Gilbert and Ellice Islands until 1977. A protectorate was generally established over this area (but not over these islands) by the Pacific Islanders Protection Act of 1857 and then in 1877 for the Western Pacific Territories. The sixteen islands of the Gilberts were declared a British Protectorate by Captain Davis R.N., of between 27 May and 17 June 1892. The Ellice Islands were declared a British Protectorate by Captain Gibson R.N., of , between 9 and 16 October of the same year. The British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) were administered by a High Commissioner resident in Fiji. A Resident Commissioner, Charles Swayne, was appointed
Sponsored top-level domain following groups of top-level domains: Sponsored top-level domain A sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) is one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet. IANA currently distinguishes 3 groups of top-level domains: country-code top-level domains (ccTLD), generic top-level domains (gTLD) and infrastructure top-level domain. A sponsored TLD is a specialized top-level domain that has a sponsor representing a specific community served by the domain. The communities involved are based on ethnic, geographical, professional, technical or other theme concepts proposed by private agencies or organizations