TM Republic of

CultureGrams
Kids Edition 2017 Nauru
Repubrikin Naoero

Nauru is the only country in the Pacific Ocean that is just one island (rather than a group of islands).
A cargo officer used a strange-looking rock he had found in Nauru for a door stop for several years before one of
his colleagues tested it and discovered it was a rich piece of phosphate (a valuable fertilizer), which led to the
discovery of Nauru's huge phosphate deposits.
The center of Nauru has been strip-mined for phosphate, leaving pillars of white coral that sometimes reach 50
feet (15 meters) high.
Four-fifths of Nauru is uninhabitable.
Nauru became an independent country on the 22nd anniversary of the day in 1946 when 737 of 1,200 surviving
Nauruans returned from Truk Island, where they had been moved in order to work for the Japanese during World
War II.
Nauru has no official capital, though government buildings are located in a single district.
Until 2006, a quarter of Nauru's population was made up of temporary workers, mainly from Kiribati and Tuvalu.
Nauru's population has twice faced extinction, dipping below 1,500 people, and twice recovered.
It takes about 20 minutes to drive around the entire island of Nauru.

Flag

National Image
The frigate bird is the national bird of Nauru. Traditionally, Nauruans catch and
domesticate these seabirds, which live off of large amounts of fish.

Land and Climate

Area (sq. mi.)

8
Area (sq. km.)
21

Nauru is the only country in the Pacific Ocean that is made up of only one island. The
island is very smallthree times smaller than San Marino and only one-tenth the size

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of the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C. The island of Nauru is oval shaped, and all of
the people live on a narrow strip of rich land that wraps around the edge. Inland is a
plateau (high, flat area) that rises to about 100 feet (30 meters) above sea level.

For thousands of years, birds stopped at the island on their journey across the ocean,
leaving droppings as they did. These droppings (called guano) built up over time and
were later dissolved by seawater that let out a valuable chemical from the droppings
called phosphate, which then hardened into rocks. During the 20th century, Nauru's
plateau was mined for phosphate until these deposits were almost gone. Most of
Nauru's land was destroyed in the process. Today, tall white coral pillars reaching up to
50 feet (15 meters) can be seen in the island's interior, and all the plant life has been
destroyed. Some say that most of the island now looks like the moon. The island is
surrounded by a coral reef, and an estimated 40 percent of marine life around Nauru
was also destroyed during the mining process. Nauru has no mammals that are native
to the island, but ships have brought rats, cats, dogs, pigs, and chickens to the island.

Nauru is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) south of the equator, so temperatures stay
about the same all year long, between averages of 73F (23C) and 90F (32C).
Nauru has no rivers or streams, so Nauruans rely mainly on rainwater that is collected
on rooftop containers. Rain falls most often between November and February, but
droughts (dry periods) are common, and some water must be brought in on ships.

Population

Population
9,591

Native Nauruans make up nearly all of the population. The name they call themselves
is Dei-Naoero (Naoero is the local name for the island). There used to be many
residents from Tuvalu and Kiribati as well. They came to Nauru to work in the
phosphate (a valuable fertilizer) mining industry, but most of them went back to their
home countries in 2006 because there was no work left for them to do. There are small
numbers of Chinese and European people as well. The refugees (people forced to
leave their homes by war or other problems) who live in Nauru's processing center
(houses where they live while waiting to hear if they are going to be allowed to enter
and live in Australia) come from many different countries.

Nauru has one small community that is located inland, near a lagoon, but everyone else
lives spread out along the coast. Instead of cities or towns, Nauru is divided into 14
districts. None of these districts is considered the capital of the country, though
government offices are located in the Yaren district.

Language
Though Nauru doesn't have an official language, the government has made English the language to be used in
government, business, and education, so all kids speak English at school after a certain age. Nearly everyone speaks
Nauruan at home though. It is related to other Micronesian languages. Not everyone agrees on how to spell words in
Nauruan, so there isn't a standardized written form. But that doesn't mean that it's impossible to find books in the
language. The Bible and other books have been translated into Nauruan. Sometimes people speak a mix of Chinese
and English, which helps Nauruans, Tuvaluans, I-Kiribati, and Chinese to communicate with each other. The use of this
Chinese pidgin (language formed from a mix of several languages) is less common now, however, since most of the
foreign workers living in Nauru have returned home.

