Hey guys, so this episode is gonna be filmed in my office because I didn't have time to book that YouTube space. Ah, there's gonna be a special one. It's not very often. We cover a place like Nauru. Usually we get you guys, the Geograpeeps, to help out with these videos But sadly not a single Nauruan was available to contact us. No surprise. I mean, there's not many in the world and it's kind of hard to find them or visit them. Like, literally, this is the least visited country in the world. So NAU we cover NAURU [Good pun, no punching?] Hi everybody, I'm host Barb's. Yes. It's pronounced "Now-roo", not "Nah-oo-roo" The Pacific Islands are always so fun to research because they really are like the hidden gems concealed within the massive expanse of seemingly endless ocean and with Nauru you find a new type of gem that nobody quite knows how to classify but it's shiny Let's go treasure hunting on the map now. Shall we? Linguist speculate that the name Nauru may be derived from the Nauruan word Anaoero Which means "I go to the beach." Of course most island nations have beaches But the ones on Nauru are sectioned off in a special way First of all, the country is literally just one island located on the confluence of all three oceanic regions of Oceania: Melanesia, Micronesia And Polynesia, however categorically they belong to the region of Micronesia (not to be confused with the Federated States of Micronesia which is a country within Micronesia. We already talked about it) Anyway The country is the smallest country in Oceania and only about 8.1 square miles or 21 square kilometers The entire perimeter of the country is only about 12 miles or 19 kilometers long That means you could literally take a nice morning jog around the entire island and make it back in time for lunch Just a few hours later. The country is divided into fourteen administrative districts However when election time rolls around, the country is divided into eight constituencies to send representatives to the Parliament and this is where things get weird Nauru is the only country in the world that doesn't have an official capital Most sources will tell you that its Yaren simply because that's where the parliament and administration buildings are as well as the only airport on the island "Nauru International". However, it is only the de jure capital and only listed as a main district with only about 1300 people Yaren is actually the third largest town on the island. The largest actually being Arijejen in Aiwo with a whopping 2,400 people and Menen in the Meneng district with about 1,400. Aside from the airport coming into Nauru by boat is nearly impossible For large commercial ships as the entire country is surrounded by jagged sharp coral reefs that have been known to puncture holes Which is why they have no major seaport There are only two small harbors able to accommodate small or medium sized boats one at Anibare on the east side at Anibare Bay and another one On the town of Aiwo on the west side of the island. Right below that harbor though You see these strange long extending pier-looking things and think, "Oh, isn't that like a shipping port?" Well, no Those are actually really long phosphate cantilever booms that were used to transport. Phosphate minerals to large ships out to sea past the coral wall. There's another one further south that is currently being disassembled as neither of them are being used much anymore Otherwise getting around Nauru is pretty easy I mean It's just one island unlike those confusing disjointed atolls in Kiribati or Tuvalu. Having one solid chunk of land is quite advantageous in the Pacific because it keeps you stable and strong. The country has a single paved road that goes around the entire nation known as the island Ring Road It takes just about an hour to go around the entire country by car And if you want to take public transport a community bus goes around once every hour or so for less than a dollar in fare There is only one traffic light at the airport to allow planes to cross the road into the airport terminal Otherwise, you can take the rugged unpaved gravel path road Shortcuts through the interior of the island to get to the other sides if you prefer. Not very popular but still possible. On these paths You can pass the Nauru Detention Centers which are sites that cooperate with the Australian government to detain illegal immigrants We'll explain more about this later The country does have three miles of rail track reserved for phosphate transport and sometimes people will cling on to this train to move back and forth from the coast of Aiwo to the inland mining areas Yeah, they actually have a train and it's still kind of running. Nonetheless Nauru is definitely not quite the tourist hotspot. Annually the country receives on average less than a thousand tourists a year sometimes as low as 200. Speaking of which if you are one of the lucky few that treks over here some spots of interest might include places like Yaren's Parliament building. Buada Lagoon. The Moqua Well & Caves. Frigate bird games. Anabare Bay. The central plateau known as Topside. The old World War II artillery bunkers near Yaren. The Linkbelt oval sportsfield where you can play sports. And of course, there's scuba diving everywhere. Alright, so that pretty much rounds up this segment. Let's see what type of landscape they have on this one little island, shall we? Well, there's gonna be interesting because we only have about eight square miles of land to work with How can we possibly extract a complex data analysis on such a limited surface area? I've been