Tuvalu competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. The country's participation at Rio de Janeiro marked its third consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut in 2008. The delegation included a single track and field athlete: sprinter Etimoni Timuani. Etimoni was also the nation's flagbearer in the Parade of Nations. He did not progress past the first round of his men's 100 metres competition. (Full article...)
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Satellite picture
Niulakita is the southernmost island of Tuvalu, and also the name of the only village on this island. Niulakita has a population of 34 (2017 Census). The residents of Niulakita have moved to the island from Niutao. Niulakita is represented in the Parliament of Tuvalu by the members of the constituency of Niutao. (Full article...)
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Map of Tuvalu The 2011 Tuvalu drought was a period of severe drought afflicting Tuvalu, a South Pacific island country of approximately 10,500 people, in the latter half of 2011. A state of emergency was declared on September 28, 2011; with rationing of available fresh-water. The La Niña event that caused the drought ended in April–May 2012. By August 2012 the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Conditions indicated that the tropical Pacific Ocean was on the brink of an El Niño event. (Full article...)
Saufatu SopoangaOBE (22 February 1952 – 15 December 2020) was a Tuvaluan politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Tuvalu from 2 August 2002 to 27 August 2004. He drew international attention for his speeches warning about the effects of the rising sea level on Tuvalu and other low-lying island countries.
He later served as Deputy Prime Minister from 2004 to 2006. His younger brother Enele Sopoaga served as Prime Minister of Tuvalu from 2013 to 2019. (Full article...)
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Sir Tomu Malaefone Sione, GCMG,OBE (17 November 1941 – April 2016), was a political figure from the Pacific nation of Tuvalu. He worked as a journalist from 1962 to 1968, and held the post of radio announcer in the Broadcasting and Information Department of the administration of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (GEIC). He was the head of the southern Niutao clan. He was married to Segali. (Full article...)
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Cyclone Raja on 28 December
Severe Tropical Cyclone Raja was a tropical cyclone that holds the 24-hour rainfall record of 674.9 mm (26.57 in) for the French Overseas Territory of Wallis and Futuna. The system was first noted by the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS) as a weak tropical disturbance northeast of Tokelau in mid-December 1986. The system developed further as it moved southwest over the next few days, and it was classified as Tropical Cyclone Raja on 23 December. The newly named system slowed and unexpectedly recurved southeast towards the French territory of Wallis and Futuna on 24 December. Over the next two days, Raja interacted with what would become Severe Cyclone Sally and executed a tight loop, passing within 55 km (35 mi) of Futuna. The system peaked as a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone on 28 December, with estimated 10-minute sustained winds of 90 mph (150 km/h). The storm turned southwest the next day and threatened Fiji, where it passed within 20 km (10 mi) of Vanua Levu and near (or over) several smaller islands in the Lau group during the following day. Raja gradually weakened over the next few days as it moved south of Fiji; it was last noted on 5 January 1987 after it filled up over the north Tasman Sea.
Raja caused one death as it impacted the island nations of Tuvalu, Wallis and Futuna, Tonga and Fiji. Gusty winds and rough seas associated with the system caused extensive damage to crops, coastal installations and buildings in Tuvalu, and flooded low-lying areas. The island of Futuna was the worst hit, with crops, coastal installations and buildings damaged or destroyed by the system. Raja affected the main islands of Fiji twice between 24 and 30 December, and was responsible for the worst flood of the Labasa River since 1929. As a result of the damage to Fiji and portions of Polynesia, the name Raja was retired from the South Pacific naming lists. (Full article...)
Telavi was first elected to parliament in 2006 and was re-elected in 2010. He became prime minister on 24 December 2010 and the Telavi Ministry retained government until August 2013. The refusal of prime minister Telavi to recall the Parliament of Tuvalu after the 2013 Nukufetau by-election resulted in a constitutional crisis when he adopted the position that, under the Constitution of Tuvalu, he was only required to convene parliament once a year, and was thus under no obligation to summon it until December 2013. The opposition then requested the Governor-General of Tuvalu, Sir Iakoba Italeli, to intervene against the Telavi's decision. On 3 July, Governor-General Italeli exercised his reserve powers in ordering parliament to convene, against the prime minister Telavi's wishes, on 30 July. On 1 August 2013 Governor-General Italeli again exercised his reserve powers and dismissed Telavi as Prime Minister of Tuvalu and appointed the opposition leader Enele Sopoaga as Tuvalu's caretaker prime minister. A day later, on 2 August 2013, Telavi's government was successfully brought down through a vote of no confidence in parliament. He resigned from parliament in August 2014. He was absent for much of the parliamentary year tending to his sick wife in Hawaii, and he resigned in order to remain at his wife's side. (Full article...)
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A Tuvaluan police officer during the visit of President Tsai of the Republic of China. 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 traditional music of Tuvalu consists of dances, including fatele, fakanau and fakaseasea. The influence of the Samoan missionaries sent to Tuvalu by the London Missionary Society from the 1860s resulted in the suppression of songs about the traditional religions or magic and many songs were lost. As the influence of the missionaries diminished in the 20th century the traditional dances were revived and the siva dance tradition from Samoa also became popular.
Te titi tao is a traditional skirt placed upon another skirt - a titi kaulama - and tops (teuga saka), headbands, armbands, and wristbands continue to be used in performances of the fatele. (Full article...)
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Men carve a canoe on Nanumea Atoll in Tuvalu. 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...)
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Funafuti is the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. It has a population of 6,320 people (2017 census). More people live in Funafuti than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with it containing approximately 60% of the nation's population. It consists of a narrow sweep of land between 20 and 400 metres (66 and 1,312 feet) wide, encircling a large lagoon (Te Namo) 18 km (11 miles) long and 14 km (9 miles) wide. The average depth of the Funafuti lagoon is about 20 fathoms (36.5 meters or 120 feet). With a surface area of 275 square kilometres (106.2 sq mi), it is by far the largest lagoon in Tuvalu. The land area of the 33 islets around the atoll of Funafuti totals 2.4 square kilometres (0.9 sq mi); taken together, they constitute less than one percent of the total area of the atoll. Cargo ships can enter Funafuti's lagoon and dock at the port facilities on Fongafale.
The capital of Tuvalu is sometimes said to be Fongafale or Vaiaku, but, officially, the entire atoll of Funafuti is its capital, since it has a single government that is responsible for the whole atoll. (Full article...)
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...)
Image 17The 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)
Image 311st 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 32A portrait of a woman on Funafuti in 1894 by Count Rudolf Festetics de Tolna. (from History of Tuvalu)
Image 34Polynesia 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 35Ocean side of Funafuti atoll showing the storm dunes, the highest point on the atoll. (from Geography of Tuvalu)
Cyclone Bebe passed over Funafuti on October 21 & 22, 1972. It knocked down 90% of the houses and trees and caused extensive damage to Princess Margaret Hospital and other public buildings.