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Can You Say It in Nauruan?

How are you? Wo ret ted (woah ret ted)
Good-bye Tarawong (tah-roh-WONG)
Please Magada (mah-gah-DAH)
Thank you Tubwa (TOO-oo-bye)
Yes Eh (eh)
No Ekeow (ehk-EH-oh)

Religion

Source: The World Factbook 2017. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2017.
Originally, Nauruans believed in a god they called Eijebong and a spirit island called Buitani. In 1888, they were
introduced to Christianity when a Protestant pastor arrived from the country that is today Kiribati. Catholicism came to
the island soon after. Today, most Nauruans are Christian, and the largest church is the Protestant Nauru
Congregational Church. Catholics are the next largest group. Most people attend church services on Sundays. Nauru is
also home to a small number of Muslims and Buddhists.

Time Line
1000 BC
c. 1000 BC The earliest inhabitants are believed to have settled on Nauru
AD 1700
AD 1798 British sailor John Fearn sails by what is now Nauru, calling it Pleasant
Island
1800
Early 1830s When European whalers (people hunting whales in the ocean) begin
using the island to stock up on food and water, they find native people
living there in 12 tribes; a small number of Europeans settle on the
island, bringing guns with them

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1878 Civil war breaks out among the islands tribes, who are armed with
European guns; German traders living on the island ask their
government to help stop the fighting, and Germany incorporates Nauru
into its Marshall Islands protectorate (country protected by another
country)

1899 The first Protestant missionaries arrive

1900
1900 Phosphate (a valuable fertilizer) is discovered on Nauru
1902 The first Catholic missionary arrives

1906 A British company starts mining phosphate after making an agreement

with Germany to share the money it makes

1914 At the beginning of World War I, Australian troops capture Nauru from
Germany

1920 The United Nations (UN) gives Australia, the United Kingdom (UK),
and New Zealand the right to govern Nauru, but Australia does most of
the governing; a company owned by all three countries, the British
Phosphate Commissioners (BPC), continues mining phosphate in
Nauru.

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1942 Japan occupies Nauru as part of World War II

194345 Japan deports (forces to leave) about 1,200 Nauruans to work as

laborers on an island in what is now Micronesia; the United States
repeatedly bombs the airstrip Japan built in Nauru

1945 Australia once again takes control of Nauru

1946 The 737 surviving forced Nauruan laborers return to their island
1964 Australia and the other countries who help govern Nauru (the UK and
New Zealand) suggest the idea of moving Naurus people to Curtis
Island, which is owned by Australia, since Naurus environment is
being destroyed by phosphate mining; Nauruans do not accept this
plan and instead decide they want independence

1968 Nauru officially becomes independent and takes over phosphate

mining on the island; Hammer Deroburt is the countrys first president

1989 The UN warns that climate change might cause the island of Nauru to
disappear in the 21st century; Nauru sues the countries that used to
govern it for not sharing more money made from phosphate mining and
doing so much environmental damage to the island
1993 The fund Nauru was putting its phosphate mining earnings into runs
out of money; Nauruans protest against their government; Australia,
the UK, and New Zealand agree to pay Nauru settlements that together
equal nearly $90 million
2000

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20018 In return for millions of dollars of aid from Australia, Nauru agrees to
accept refugees (people forced to leave their homes by war or other
problems) who are illegally trying to get into Australia

2003 President Brenard Dowiyogo agrees to U.S. demands for Nauru to

clean up its offshore banking sector for international clients who want
to keep their finances secret because the U.S. believes it is being used
illegally; some refugees held in Naurus center go on a hunger strike;
Naurus phone system collapses for two months, cutting off
communication with the outside world
2004 Nauru is unable to meet all of its loan payments; Australian officials
come to Nauru to help the government with its finances
2005 Naurus only airplane is taken by a U.S. bank since Nauru has not kept
up to date on its loans; a deeper layer of phosphate is discovered on
the island; Nauru cleans up its banking system and is taken off of the
blacklist of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD)

