They constitute the main part of the country of Kiribati (the name of which is a rendering of "Gilberts" in the phonology of the indigenous Gilbertese).

The northernmost island in the group, Makin, it is approximately 420 nautical miles (780 km) from southernmost, Arorae, as the crow flies.

However, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) considers the entire Gilbert islands group to be in the South Pacific Ocean.

In official north–south order (grouped by former administrative district), the islands and atolls are: Source for land areas: Kiribati 2005 Census Report The Northern Gilberts (meang or mweang) geographically and traditionally encompass Butaritari, Makin, Marakei, Abaiang (literally northland) and Tarawa.

The cultivation of taro or babai (Cyrtosperma merkusii) has been historically easier in the northern Gilberts due to a higher water table and regular rainfall.

However, the latter three are considered the main islands that have unique historical and cultural characteristics which distinguish the Central Gilberts from the north and south.

[5] The Southern Gilberts include the atolls of Nonouti, South and North Tabiteuea, Beru, Nikunau, Onotoa, Tamana and the most southerly island of Arorae.

In 1606, Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós sighted Butaritari and Makin, which he named the Buen Viaje Islands.

[7][8] The British explorer Vice-Admiral John Byron passed through the islands in 1765 during his circumnavigation of the globe as captain of HMS Dolphin.

[17] The conduct of William Telfer Campbell, the second resident commissioner of the Gilberts, was criticised as to his legislative, judicial and administrative management (including allegations of forced labour exacted from islanders) and became the subject of the 1909 report by Arthur Mahaffy.

[18] In 1913 an anonymous correspondent to The New Age journal described the mis-administration of Telfer Campbell and challenged the impartiality of Arthur Mahaffy as he was a former colonial official in the Gilberts.

[citation needed] In Mahaffy's 1909 report to the British Government he described the missionaries or Protectorate staff then resident in the Gilbert Islands.

The rest of the population were then largely semi-pagan agnostics; they did not adhere to the Christian faith, nor did they retain much of their beliefs in their own ancient gods.

Native diet during this time consisted mainly of fish, coconuts, pandanus fruit, babai (swamp taro), chicken, and some pork.

Mahaffy described the native clothing as being of "shocking shape" and "atrocious color", and that the style was changing into "kilt(s) of leaves or fine woven mats".

Their ancestors, they said, had been white skinned and red haired and came from elsewhere, perhaps the West (possibly coinciding with the outward spread of Homo sapiens from Africa and elsewhere).

Other religions on the islands figure slightly, and there are remarkable stories of adventures, bravery, political machinations, etc.

Probably out of print, but second hand copies are available I think, I have two, and the illustrations are delightful.On the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded the Gilbert Islands, occupying 3 of them by 9 December 1941.

It is instead believed to have alerted the Japanese to the strategic importance of the Gilbert Islands and led to their reinforcement and fortification.

Marines captured during this operation were subsequently summarily executed by the Japanese, in gross violation of the laws of war.

Tungaru traditions: Writings on the atoll culture of the Gilberts, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony: Instructions and Hints to District Officers, Deputy Commissioners and Sub-accountants, His Britannic Majesty's High Commission for the Western Pacific, Suva, Fiji.

The first twelve years, in: H. Van Trease, (Ed) Atoll Politics: The Republic of Kiribati, pp.

Reorganized meeting house system: The focus of social life in a contemporary village in Tabiteuea South, Kiribati.

Cinderellas of the Empire: Towards a History of Kiribati and Tuvalu, Australian National University Press, Canberra.

The Evolution of the Gilbertese Boti: An Ethnohistorical Interpretation, Journal of the Polynesian Society, 72 (Supplement), pp. 1–68.

Foreword, in Sabatier, E. (translated by U. Nixon), Astride the Equator: An Account of the Gilbert Islands, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, pp.

Notes, in Sabatier, E. (translated by U. Nixon), Astride the Equator: An Account of the Gilbert Islands, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, pp. 353–373.

Munro, D, Firth, S. From company rule to consular control: Gilbert Island labourers on German plantations in Samoa.

The Chinese communities in the smaller countries of the South Pacific: Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga and the Cook Islands (Macmillan Brown Working Paper Series) [Online].