Kiribati Islands

Kiribati is about 800 square kilometres of land scattered over more than three million square kilometres of the central Pacific, and it is the one country that lies in all four hemispheres, because the equator and the antimeridian both run through it. Almost every island is a coral atoll a few metres above the sea, and each has its own island council, so the island is the unit that an address, a ferry and a share of the national budget are all counted in.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: The Gilbert, Line and Phoenix Islands
In the game: 24 islands

Start

What you are looking at

Each island is drawn as its land grown a little, because an atoll's islets are slivers a few hundred metres wide that would not be there to point at. South Tarawa, the capital, is split into three councils (Betio, Teinainano and Eita), which is why one atoll supplies three answers.

The real country is about 4,000 kilometres across, and drawn where it lies the map would be two thirds empty ocean. So the map is not to scale in one place: the Line Islands and Kanton, which sit east of the antimeridian, are moved west into the sea beside the Gilberts, and a line marks the seam. Their positions relative to each other and to the equator are kept, and so are their shapes.

How to place one

Start with the Gilberts. They are the chain that runs from Makin and Butaritari in the north, across the equator, to Arorae in the south east, and they hold nearly everyone in the country.
Find South Tarawa. Betio, Teinainano and Eita make up the atoll just north of the equator, with Abaiang to the north and Maiana to the south.
Go south. Nonouti, the two halves of Tabiteuea, Beru, Nikunau, Onotoa, Tamana and Arorae follow the chain down.
Then the outliers. Banaba stands alone to the west. Behind the seam are the Line Islands (Teraina, Tabuaeran and Kiritimati) and Kanton, the only inhabited Phoenix island.

Every island, by group

Gilbert Islands20 islands: Abaiang, Abemama, Aranuka, Arorae, Banaba, Beru, Betio, Butaritari, Kuria, Maiana, Makin, Marakei, Nikunau, Nonouti, Onotoa, Tabiteuea North, Tabiteuea South, Tamana, Tarawa Eita, Tarawa Teinainano
Line Islands3 islands: Kiritimati, Tabuaeran, Teraina
Phoenix Islands1 island: Kanton

Worked examples

Tarawa Teinainano

The capital

Teinainano is the long southern arm of Tarawa, the atoll that holds the capital and about half of the country's people. Betio sits at its western tip, and Eita is the northern arm.

Kiritimati

The big one

Kiritimati, or Christmas Island, is the largest atoll in the world by land area, and by itself nearly half of the country's dry land. It is one of the Line Islands, so the map shows it behind the seam.

Banaba

The odd one out

Banaba is a raised coral island rather than an atoll, far to the west of the Gilberts, and it is grouped with them here.

Frequently asked questions

How many islands does Kiribati have on this map?

24 island council areas. Tarawa counts as three because it has three councils.

Why is the map not to scale?

Kiribati spans about 4,000 kilometres of ocean. The Line Islands and Kanton are moved west into the empty sea beside the Gilberts so that the islands are large enough to tap, and a line marks where.