2010 The Nauruan government experiences a period of instability, with

several elections in a row that do not produce clear winners; Nauruan
voters reject changes to the constitution that would strengthen human
rights on the island
2012 Australia reopens its refugee center on Nauru; conditions there are
criticized by human-rights groups

2013 Large riots break out at the refugee center

2016 Australia works on carrying out a deal where it pays Cambodia to let a
few of the refugees from the Nauru center move to Cambodia and live
there permanently; the United States announces its agreement to
resettle a number of refugees currently held by Australia in camps in
Nauru and Papua New Guinea

PRESENT

Early Inhabitants

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Very little is known about the original people of Nauru. Some believe the island was first
settled about three thousand years ago by people from other Pacific Islands. Today's
Nauruans are a mixture of ethnicities from the Pacific regions of Micronesia, Polynesia,
and Melanesia. Others think that the first settlers came later and were accidentally
shipwrecked and stranded on the island.

The early people of Nauru were divided into 12 tribes, or groups, who were each led by
chiefs. Each tribe traced their ancestry through their mothers. They lived mainly on
coconuts and pandanus (the fruit of a pandanus palm tree), which they grew, and many
types of fish. Seabirds and other seafood were also part of their diet. They left no
written history about other parts of their lives.

European Arrivals
The first European to come across what is now Nauru was British captain John Fearn,
who sailed past it in 1798 and called it Pleasant Island. After that, European whalers
(people hunting whales in the ocean) sometimes stopped at the island looking for food
and water. A small number of European traders began settling there, bringing guns with
them.

In 1878, a civil war broke out among Nauru's tribes, who used some of these guns in
their battles. German traders asked their government for protection, so the next year
Germany made the island part of its Marshall Islands protectorate (country protected by
another country) and the fighting ended. Soon after, Christian missionaries arrived on
the island.

Then, in 1900, a discovery was made that changed the course of Nauru's history:
phosphate. This valuable fertilizer was needed to help grow crops in Australia and New
Zealand, and within a few years a British company made an agreement with Germany
that let it start mining for phosphate in Nauru.

Colonial Control
Australia captured Nauru from Germany in 1914, soon after World War I began. The
Allied Powers gave the island to the United Kingdom (UK), New Zealand, and Australia
to govern, though Australia had the most control. The three nations also formed a new
company to continue mining Nauru for phosphate (a valuable fertilizer). Workers from
many foreign countries around the Pacific as well as Asia were brought in to help with
the mining.

In 1942, during World War II, Japan took over Nauru and sent two-thirds of the
population (1,200 people) to work on another island it had taken over, in what is now
Micronesia. Because of starvation and bombing attacks, fewer than 750 of these
workers survived and were able to later return to Nauru. The population left in Nauru
also suffered deaths from bombings.

After the war, Nauru returned to the hands of the trustee governments of the UK, New
Zealand, and Australia, with Australia again governing the island. Phosphate mining
continued on Nauru and was the island's main money maker, but the resource would
not last forever and much of the island's land was being destroyed. This led the trustee
governments to suggest that all of the people of Nauru move to Curtis Island, which
was owned by Australia. But Nauruans did not want to move. Instead, they wanted to
govern themselves.

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Wealth and Poverty

In 1968, Nauru took control over its phosphate (a valuable fertilizer) mining, and the
country became officially independent. Nauru only had a third of its original phosphate
deposits left, but that was enough to make the island very wealthy during the 1970s and
'80s. During this period, the Nauruan government made so much money that it could
afford to cover all or most of the of its small population's housing, utilities, education,
and healthcare costs. The government even had money left over, which it put into a
fund so that the country would continue to have enough money after its phosphate
deposits ran out.

However, this fund was not managed well, and when the phosphate deposits did run
out in the 1990s, Nauru was left with almost nothing. The economy was helped slightly
by the tens of millions of dollars its former trustee governments paid Nauru after it sued
them for not sharing enough of the money they made from mining and for doing
environmental damage to the island. However, if Nauruans were going to continue to
live on their island, they had to find another way to make money.