doing this show for years guys. Watch me. First of all, Nauru sits on the middle of the Southern Pacific Plate only about 34 miles (56 kilometers) away from the equator. Out of all the islands in Oceania, Nauru sticks out as one of the three great phosphate rock islands. The first one being Kiribati's Banaba Island right next door, and Makatea Island over 3,000 miles away across the International Dateline on Makatea Island in French Polynesia Why do they have so much phosphate? Simple: bird poop! Over thousands of years Guano droppings in the inland areas from migrating birds have accumulated making these islands super rich in the limited resource. Going back to Nauru though After we pass the jagged coral reef barrier You see that the entire Coastal ring around Nauru about 300 meters inland is the most fertile part of the country. If you look over here in the south though you'll see Buada Lagoon, the largest inland body of water Nauru has no rivers or streams which means the majority people depend on either rain collection storage tanks on their roofs for water or 3d salinization plants located at the National Utilities Agency if you move inland further from that though You'll notice the green fertile strip ends and you reach the grassy shrubby central plateau Composed of coral ridges and cliffs the highest point being command ridge at about 233 feet 720 meters high This is the phosphate zone where all the phosphate was mined over the past few decades. Whoo. Yeah, I mean quite a backstory, right? I mean at one point in 1968 They actually had the highest GDP in the world after they opened up the mines But now after almost all the phosphate deposits have been depleted Yeah, not so much. All right, and there's a part where no one usually comes in for the physical geography section However, he's not here because I kind of forgot to tell him at the last minute that we're gonna fill my house Which means Ken you're gonna have to be NOAA today. Nice. Wait, is this a promotion? Yeah, no, wait, really? Yeah You're promoting the information about Naru to our viewers and get to what they're waiting Nauru Niue that they're finite phosphate deposits will eventually run thin So in order to cushion their transition period from over-dependence, they decided to invest heavily into trust funds The problem was many of these funds ended up mismanage and wasteful investments almost until they went bankrupt They've tried to become a finance haven, but too many controversies ensued so they had to drop it since 2004 They have been a cash-only exclusive economy. This means you could only use cash on the island So if you visit get your major ATM transactions in order before boarding the plane Because none exists on the island. Resource-wise, other than the nearly depleted phosphate reserves, all they really got going for them is fishing and minor crops that grow on the island, Like coconuts and fruits, and the Buada lagoon, they do practice aquaculture by raising native mill fish. It's a tradition that actually predates European contact. Nonetheless nearly all basic and capital goods must be imported mostly from Australia and New Zealand. Otherwise with food, it gets kind of...fatty. Most grocery stores have to wait six weeks for every shipment. People either have to get their food from what's available on the island or stock up on non-perishables that might not have the highest nutritional content. A typical traditional Nauruan meal would probably include grilled or fried fish. Coconut milk is used very often and possibly some pandanus or pineapple use in some way. However, the majority of the country prefers to eat Western or Eastern foods regularly. There are over 130 Chinese restaurants on the island, burgers, pizza, and spam fried rice are typically seen in many houses. Ah spam! America invented it but Asia glorified it. This typical diet has been one of the many factors that has led to Nauru becoming what the World Health Organization labels as "the most obese country in the world" with over 70 percent of their inhabitants being categorically obese and 94 percent overweight. Some of the people here though need to be big because it works to their advantage. But that's a topic later we will discuss. In.... DEMOGRAPHICS Thank you Ken! Follow him on Instagram. Off you go now. [sound of door closing] Now Nauru is kind of like... I don't know what's a good analogy. It's like one of those shrines in the middle of the Patagonian desert in Argentina, you know They're so far out and remote very few people stop by and visit them yet as small as they are They're packed with fascinating backstories. Yeah, I think that works First of all, the country has about 11 300 people and is the third least populated nation in the world after Tuvalu and Vatican City. About 60% of the people in Nauru are ethnically Nauruan, about a quarter are other Pacific Islanders, 8% are European and about 8% are Han Chinese. They use the Australian dollar as their currency. They use a type I plug outlet and they drive on the left side of the road. Now. Here's the thing. Let's talk about the largest ethnic group, the Nauruans. If you include the entire global diaspora It's estimated that there are about 15,000 Nauruans in the entire world. Apart from the 6,000 or so Nauruans, about a thousand live in Australia, and about 8,000 in the U.S. Meaning that there are actually more Nauruans outside of Nauru than in it, but what exactly is a Nauruan? You know what? Ken is usually like the island guy? So, you know what? Ken, just explain what a Nauruan is. All right, Nauruans are in themselves kind of a