Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation (TTC) is a state-owned enterprise of Tuvalu, which provides fixed-line telephone communications to subscribers on each of the islands of Tuvalu. Each island in Tuvalu relies on TTC for the use of a satellite dish for inter-island telephone communication and internet access. TTC also provides mobile phone services on Funafuti and Vaitupu. TTC is the sole provider of Telecommunications in Tuvalu. TTC is established by the Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation Act 1993. (Full article...)
Image 3
Parliamentary elections were held in Tuvalu on 16 September 2010. Voters elected fifteen members of the Parliament to a four-year term. All candidates were independents, as there are no political parties in the country. Ten out of the fifteen incumbent members were re-elected. The remaining five incumbents, including Deputy Prime Minister Tavau Teii, did not retain their seats. The incumbent Prime Minister, Apisai Ielemia, retained his seat in Vaitupu constituency. On 29 September, Maatia Toafa from Nanumea won eight of the fifteen votes to become Prime Minister.
Various names were given to individual islands by the captains and chartmakers on visiting European ships. In 1819 the island of Funafuti, was named Ellice's Island; the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands, after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay. (Full article...)
Tuvalu is a Polynesianisland nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia, with a population of 11,192 per the 2017 census. The economy of Tuvalu is constrained by its remoteness and lack of economies of scale. Government revenues largely come from fishing licences (primarily paid under the South Pacific Tuna Treaty); direct grants from international donors (government donors as well as from the Asian Development Bank); and income from the Tuvalu Trust Fund. The lease of its highly fortuitous .tvTop Level Domain (TLD) also contributes revenue. The sale of stamps since the independence of Tuvalu in 1976 has been an important source of revenue for the country and government. However, such revenue has significantly declined in recent years. Tuvalu has hardly any tourism. It has no tour guides, tour operators, or organised activities, and no cruise ships visit.
World Bank Statistics outline that in 2010 Tuvalu produced a bottom-tier ranking Gross Domestic Product of $31,350,804 and Gross National Income of $4,760, compared to other Pacific SIDS states such as Kiribati at $2,010 and the Marshall Islands at $3,640. A large proportion of national income comes from the employment of 15% of adult male Tuvaluans overseas in the maritime industry. The value of these remittances was valued at A$4 million (est. 2006) and on average accounts for 10% of GDP. A UN Report makes reference to the fact that these revenue streams are vulnerable to macroeconomic change while the national budget remains heavily subsidised through international aid and funding schemes such as the Tuvalu Trust Fund with a strong reliance on the importation of food, which was estimated at $15.5 million 2007. (Full article...)
Tuvalu, previously known as the Ellice Islands, is an island country in Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean. It consists of six atolls and three reef islands (islands made of rocks from coral skeletons), with a total land area of 26 km2 (10 sq mi). Its climate is hot and humid, with annual rainfall varying from 2,500–3,500 mm (98–138 in). The soil is very weakly developed, consisting mostly of coral sand and calcium carbonate-rich regosols. Vegetation on the islands predominantly consists of coconuts, screw palms, Casuarina, creepers, and grass, although some native forest exists. Previously, the islands were likely covered with Pisonia woodland.
Nui is an atoll and one of nine districts of the Pacific Ocean state of Tuvalu. It has a land area of 3.37 km2 and a population of 610 (2017 Census).
Traditionally Nuian culture is organised in three family circles – Tekaubaonga, Tekaunimala and Tekaunibiti families. Most people live on the western end of Fenua Tapu. In the 2012 census, 321 people live in Alamoni – Maiaki and 221 people live in Manutalake – Meang (Tanrake). The junior school is Vaipuna Primary School. (Full article...)
Image 9
A paopao (from the Samoan language, meaning a small fishing canoe made from a single log), is the name used by the Polynesian-speaking inhabitants of the Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu) for their single-outrigger canoes, of which the largest could carry four to six adults. The large double-hulled sailing canoes (lualua and foulua) had ceased to be constructed in the Ellice Islands some time before contact with Europeans.
Donald Gilbert Kennedy, the resident District Officer in the administration of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony from 1932 to 1938, described the construction of paopao and of the variations of single-outrigger canoes that had been developed on Vaitupu and Nanumea. Gerd Koch, an anthropologist, visited the atolls of Nanumaga, Nukufetau and Niutao, in 1960–61, and published a book on the material culture of the Ellice Islands, which also described the canoes of those islands. (Full article...)
Image 10
Crime in Tuvalu is not a significant social problem due to small population, geographic isolation, and low development.
The monarchy of Tuvalu is a system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of Tuvalu. The current Tuvaluan monarch and head of state since 8 September 2022 is King Charles III. As sovereign, he is the personal embodiment of the Tuvaluan Crown. Although the person of the sovereign is equally shared with 14 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, each country's monarchy is separate and legally distinct. As a result, the current monarch is officially titled King of Tuvalu and, in this capacity, he and other members of the royal family undertake public and private functions domestically and abroad as representatives of the Tuvaluan state. However, the King is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.
The Funafuti Conservation Area is a marine conservation area covering 33 square kilometers (12.74 square miles) of reef, lagoon and motu (islets) on the western side of Funafuti atoll in Tuvalu. The marine environment of the conservation area includes reef, lagoon, channel and ocean; and are home to many species of fish, corals, algae and invertebrates. The islets are nesting sites for the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) and Fualopa hosts a breeding colony of black noddy (Anous minutes).
The decision to create a protected area (Kogatapu) was made in 1999; the purpose of the Funafuti Conservation Area is the conservation of the marine and land based biodiversity (plants, animals and ecosystems) within the protected area. The boundaries of the Funafuti Conservation Area encompass about 20 percent of the total coral reef area of Funafuti lagoon (Te Namo), and is an important part of the protection of the coral reefs of Tuvalu. (Full article...)
Image 11Ocean side of Funafuti atoll showing the storm dunes, the highest point on the atoll. (from History of Tuvalu)
Image 12Polynesia is the largest of three major cultural areas in the Pacific Ocean. Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the Polynesian triangle. (from History of Tuvalu)
Image 211st Lt. Louis Zamperini, peers through a hole in his B-24D Liberator 'Super Man' made by a 20mm shell over Nauru, 20 April 1943. (from History of Tuvalu)
Image 35The atoll of Funafuti; borings into a coral reef and the results, being the report of the Coral Reef Committee of the Royal Society (1904). (from History of Tuvalu)