Infos about Kiribati

Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. It comprises 33 atolls dispersed over 1,351,000 square miles (3,500,000 km²) straddling the equator and the International Date Line. The name Kiribati is pronounced [kiribas] and is the Kiribati language rendering of "Gilberts", derived from the English name for the main group of islands: the former Gilbert Islands. Because the written native language lacks the letter s, the sound is rendered as ti. Likewise, the Pacific island known as Christmas Island (not to be confused with the Australian-administered island of that name in the Indian Ocean) is known in the Kiribati language as Kiritimati Island.