Muscat: Nauru, an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean is the third smallest country in the world after Vatican City and Monaco.
According to Britannica, it is a raised coral island located in southeastern Micronesia, 25 miles (40 km) south of the Equator.
The island is about 800 miles (1,300 km) northeast of the Solomon Islands; its closest neighbor is the island of Banaba, in Kiribati, some 200 miles (300 km) to the east. Nauru has no official capital, but government offices are located in the district of Yaren.
The island is solely served by Nauru International Airport. Passenger service is provided by Nauru Airlines. Flights operate four days a week to Brisbane, Australia,
Most of Nauru rises somewhat abruptly from the ocean, and there are no harbors or protected anchorages.
Climate
Nauru’s climate is tropical, with daytime temperatures in the low 80s F (about 28 °C), tempered by ocean breezes. Rainfall, averaging about 80 inches (2,000 mm) annually, is extremely variable, and prolonged droughts occur. The only locally available water is collected from roof catchment systems, and water is imported as ballast on ships returning to Nauru for loads of phosphate. There are no rivers or streams.
Soils are generally poor and highly porous, and the irregular rainfall limits cultivation to the coastal belt and the lagoon’s fringe. Phosphate mining has ravaged the interior of the island, leaving about four-fifths of it uninhabitable and uncultivable. Subsistence crops, consisting mainly of coconut palms, pandanus, bananas, pineapple, and some vegetables, are not adequate to support the population; the land does yield a great variety of plants and trees, however. Nauru is a favorite stopover point for migratory birds, and chickens have been introduced. There was an absence of mammals until rats, mice, cats, dogs, and pigs were also imported.
Most of the island’s residents are indigenous Nauruans.
Demography
There are small numbers of I-Kiribati (Gilbertese), Australians, New Zealanders, Chinese, and Tuvaluans; many members of the latter two groups were recruited as workers by the phosphate industry. Nauruan is the national language. No adequate written grammar of the language has been compiled, and its relationships to other Micronesian languages are not well understood. English is widely spoken. Nauru is considered one of the most Westernized countries in the South Pacific.
More than four-fifths of Nauruans are Christians; more than half the total population is Protestant and one-third is Roman Catholic.
The people of Nauru are comprised of 12 tribes, as symbolized by the 12-pointed star on the Nauru flag, and are believed to be a mixture of Micronesian, Polynesian, and Melanesian descent. Their native language is Nauruan but English is widely spoken as it is used for government and commercial purposes.
The settlement pattern on the island is dispersed. People are scattered along the coastal zone, and there is one small village, Buada, inland near the lagoon.
Agriculture (except coffee and copra plantations along the coastal and lagoon perimeters), fishing, manufacturing, and tourism are of minor value to the overall economy. However, Nauru has an exclusive economic zone extending 200 miles (320 km) offshore. The sale of commercial fishing licenses began to bring in a steady revenue during the 1990s.
Phosphate mining
Phosphate has been mined on Nauru since 1907. For decades it was Nauru’s main resource and sole export, dominating the island’s economy, and its quality was the highest in the world.
The phosphate industry and government services together provided almost all of the island’s salaried employment. For much of the 20th century, the phosphate industry was owned and operated by a corporation jointly managed by the British, Australian, and New Zealand governments.
The government of independent Nauru gained control of phosphate operations in 1970, and in the 1980s Nauru was for a time one of the wealthiest countries in the world in terms of gross domestic product per capita. By the late 20th century, however, the phosphate deposits were quickly becoming exhausted, and Nauru experienced a severe drop-off in earnings, leading to the country’s near bankruptcy by the early years of the 21st century. Nauru struggled to develop other resources and find alternative sources of income. However, the country experienced some economic respite late in the first decade of the 2000s when repairs and improvements to mining-related infrastructure expedited the extraction and export of the remaining primary phosphate deposits and allowed the more difficult extraction of secondary phosphate deposits.
Virtually all food, water, and manufactured goods are imported. Australia supplies nine-tenths of Nauru’s imports; far smaller amounts come from New Zealand, Fiji, and Japan.
Nigeria receives almost half of Nauru’s exports, and South Korea and Australia combined take another one-third. With the exception of those levied on alcohol and tobacco, there are no import duties. There is no income tax.
Nauru has its banking system; the Bank of Nauru is wholly owned and operated by the government. The financial sector grew in importance after the 1980s as the island became known as an offshore banking center and tax haven. Beginning in 1999, amid allegations that it was a money-laundering conduit for organized crime and terrorist organizations, the financial sector underwent a series of reforms to increase its transparency. Nauru is within the Australian monetary system, and Australian currency is the country’s legal tender.
Transportation
Most regional and international travel is by air. Nauru’s sole airport is located in the Yaren district. In 1970 the country launched its national airline, control of which was transferred in 1996 to a government-owned corporation.
In November 1947, Nauru became a United Nations trust territory, an arrangement paralleling the former League of Nations mandate. The same three metropolitan powers were the responsible authorities, but Australia continued to provide the actual administration.
A series of developments in the 1950s and particularly in the early 1960s led to self-government and eventually political independence and ownership of the phosphate industry. In October 1967 an agreement granting Nauruan independence was concluded. January 31, 1968, the 22nd anniversary of the return of Nauruans from Truk, was chosen as Independence Day for the Republic of Nauru.
Hotel accommodation
There are two hotels - a government-owned and a family-owned. There are two other accommodation options (unit type) that are privately owned.
Communications
Calling code: +674 SIM cards may be purchased from the main office of Digicel.
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