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"
Communications in the Marshall Islands <br>"domestic:" Majuro Atoll and Ebeye and Kwajalein islands have regular, seven-digit, direct-dial telephones; other islands interconnected by shortwave radio, telephone (used mostly for government purposes) <br>"international:" satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean); US Government satellite communications system on Kwajalein Radio broadcast stations: AM 3, FM 4, shortwave 0 (1998) Stations included are: Radios: NA Television broadcast stations: 3 (of which two are US military stations) (1997) (stations are: MBC-TV, CPN (AFN) - Central Pacific Network (Channel 1) - CPN (AFN) - Central Pacific Network (Channel 2)) Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 Country code (Top level domain): MH Not