|RNature and climate:|N Nine low coral islands of which eight are inhabited located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. No point is more than five metres above sea level.
Average temperature 27°C throughout the year.
Percipitation between 3000 and 4000 mm.
|RPeople:|N Polynesian.
|REconomy:|N Most of the population is occupied in agriculture, mainly in self-subsistence farming and in fishing.
Many labourors, 1500 out of a population of 10 000 work abroad, either in the phosphate mines at the Gilbert islands, or as sailors.
Copra is the main export.
Stamps and handicrafts give important incomes.
|RHistory:|N British protectorate since 1892 called the Ellice Islands.
Administrated as a unit with the Gilbert Islands, but separated from them in 1975 after a referendum.