Postage stamps and postal history of Tuvalu Postage stamps and postal history of Tuvalu Tuvalu is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls. Its population of 10,472 makes it the third-least populous sovereign state in the world. In terms of physical land size, at just Tuvalu is the fourth smallest country in the world. Tuvalu was formerly the Ellice Islands, part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands which split into Kiribati and Tuvalu upon gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1978
History of the Pacific Islands History of the Pacific Islands History of the Pacific Islands covers the history of the islands in the Pacific Ocean. Easter Island is one of the youngest inhabited territories on Earth, and for most of the History of Easter Island it was the most isolated inhabited territory on Earth. Its inhabitants, the Rapanui, have endured famines and big push factors, epidemics, civil war, slave raids and colonialism; have seen their population crash on more than one occasion, and created a cultural legacy that has brought their fame out of all proportion to their numbers. In Cook Islands Māori pre-history, Chieftains