whether terms such as unfree labourer or enslaved person, rather than slave, should be used when describing the victims of slavery. Chattel slavery, also called traditional slavery, is so named because people are treated as the chattel of the owner and are bought, although it dominated many societies in the past, this form of slavery has been formally abolished and is very rare today. Even when it can be said to survive, it is not upheld by the system of any internationally recognized government. Indenture, otherwise known as bonded labour or debt bondage is a form of labour under which a person pledges himself or herself against a loan. The services required to repay the debt, and their duration, debt bondage can be passed on from generation to generation, with children required to pay off their parents debt. It is the most widespread form of slavery today, debt bondage is most prevalent in South Asia. This may also include institutions not commonly classified as slavery, such as serfdom, conscription, Human trafficking primarily involves women and children forced into prostitution. And is the fastest growing form of forced labour, with Thailand, Cambodia, India, Brazil, in 2007, Human Rights Watch estimated that 200,000 to 300,000 children served as soldiers in current conflicts. A forced marriage may be regarded as a form of slavery by one or more of the involved in the marriage
7.
Kiribati
–
Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation in the central Pacific Ocean. The permanent population is just over 100,000, more than half of live on Tarawa Atoll. The nation comprises 33 atolls and reef islands and one raised coral island and they have a total land area of 800 square kilometres and are dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometers. Their spread straddles the equator and the 180th meridian, although the International Date Line is indented to bring the Line Islands in the day as the Kiribati Islands. The International Date Line circumscribes Kiribati by swinging far to the east, almost reaching the 150°W meridian, Kiribatis easternmost islands, the southern Line Islands south of Hawaii, have the most advanced time on Earth, UTC+14 hours. Kiribati became independent from the United Kingdom in 1979, the capital and now most populated area, South Tarawa, consists of a number of islets, connected by a series of causeways. These comprise about half the area of Tarawa Atoll, Kiribati is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the IMF and the World Bank, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999. The name Kiribati was adopted at independence and it is local enunciation of Gilberts. This name derives from the archipelago that forms the nation. It was named the Gilbert Islands after the British explorer Thomas Gilbert and he sighted many of the islands in 1788 while mapping out the Outer Passage route from Port Jackson to Canton. The Kiribati archipelago was named Îles Gilbert, in about 1820, by Russian admiral Adam von Krusenstern, both their maps, published in 1820, were written in French. The archipelagos name was incorporated in the entire Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony from 1916, the spelling of Gilberts in the Gilbertese language as Kiribati may be found in books in Gilbertese prepared by missionaries and others. It is often suggested that the name for the Gilbert Islands proper is Tungaru. The pronunciation differs, Kiribas is the pronunciation as ti in Kiribatese makes an s sound. The area now called Kiribati has been inhabited by Micronesians speaking the same Oceanic language since sometime between 3000 BC and AD1300, the area was not isolated, invaders from Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji, later introduced Polynesian and Melanesian cultural aspects, respectively. Intermarriage tended to blur cultural differences and resulted in a significant degree of cultural homogenisation, chance visits by European ships occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries, as these ships attempted circumnavigations of the world or sought sailing routes from the south to north Pacific Ocean. The passing trade gave rise to European, Chinese, Samoan and other residents from the 1830s, they included beachcombers, castaways, traders and missionaries. In 1892 local authorities on each of the Gilbert Islands agreed to Captain Davis RN declaring them part of a British protectorate with the nearby Ellice Islands
8.