Refugees
As the next century began, Nauru found a new way to help its economy survive. It
agreed to take refugees (people forced to leave their homes by war or other problems)
who were trying to get into Australia illegally and house them in a processing center
(houses where refugees live while waiting to hear if they are going to be allowed to
enter and live in Australia). These refugees would usually stay in the processing center
for years while Australia processed their applications and decided what to do with them.
In return, Australia paid the Nauruan government millions of dollars in aid.

However, as the number of refugees in Nauru shrank, the amount of aid money
Australia gave the island did too, and Australia ended the program all together in 2008.
As a result of this and other problems, Nauru didn't have enough money to make
payments on several of its loans.

Australia decided to start sending refugees to Nauru again in 2012, and today
Australian aid is Naurua's main source of money. However, Nauru has been strongly
criticized for the conditions of its processing center. With most of island destroyed by
mining, and long-term aid from Australia uncertain, the Nauruan government is still in
search of a permanent way to support its population.

Games and Sports

The most popular sport in Nauru is Australian-rules football. Nauruans often call this
game Aussie-rules or footy. Unlike U.S.-style football, players are not allowed to throw
the ball to each other. Instead, they must punch or kick the ball until they get it through
the goal posts located on either side of the field. Australia helps support Nauru's footy
team, and Nauru has been successful in international competitions.

The other national sport is weightlifting, with many Nauruans earning medals and
records for their country. Rugby, especially a version of the game called rugby sevens
(or often simply sevens) is growing in popularity. In rugby sevens, each team has seven
players, who compete in seven-minute halves. Other popular sports include boxing,
volleyball, softball, basketball, and tennis.

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There are two traditional sports that Nauruans participate in on special occasions.
Itsibweb involves a ball made of pandanus leaves woven around a wooden ball. Teams
serve this ball back and forth, trying to catch it only if the ball seems likely to hit their
body. Players lose points for catching a ball that would not have hit them or for dropping
a ball they tried to catch. Ekabarere is a traditional kind of wrestling where one person
tries to get the other to touch the ground with any part of their body (other than the
bottoms of their feet).

Kids love to spend their free time swimming. Kids are often joined at the beach by their
families, who bring picnics and might spend time playing volleyball on the sand as well.
Kids also enjoy playing video games on systems like Xbox and PlayStation or on their
phones.

Holidays
There have been two times in Nauru's history when its population has dropped down to
fewer than 1,500 people. When an ethnic group gets that small, it is in danger of dying
out completely. The first time this population dip happened was in 1919, after many
people had been killed by influenza (the flu) and other sicknesses. It took Nauruans 13
years to get their population back up, and they called the baby who marked the 1,500th
Nauruan the Angam Baby. In Nauruan, the word angam means "celebration" or
"triumph over hardships." Nauru's population again dipped below the 1,500 number
after World War II. And again the population grew, with another Angam Baby being
born in 1949. Every year since then, Angam Day is celebrated on October 26, the first
Angam Baby's birthday. During this holiday, people participate in traditional and modern
sports. They also join in games, such as poradit (a card game), fishing competitions,
and bird catching. They also have competitions to see who can make their district the
most beautiful.

Christmas is another favorite holiday. Kids help their parents put up decorations to get
ready for the season. Extended families gather together during this time to celebrate.
They enjoy playing games and sports together and eating foods like barbecued meats
and fish and a starchy fruit called breadfruit. To make sure that there is enough time to
celebrate with all family members, celebrations will often be held with different groups
on different days. For example, children might open presents with their parents on
Christmas Day (25 December), then have a second Christmas celebration with their
dad's side of the family with more presents on 31 December and a third Christmas with
their mom's side of the family on 1 January.