cultural anomaly. They are genetically kind of a mix between Micronesia and Polynesia. They don't even know exactly where they belong. Although everyone on the island speaks English. The Nauruan mother tongue is Nauruan. Obviously. Linguists say it is technically classified as a Micronesian language, but most Micronesians can't understand them. Historically, the populace prior to outside immigrations was divided to these twelve tribes. Each with a matrilineal inheritance. Thank you, Ken. I'll take it from here. Now, in terms of the tribes, they each kind of had their own section of the island and developed their own unique customs. One of which being the Nauruan navigational system. It's a unique way of expressing cardinal direction that can only be used on the island. There are four main directions that cover a quadrant of the island and a fifth and six direction that traverses the interior. Sadly over time many of the traditions were lost to Western influence. Pictures were taken of Nauruan warriors in the 1800s with armour made of thick coconut fibers and puffer fish helmets. Similar to the ones we talked about in the Kiribati(?) episode. The traditional music style called Teigen is usually performed at celebrations. Finally every so often certain fishers still practice trained frigate bird fishing. Otherwise Nauruans love AFL, rugby, weightlifting. Sometimes weightlifting is considered the national sport. Even women take part in it Keep in mind in 2001 Nauru also signed the Pacific Solution agreement with Australia Which opened up a detention center to hold people that were illegally trying to enter into Australia by sea for asylum. This means in addition to the population that lives there permanently Nauru has a temporary fluctuating population of detainees at any given moment. The highest amount of people held at once was 1233 in 2014 and at the end of 2018, there are about 30. And speaking of dates and times, History! In the quickest way, I can put it: Micronesian and Polynesians settle in and mix. They have babies. Boom! Nauruans are born. Twelve tribes are set. British whalers stop by and start trading. Boom! Tribal war in 1878. Germans come in and annex it. They establish kings. Phosphate discovered by this dude. World War 1, Australia captures it. Influenza epidemic. Japan takes over in World War 2. They relocate a ton of Naurans to Chuuk Island. Australia fights them off. About 800 Nauruans repatriate back to Nauru. 1968 independence, they get super rich! But then kind of lose it all. Current dealings with Australia to move forward. And here we are today! Now this is kind of a part where I talk about notable famous people and it's interesting because Almost all the famous people from Nauru have held a position in government. Yeah, it gets interesting! So here we go King Aweida. Hammer DeRoburt. Marlene Moses. Keiren keke. David Adeang. Itte Detenamo. Alopua Petoa. Yukio Peter. Rianna Solomon Yeah, and their former president was an Olympic athlete and he won seven gold medals at the Commonwealth Games Then he resigned because of a scandal but look at him left! Speaking of the Commonwealth and activities with other countries abroad [jingle] Friendzone! When it comes to diplomacy Nauru is kind of like in the middle of so many Tug-of-wars and they don't really care who says what just as long as you can kind of invest in the nation They'll be happy from one They generally get along with their other ocean neighbors like Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Solomon Islands. Fiji, however, kind of acts as like their hub and gateway to the world. Most flights to Nauru operate through Fiji and most Nauruans travel to Fiji to further invest in their schools and education. When it comes to the big guys though Nauru has a bit of controversy they are one of the only four nations that recognizes Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent nation states to which Russia in appreciation gave over fifty million dollars in humanitarian aid in return 1981 They did once recognize the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic but that in 2000, they withdrew the tie in favor to signing Accords with Morocco Who wanted to invest in there already depleting phosphate mines. When they joined the UN they had first recognized and supported Taiwan as a nation state, but then in 2002 They switched that up and signed an agreement to recognize the PRC instead which really pissed off Taiwan and they cut ties One year later, though Nauru was like, oh shoot. I'm sorry I changed my mind again and they closed their embassy in Beijing prompting a reestablishment of ties to Taiwan in 2005. When it comes to their best friends, however many Nauruans would probably say Austrialia. Australia is kind of like the caregiver that provides most their business and aid, most of the imports come from Australia and Foreign ministers have worked together to find solutions to develop new streams of revenue to keep the nation afloat Apart from the Pacific Solution, some other ideas include things like a potential boat repair industry and reclaiming the damaged land for other uses. In conclusion, it doesn't matter if it's just a single little green dot in the vast white ocean. Nauru can still stand up and say Now we are here! Now we are free! And now is Nauru's time to shine! Stay tuned. Nepal is coming up next! [End music]
This one has been on my geo-nerd travel bucket list for some time. First thing I'll do is walk around the entire island.
Do people get bored living here? I could see it getting old only having 12 square miles to live on...