Gilbert and Ellice Islands French captain Louis Duperrey was the first to map the whole Gilbert Islands archipelago. He commanded "La Coquille" on its circumnavigation of the earth (1822–1825). Funafuti atoll was named Ellice's Island after Edward Ellice, a British politician and merchant, by Captain Arent de Peyster, who sighted the islands in 1819 sailing on the ship "Rebecca". Ellice owned the cargo of the ship. The name Ellice was applied to all nine islands, of what is now Tuvalu, after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay. The Gilbert and Ellice Islands were formerly designated an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code "GE"
1975 Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands status referendum 1975 Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands status referendum A referendum on the future status of the islands was held in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands on 8 July 1975. Voters were offered six options: In Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap (later to become the Federated States of Micronesia) option one (independence) received the highest number of votes in favour (59.1%), whilst Free Association (58.0%) and the present status (59.0%) also received majorities in favour. Voter turnout was 52.6%. In the Marshall Islands option five was the only option to be approved, with 77% voting in favour, although