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Nauru was
first settled by Micronesian and Polynesian peoples
at least 3,000 years ago.[3] There were traditionally
12 clans or tribes on Nauru, which are represented
in the 12-pointed star in the nation's flag. The
Nauruan people called their island "Naoero";
the word "Nauru" was later created from
"Naoero" so that English speakers could
easily pronounce the name. Nauruans traced their
descent on the female side. Naurans subsisted
on coconut and pandanus fruit, and caught juvenile
ibija fish, acclimated them to fresh water conditions
and raised them in Buada Lagoon, providing an
additional reliable source of food. Traditionally
only men were permitted to fish on the reef, and
did so from canoes or by using trained Man-of-war
Hawks.
American
Captain John Fearn, a whale hunter, became the
first Westerner to visit the island in 1798, and
named it Pleasant Island. From around the 1830s,
Nauruans had contact with Europeans from whaling
ships and traders who replenished their supplies
at the island. Around this time, beachcombers
and deserters began to live on the island. The
islanders traded food for alcoholic toddy and
firearms; the firearms were used during the 10-year
war which began in 1878 and resulted in a reduction
of the population to 900 persons. The island was
annexed by Germany in 1888 and incorporated into
Germany's Marshall Islands Protectorate; they
called the island Nawodo or Onawero. The arrival
of the Germans ended the war; social changes brought
about by the war established Kings as rulers of
the island, the most widely known being King Auweyida.
Christian missionaries from the Gilbert Islands
also arrived at the island in 1888.
Phosphate
was discovered on the island in 1900 by prospector
Albert Ellis and the Pacific Phosphate Company
started to exploit the reserves in 1906 by agreement
with Germany; they exported their first shipment
in 1907. Following the outbreak of World War I,
the island was captured by Australian forces in
1914. After the war, the League of Nations gave
Australia, New Zealand and the UK a trustee mandate
over the territory. The three governments signed
a Nauru Island Agreement in 1919, creating a board
known as the British Phosphate Commission (BPC),
which took over the rights to phosphate mining.
During World
War II Nauru was occupied by Japan from August
1942. The Japanese-built airfield on the island
was bombed in March 1943, preventing food supplies
from reaching the island. To prevent starvation,
the Japanese deported 1,200 Nauruans to work as
labourers in the Chuuk islands, where 463 died.
The island was liberated on September 13, 1945
when the Australian warship HMAS Diamantina approached
the island and Japanese forces surrendered. Arrangements
were made by the BPC to repatriate Nauruans from
Chuuk, and they were returned to Nauru by the
BPC ship Trienza in January 1946. In 1947, a trusteeship
was approved by the United Nations, and Australia,
NZ and the UK again became trustees of the island.
Nauru became self-governing in January 1966, and
following a two-year constitutional convention,
became independent in 1968, led by founding president
Hammer DeRoburt. In 1967, the people of Nauru
purchased the assets of the British Phosphate
Commissioners, and in June 1970 control passed
to the locally owned Nauru Phosphate Corporation.
Income from the exploitation of phosphate gave
Nauruans one of the highest living standards in
the Pacific.
In 1989
the country took legal action against Australia
in the International Court of Justice over Australia's
actions during its administration of Nauru, in
particular, Australia's failure to remedy the
environmental damage caused by phosphate mining.
The action led to a sizeable out-of-court settlement
to rehabilitate the mined-out areas of Nauru.
Diminishing phosphate reserves has led to economic
decline in Nauru, which has brought increasing
political instability since the mid-1980s. Nauru
had 17 changes of administration between 1989
and 2003. Between 1999 and 2003, a series of no-confidence
votes and elections resulted in two people, René
Harris and Bernard Dowiyogo, leading the country
for alternating periods. Dowiyogo died in office
in March 2003 and Ludwig Scotty was elected President.
Scotty was re-elected to serve a full term in
October 2004.
In recent
times, a significant proportion of the country's
income has come in the form of aid from Australia.
In 2001, the MV Tampa, a ship which had rescued
460 refugees (from various countries including
Afghanistan) from a stranded 20-metre (65 ft)
boat and was seeking to dock in Australia, was
diverted to Nauru as part of the Pacific Solution.
Nauru continues to operate the Nauru detention
centre in exchange for Australian aid. However,
as of November 2005, Australian media reported
that only two asylum seekers remained on Nauru.
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