Gilbert Islands

Gilbert Islands, an archipelago in the Pacific, lying on the equator between 172° and 177° E. long. Area, 166 sq. m.; population about 36,800. The group consists of sixteen atolls, several of them triangular in shape, with two out- lying hilly islands. Some of the atolls (e.g. Peru or Francis) are rising in elevation. Cocoa-nuts and copra are the chief, almost the only, productions of the group. The inhabitants, a mixed Malayo-Polynesian race, closely resemble the Marshall islanders, though they speak a different language. Many of the people take service in Samoa, Fiji, &c. as labourers. The archipelago belongs to the jurisdiction of the British High Commissioner of the Western Pacific. It was discovered by Marshall and Gilbert in 1788.