Whaling
–
Whaling is the hunting of whales for their usable products like meat, oil and blubber. Its earliest forms date to at least circa 3000 BC, various coastal communities have long histories of subsistence whaling and harvesting beached whales. By the late 1930s, more than 50,000 whales were killed annually In 1986, contemporary whaling is subject to intense debate. Pro-whaling countries, notably Japan, Norway, and Iceland, wish to lift the ban on certain whale stocks for hunting, anti-whaling countries and environmental groups oppose lifting the ban. Whaling began in times and was initially confined to coastal waters. Early whaling affected the development of disparate cultures – such as Norway. The Basques were the first to catch whales commercially, and dominated the trade for five centuries, spreading to the far corners of the North Atlantic and even reaching the South Atlantic. Although prehistoric hunting and gathering is considered to have had little ecological impact. Whale oil is used today and modern commercial whaling is primarily done for food. The primary species hunted are the common minke whale and Antarctic minke whale, recent scientific surveys estimate a population of 103,000 in the northeast Atlantic. International cooperation on whaling began in 1931 and culminated in the signing of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1946. Its aim is to, provide for the conservation of whale stocks. The International Whaling Commission was set up under the ICRW to decide hunting quotas, non-member countries are not bound by its regulations and conduct their own management programs. The IWC voted on July 23,1982, to establish a moratorium on commercial whaling beginning in the 1985–86 season. Since 1992, the IWCs Scientific Committee has requested that it be allowed to give proposals for some whale stocks. At the 2010 meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Morocco, Japan, Norway and Iceland have urged the organisation to lift the ban. A coalition of anti-whaling nations has offered a plan that would allow these countries to continue whaling. Their plan would also completely ban whaling in the Southern Ocean, opponents of the compromise plan want to see an end to all commercial whaling, but are willing to allow subsistence-level catches by indigenous peoples
9.
United States Exploring Expedition
–
The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States from 1838 to 1842. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones, funding for the original expedition was requested by President John Quincy Adams in 1828, however, Congress would not implement funding until eight years later. In May 1836, the oceanic exploration voyage was finally authorized by Congress, the expedition is sometimes called the U. S. Ex. Ex. for short, or the Wilkes Expedition in honor of its next appointed commanding officer, the expedition was of major importance to the growth of science in the United States, in particular the then-young field of oceanography. During the event, armed conflict between Pacific islanders and the expedition was common and dozens of natives were killed in action and it was to promote commerce and to offer protection to the heavy investment in the whaling and seal hunting industries, chiefly in the Pacific Ocean. Congress also agreed that a ship or ships should be used. At the time, the ships owned by the government capable of such a circumnavigation were those of the navy. So, in fact, Congress had decided that an expedition be authorized. The veteran US Sloop-of-war Peacock was decommissioned and broken down in 1827 to be rebuilt as USS Peacock, intended as an exploration ship. There were to be many unforeseen impediments and it was not until May 18,1836, that an act was passed, which authorized funding, and approved by President Andrew Jackson, Adams political rival. Even with the burden of finance lifted, there were two years of alteration of formation and command before six oddly assorted ships moved down from Norfolk to Hampton Roads on August 9,1838. On August 17, they were joined by the tenders Sea Gull and Flying-Fish, due to light breezes, the expedition did not discharge their pilots until 09,00 August 19, when they passed Cape Henry Light. By 11,00, the fleet was standing to open seas. Originally, the expedition was organized under Commodore Jones, however, several more senior officers had either resigned from or indicated their unwillingness to accept command of the expedition. Command was finally vested in Lieutenant Wilkes, the three duties laid down were daunting to officers trained only in fighting ships. As well, a scientific corps was to be included as an additional command responsibility. There were few officers in the American navy at that time with any surveying experience, the United States Coast Survey, where most of the surveyors were employed and learned their trade, was a civilian organization. Wilkes, who had trained himself in surveying work, cut the excessively large number of scientists down to nine
10.
