Gilbert and Ellice Islands around $250 million for revenue they had not received and for environmental destruction caused by phosphate mining practices similar to those on Nauru. The British authorities had relocated most of the population to Rabi Island, Fiji after 1945, but by the 1970s many were returning to Banaba. The British rejected the Banaban independence proposal, and the island remained under the jurisdiction of Kiribati. The Gilbert and Ellice Islands used their own postage stamps from 1911. Gilbert and Ellice Islands The Gilbert and Ellice Islands were a British protectorate from 1892 and colony from 1916 until 1 January 1976, when the
Pacific Islands Pacific Islands The Pacific Islands are the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Three major groups of islands in the Pacific Ocean are Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. Depending on the context, "Pacific Islands" may refer to countries and islands with common Austronesian origins, islands once or currently colonized, or Oceania. The indigenous inhabitants of the Pacific Islands are referred to as Pacific Islanders. In English, the umbrella term "Pacific Islands" may take on several meanings. Sometimes it refers to only those islands covered by the continent of Oceania. In some common uses, the term "Pacific Islands" refers to the islands of