Food
Traditional foods available on Nauru include fish, coconut, shellfish, breadfruit (a
starchy fruit), and pandanus fruit. Though these foods are still eaten, the Nauruan diet
changed a lot as the island became rich enough from phosphate (a valuable fertilizer)
mining to be able to afford to buy Western foods (mainly from Australia) and have them
shipped to the island. Though Nauru is no longer wealthy, the popularity of Western
foods continues. Ships and planes full of packaged foods arrive at the island often to fill
the shelves of grocery stores with canned foods such as spam and corned beef and
frozen foods. These are usually served with large portions of rice.

Many Nauruans also regularly eat foods like instant noodles, french fries, hamburgers,
and pizza. Fresh vegetables are hard to find, as they do not grow in large numbers on
the island and are too expensive to bring in from other places. Fish may still be grilled
or served raw but is now often fried. The national drink is iced coffee loaded with milk
and sugar. Cakes are a favorite dessert. Because of this shift in diet, the Nauruan
population is one of the world's most obese (unhealthily fat) and suffers from one of the
highest rates of type 2 diabetes (a disease in which the body cannot control the amount

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of sugar in its blood).

Nauruans generally eat three large meals a day. Diners sit on the floor with their legs
crossed, eating some foods with their hands and others with a spoon. If there are no
guests present at the meal, children will be served first. Otherwise, the guests eat first.
People usually take their time eating and enjoying their food. Instead of asking if
someone is full, they say Pwe jemen? ("Is your belly swollen?").

Snacking between these large meals is not very common, but when Nauruans do
snack, they have some unique favorites. One is made by combining jelly crystals
(flavored gelatin) with beef stock. People also like to put salt on their citrus fruits and
green mangos.

Foods like ikumo (pork) and ibiya (milkfish) are served at celebratory feasts. For special
occasions, people go to large restaurants, almost always for Chinese food. These
restaurants were started during the years when many Chinese lived in Nauru to work in
the mining industry.

Schools

Adult Literacy
NA

Kids start school at age 6 and are required by law to go until they turn 16. Primary
(elementary) school goes from first to sixth grade. Students must then pass a test in
order to go on to the next level. Secondary (high) school lasts until at least 10th grade,
but students may choose to go on for two more grades after that. The Nauruan
government offers a small number of scholarships that pay for students who earn them
to attend secondary school in other countries, like Fiji. The government runs some
schools by itself and others with the Catholic Church, but all schools are free.

Until students are in second grade, they are taught in Nauruan. After that, teachers start
to use English too. Kids also study English as a subject, along with math, science, and
social sciences. Students are sometimes also taught subjects like culture and life skills.
In 11th and 12th grade, students can take classes that will help them get a job when
they graduate, working in the tourism industry, for example, or as carpenters.

The University of the South Pacific has a campus on Nauru that specializes mainly in
education and business. Students also travel to other countries, usually to Australia, to
attend college. Countries like Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Cuba help fund
scholarships for Nauruan students who want to attend universities elsewhere.

Life as a Kid
Most kids go to school from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. They usually get to and from school on
government-provided school buses. Because of Nauru's small size, there are only a
couple of schools at each level. Nauruan make up most students, but because the
refugee (people forced to leave their homes by war or other problems) children who live
on Nauru attend school there, classes may have kids from countries like Iran, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, and others.

When school gets out, kids like to play with their friends. Kids grow up playing footy (
Australian-rules football) and following professional players, who they often see as
heroes. In addition to footy, kids also get together to play sports like rugby, basketball,
and tennis. Another popular game is coconut fighting. Two players each husk a

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coconut, then crack them together. Whoever's coconut does not break is the winner.

During the weekend, boys and girls enjoy watching cartoons, reading comic books,
playing videos games, listening to music, biking, and playing sports. On Saturdays, a
favorite activity is to go to the Civic Centre market, which has stalls selling different
goods and foods. Popular dishes include sashimi (raw fish) dipped in fresh coconut milk
with onion and salt, barbecued meats and noddy bird with special marinades, and
mango and coconut drinks. International foods made by refugees living on the island
are popular among Nauruans.