Charles Wilkes
–
Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer, ships captain, and explorer. His behavior led to two convictions by court-martial, one stemming from the massacre of almost 80 Fijians on Malolo in 1840, Wilkes was born in New York City, on April 3,1798, as the great nephew of the former Lord Mayor of London John Wilkes. His mother was Mary Seton, who died in 1802 when Charles was just three years old. As a result, Charles was raised by his aunt, Elizabeth Ann Seton, when Elizabeth was left widowed with five children, Charles was sent to a boarding school, and later attended Columbia College, which is the present-day Columbia University. He entered the United States Navy as a midshipman in 1818, in 1833, for his survey of Narragansett Bay, he was placed in charge of the Navys Department of Charts and Instruments, out of which developed the Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Office. Wilkes interdisciplinary expedition set a physical oceanography benchmark for the offices first superintendent Matthew Fontaine Maury, in 1838, although not yet a seasoned naval line officer, Wilkes was experienced in nautical survey work, and was working with civilian scientists. Upon this background, he was given command of the government exploring expedition, for the purpose of exploring and surveying the Southern Ocean. Exploring Squadron was authorized by act of the Congress on May 18,1836, next the expedition visited Fiji and the Hawaiian Islands. In Fiji, the expedition kidnapped the chief Ro Veidovi, charging him with the murder of a crew of American whalers. And, in July 1840, two sailors, one of whom was Wilkes nephew, Midshipman Wilkes Henry, were killed while bartering for food on Fijis Malolo Island, Wilkes retribution was swift and severe. According to an old man of Malolo Island, nearly 80 Fijians were killed in the incident, from December 1840 to March 1841, he employed hundreds of native Hawaiian porters and many of his men to haul a pendulum to the summit of Mauna Loa to measure gravity. Instead of using the trail, he blazed his own way. The conditions on the mountain reminded him of Antarctica, many of his crew suffered snow blindness, altitude sickness and foot injuries from wearing out their shoes. He explored the west coast of North America, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound, the Columbia River, San Francisco Bay and he held the first American Independence Day celebration west of the Mississippi River in Dupont, Washington on July 5,1841. The United States Exploring Expedition passed through the Ellice Islands and visited Funafuti, Nukufetau, the expedition returned by way of the Philippines, the Sulu Archipelago, Borneo, Singapore, Polynesia and the Cape of Good Hope, reaching New York on June 10,1842. After having completely encircled the globe, Wilkes had logged some 87,000 miles, a major witness against him was ship doctor Charles Guillou. He was acquitted on all charges except illegally punishing men in his squadron, for a short time, he was attached to the Coast Survey, but from 1844 to 1861, he was chiefly engaged in preparing the report of the expedition. His Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition were published in 1844 and he edited the scientific reports of the expedition and was the author of Vol. XI and Vol. XXIII
11.
London Missionary Society
–
The London Missionary Society was a missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and various nonconformists. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational missions in Oceania and Africa, although there were also Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists and it now forms part of the Council for World Mission. In 1793, Edward Williams, then minister at Carrs Lane, Birmingham, wrote a letter to the churches of the Midlands, expressing the need for world evangelization and it was effective and Williams began to play an active part in the plans for a missionary society. He left Birmingham in 1795, becoming pastor at Masbrough, Rotherham, also in 1793, the Anglican cleric John Eyre of Hackney founded the Evangelical Magazine. He had the support of the presbyterian John Love, and congregationalists Edward Parsons and this aimed to overcome the difficulties that establishment of overseas missions had faced. Edward Williams continued his involvement and, in July 1796, gave the charge to the first missionaries sent out by the Society, the society aimed to create a forum where evangelicals could work together, give overseas missions financial support and co-ordination. It also advocated againt opponents who wanted unrestricted commercial and military relations with peoples throughout the world. After Ryland showed Carey’s letter to Henry Overton Wills, a campaigner in Bristol. Scottish ministers in the London area, David Bogue and James Steven, as well as other such as John Hey. Bogue wrote an appeal in the Evangelical Magazine for September 1794, Ye were once Pagans, living in cruel. The servants of Jesus came from lands, and preached His Gospel among you. John Eyre responded by inviting a leading and influential evangelical, Rev. Thomas Haweis, the Cornishman sided firmly with Bogue, and immediately identified two donors, one of £500, and one of £100. From this start, a campaign developed to raise money for the proposed society, eighteen supporters showed up and helped agree the aims of the proposed missionary society – to spread the knowledge of Christ among heathen and other unenlightened nations. By Christmas over thirty men were committed to forming the society, in the following year,1795, Spa Fields Chapel was approached for permission to preach a sermon to the various ministers and others by now keenly associated with the plan to send missionaries abroad. Hundreds of evangelicals attended, and the newly launched society quickly began receiving letters of financial support, the Missionary Societys board quickly began interviewing prospective candidates. In 1800 the society placed missionaries with the Rev. David Bogue of Gosport for preparation for their ministries, a Captain James Wilson offered to sail the missionaries to their destination unpaid. The society was able to afford the small ship Duff, of 267 tons and it could carry 18 crew members and 30 missionaries. Seven months after the crew left port from the Woolwich docks in late 1796 they arrived in Tahiti, the missionaries were then instructed to become friendly with the natives, build a mission house for sleeping and worship, and learn the native language
12.
