HISTORY
The Spanish were the first
Europeans to see the islands in the 1500s. However, in 1819 an
American ship captain, De Peyster, named the main island in the
group Ellice's Island after a British politician who owned the
cargo aboard his ship. In 1841, the U.S. Exploring Expedition
commanded by Charles Wilkes visited three of Tuvalu's islands
and welcomed visitors to his ships. Other early interactions with
the outside world were far less benign--in 1863, hundreds of people
from the southern islands were kidnapped when they were lured
them aboard slave ships with promises that they would be taught
about Christianity. Those islanders were forced to work under
horrific conditions in the guano mines of Peru.
Eventually, the islands came
under Britain's sphere of influence as the Pacific was divided
up in the late 19th century. The Ellice Islands were administered
by Britain as part of a protectorate (1892-1916) and as part of
the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (1916-74).
During World War II, several
thousand American troops were in the islands. Beginning in October
1942, U.S. forces built airbases on the islands of Funafuti, Nanumea,
and Nukufetau. Friendly cooperation was the hallmark of relations
between the local people and the troops, mainly U.S. Marines and
U.S. Navy SeaBees. The airstrip in the capital of Funafuti, originally
built by the U.S. during the war, is still in use, as is the "American
Passage" that was blasted through Nanumea's reef by SeaBees assisted
by local divers.
In 1974 the Ellice Islanders
voted for separate British dependency status as Tuvalu, separating
from the Gilbert I slands which became Kiribati upon independence.
Tuvalu became fully independent in 1978 and in 1979 signed a treaty
of friendship with the United States, which recognized Tuvalu's
possession of four small islands formerly claimed by the United
States.