Government

Capital
Yaren
Head of State
President Baron Waqa
Head of Government
President Baron Waqa

Nauru's Parliament (the nation's lawmaking body) is made up of 19 members, who the
people of Nauru elect to a three-year term. Members of Parliament then elect the
country's president, who leads the government. The president also serves a three-year
term, with the possibility of being reelected. Nauru does not have an official capital.
Instead, its government offices are located in Yaren, one of the country's 14 districts.
Citizens are required to vote starting at age 20 and may have to pay fines if they do not.

Individual people and their personalities tend to be more important in Nauruan politics
than parties, and most candidates run as independents. However, the Democratic Party
and the Nauru First Party do exist. Nauru's government has changed often in recent
years because Parliament may be dissolved if enough members vote to do so. Nauru
has no army of its own, instead relying on protection from Australia.

Money and Economy

Currency
Australian dollar

Mining for phosphate (a valuable fertilizer) used to be basically the only economic
activity on Nauru. The country was so rich for a time that many of its citizens didn't even
need to work because they made enough money by simply owning land that was being
mined and collecting royalties (payments) from it. Phosphate mining officially ended on
Nauru when supplies ran out in 2006. However, a new method of getting to a deeper
layer of phosphate was developed, and mining of that layer began the next year.
Today, money made from this smaller phosphate layer is still very important to Nauru's
economy, but the island's remaining phosphate is not expected to last more than 20 to
30 more years.

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Nauru has found a few other ways to make money, though not enough to replace
phosphate mining. It has developed an offshore banking sector for international clients
who want to keep their finances secret, though this industry is not very large. Nauru
also owns 200 miles (320 kilometers) of ocean water surrounding the island, which
means that large fishing ships must pay Nauru for licenses to fish in these waters.

Finally, Nauru has benefitted from allowing Australia to keep hundreds of refugees
(people forced to leave their homes by war or other problems) in a center on the island
while they wait for their applications to enter Australia to be processed. In addition to
paying Nauru for this service, Australia also donates a lot of money to the Nauruan
government, as does Taiwan and other countries.

Most food, water, and goods must be bought and shipped to Nauru from Australia.
Nauru is home to some coconut and coffee plantations, located on its coastline and
lagoon, but otherwise has little to sell to other countries. As the money available to the
Nauruan government has dropped a lot, housing, hospitals, and other public buildings
have become worn down.

Getting Around
Nauru has one main paved road that circles the outside edge of the island, connecting
all of the districts. People usually drive on this road in their own cars or motorcycles,
though some public buses are also available.

Nauru does not have any natural harbors, so there is not a place for ships to dock near
the island. Instead, barges shuttle goods and passengers back and forth between large
ships and the shore. Travel by boat is uncommon, however.

Nearly all travel to other countries is by air. The government owns the country's airline,
Nauru Airlines, and there is an international airport located in the Yaren district.

Bird Hunting and Catching

The noddy bird is a small seabird that is considered a delicacy and the national dish of
Nauru. Nauruans have traditionally hunted these birds for generations. Long ago,
hunters would make noddy bird calls themselves or use tame noddy birds to sit on
perches and sing in order to attract more birds. They would make nets out of thin
coconut fibers. Today, hunters use tape recordings of noddy calls and trap the birds
with nylon nets attached to the end of long wooden poles. Noddy birds often fly to the
center of Nauru to roost in the evening, after they finish hunting for small fish and squid.
So hunters go inland about an hour before dusk to set up. As dark sets in, the birds
swoop in, and skilled hunters may catch several at a time in their nets. The noddy birds
are then prepared and eaten by the hunters themselves or sold, providing an important
source of income.

Another Nauruan tradition involves birds as well, but in this case, theyre not used as
food. Frigatebirds, another type of seabird and the national bird of Nauru, have long
been caught with lassos so that they can be kept as pets. The birds are then kept in a
cage for a few weeks while being fed lots of fresh fish. After a while, they become tame
and no longer want to leave the island for good, even after they are removed from the
cage. They will go out hunting in the ocean and bring back other frigatebirds with them,
which are then lassoed and tamed themselves.

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Learn More
Contact the Permanent Mission of Nauru to the United Nations, 801 Second Avenue, Third Floor, New York, NY
10017; phone (121) 937-0074; web site www.un.int/nauru

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