Copra
–
Copra is the dried meat, or dried kernel, of the coconut used to extract coconut oil. The earliest evidence of the extracting and use of oil from copra is in early Tamil literature from the 1st century AD. The word originated from the Malayalam word koppra, Coconut oil is extracted from it and this has made copra an important agricultural commodity for many coconut-producing countries. It also yields coconut cake, which is used as feed for livestock. Copra has traditionally been grated and ground then boiled in water to extract coconut oil and it was used by Pacific island cultures and became a valuable commercial product for merchants in the South Seas and South Asia in the 1860s. This 19th-century copra trading inspired Robert Louis Stevensons 1893 novella The Beach of Falesá, nowadays, the process of coconut oil extraction is performed by crushing copra to produce coconut oil, the by-product is known as copra cake or copra meal. Once the oil is extracted, the remaining cake is 18–25% protein. Instead it is fed to ruminants. The production of copra – removing the shell, breaking it up, Copra can be made by smoke drying, sun drying, or kiln drying. Sun drying requires little more than racks and sufficient sunlight, halved nuts are drained of water, and left with the meat facing the sky, they can be washed to remove mold-creating contaminants. After two days the meat can be removed from the shell with ease, and the process is complete after three to five more days. This process can also be reversed, partially drying the copra in the kiln, in India, small but whole coconuts can be dried over the course of eight months to a year, and the meat inside removed and sold as a whole ball. Meat prepared in this fashion is sweet, soft, oily and is cream-coloured instead of being white, Coconut meat can be dried using direct heat and smoke from a fire, using simple racks to suspend the coconut over the fire. The smoke residue can help preserve the meat but the process overall suffers from unpredictable results. While there are large plantations with integrated operations, copra remains primarily a smallholder crop. The major producing country is the Philippines and it is also a major exporter. Copra production begins on coconut plantations, Coconut trees are generally spaced 9 m apart, allowing a density of 100–160 coconut trees per hectare. A standard tree bears around 50–80 nuts a year, and average earnings in Vanuatu were US$0.20 per kg —so a farmer could earn approximately US$120 to US$320 yearly for each planted hectare
13.
Funafuti
–
Funafuti is an atoll on which the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu is located. It has a population of 6,025 people, making it the most populated atoll with 56.6 percent of Tuvalus population and it is a narrow sweep of land between 20 and 400 metres wide, encircling a large lagoon 18 km long and 14 km wide. The average depth in the Funafuti lagoon is about 20 fathoms, with a surface of 275 square kilometres, it is by far the largest lagoon in Tuvalu. The land area of the 33 islets aggregates to 2.4 square kilometres, the capital of Tuvalu is sometimes given as Fongafale or Vaiaku, but the entire atoll of Funafuti is officially the capital. Cargo ships can enter Funafutis lagoon and dock at the facilities on Fongafale. The island houses four villages and community meeting places, the Funafuti Falekaupule is the local council, with the Kaupule as the executive of the Falekaupule. Tausoa Lima Falekaupule is the meeting house on Funafuti – Tausoalima means hand of friendship. There is the Vaiaku Langi Hotel, and other guesthouses as well as homes, the most prominent building on Funafuti atoll is the Fetu Ao Lima of the Church of Tuvalu. Other sites of interest are the remains of Japanese aircraft that crashed on Funafuti during World War II, a major sporting event is the Independence Day Sports Festival held annually at Fongafale on 1 October. The most important sports event within the country is arguably the Tuvalu Games, football in Tuvalu is played at club and national team level. The Tuvalu national football team trains at the Tuvalu Sports Ground on Funafuti and competes in the Pacific Games, the police service has its headquarters on Fongafale. The High Court of Tuvalu is also located on Fongafale, as well as the jail, the Princess Margaret Hospital, which is the only hospital in Tuvalu, is located on Fongafale. It has an area of 33 km², containing 20 percent of the area of Funafuti. The land area of the six islets in the area is 8 ha. There are at least 29 islets in the atoll, the biggest is Fongafale, followed by Funafala. At least three islands are inhabited, which are Fongafale, the island in the east, Funafala in the south. The atoll has several passages with varying degrees of navigability that lead into the lagoon, the passes are listed clockwise, starting south of Fongafale islet. The first two clearly separate the part of Funafuti Atoll from the rest
14.
Fiji
–
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles northeast of New Zealands North Island. Fiji is an archipelago of more than 330 islands, of which 110 are permanently inhabited, the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the population of almost 860,000. The capital, Suva on Viti Levu, serves as Fijis principal cruise port, about three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levus coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centres like Nadi or Lautoka. Viti Levus interior is sparsely inhabited due to its terrain, Fiji has one of the most developed economies in the Pacific due to an abundance of forest, mineral, and fish resources. Today, the sources of foreign exchange are its tourist industry. The countrys currency is the Fijian dollar, Fijis local government, in the form of city and town councils, is supervised by the Ministry of Local Government and Urban Development. The majority of Fijis islands were formed through volcanic activity starting around 150 million years ago, today, some geothermal activity still occurs on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Fiji has been inhabited since the second millennium BC, and was settled first by Austronesians and later by Melanesians, Europeans visited Fiji from the 17th century, and, after a brief period as an independent kingdom, the British established the Colony of Fiji in 1874. Fiji was a Crown colony until 1970, when it gained independence as a Commonwealth realm, a republic was declared in 1987, following a series of coups détat. In a coup in 2006, Commodore Frank Bainimarama seized power, later in 2009, Iloilo was replaced as President by Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. After years of delays, an election was held on 17 September 2014. Bainimaramas FijiFirst party won with 59. 2% of the vote, Fijis main island is known as Viti Levu and it is from this that the name Fiji is derived, though the common English pronunciation is based on that of their island neighbours in Tonga. Its emergence can be described as follows, Fijians first impressed themselves on European consciousness through the writings of the members of the expeditions of Cook who met them in Tonga. They were described as warriors and ferocious cannibals, builders of the finest vessels in the Pacific. They inspired awe amongst the Tongans, and all their Manufactures, especially bark cloth and clubs, were highly valued and much in demand. They called their home Viti, but the Tongans called it Fisi, and it was by this foreign pronunciation, Fiji, first promulgated by Captain James Cook, that these islands are now known. Feejee, the Anglicised spelling of the Tongan pronunciation, was used in accounts and other writings until the late 19th century, by missionaries and other travellers visiting Fiji. Pottery art from Fijian towns shows that Fiji was settled before or around 3500 to 1000 BC, the first settlements in Fiji were started by voyaging traders and settlers from the west about 5000 years ago
15.
Kioa
–
Kioa is an island in Fiji, an outlier to Vanua Levu, one of Fijis two main islands. Situated opposite Buca Bay, Kioa was purchased by settlers from Vaitupu atoll in Tuvalu, despite its relatively large size, Vaitupu became so overcrowded during the 1940s that a number of families migrated to live on Kioa Island. At the end of World War II, Neli Lifuka was instrumental in collecting the funds to purchase Kioa, initially 37 people migrated from Vaitupu to live on Kioa Island, within a decade, more than 235 people followed. In 1956, Neli Lifuka joined the Kioa community and became the chairman of its council. Kioa is one of two islands in Fiji populated by migrant communities from the Pacific Islands, the other being Rabi, also in the Vanua Levu Group, early in 2005, the Fijian government decided to grant full citizenship to the Kioa and Rabi Islanders. The ceremony was led by Cabinet Ministers Josefa Vosanibola and Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, who is also the Tui Cakau, or Paramount Chief of Tovata, Lalabalavu called on the Kioa islanders to be proud of their identity and to nurture and protect their culture. A mass relocation would ensure the Tuvaluan language and culture is preserved instead of being scattered to the four corners of the earth, tuvalus nine islands stand an average height of just 3 meters above sea level. Fijis political parties were cautious in their response to Kennedys proposal, united Peoples Party President Mick Beddoes said that moving the 9000 Tuvaluans would put a great strain on Kioas resources and economy. He said that Pacific Island nations should share the cost of such a move, tuvalus prime minister Maatia Toafa said on 21 February 2006 that relocation to Kioa was under consideration, but was not a priority. Buying land in Australia or New Zealand was also an option, if they were to move to Kioa, they would need finance to develop the island, Fiji Live quoted him as saying. In 2013 Enele Sopoaga, the minister of Tuvalu, said that relocating Tuvaluans to avoid the impact of sea level rise “should never be an option because it is self defeating in itself. Pacific Islands magazine - Don Kennedys proposed population movement
