Tuvalu (/tuːˈvɑːluː/ ( listen) too-vah-loo or /ˈtuːvəluː/ too-və-loo), formerly known as the Ellice Islands, 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, with only Vatican City and Nauru having fewer inhabitants. In terms of physical land size, at just 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi) Tuvalu is the fourth smallest country in the world, larger only than the Vatican City at 0.44 km (0.17 sq mi), Monaco at 1.95 km (0.75 sq mi) and Nauru at 21 km (8.1 sq mi).

The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesian people. In 1568 Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña sailed through the islands, and probably sighted Nui, during his expedition in search of Terra Australis. In 1819 the island of Funafuti, was named Ellice's Island; the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay (1812–1876). The islands came under Britain's sphere of influence in the late 19th century, when the Ellice Islands were declared a British protectorate by Captain Gibson, R. N. of HMS Curaçao between 9th and 16 October 1892. The Ellice Islands were administered as British protectorate by a Resident Commissioner from 1892 to 1916 as part of the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT), and later as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony from 1916 to 1974.

In 1974, the Ellice Islanders voted for separate British dependency status as Tuvalu, separating from the Gilbert Islands which became Kiribati upon independence. Tuvalu became fully independent within the Commonwealth on October 1, 1978. On September 5, 2000, Tuvalu became the 189th member of the United Nations.

Tuvaluans are a Polynesian people who settled the islands around 3000 years ago coming from Tonga and Samoa. During pre-European-contact times there was frequent canoe voyaging between the nearer islands. Eight of the nine islands of Tuvalu were inhabited; thus the name, Tuvalu, means "eight standing together" in Tuvaluan. Possible evidence of fire in the Caves of Nanumanga may indicate human occupation thousands of years before that.

Tuvalu was first sighted by Europeans in 1568 with the arrival of Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira from Spain who also encountered the island of Nui which he named Isla de Jesus (Island of Jesus) but was unable to land. Keith S. Chambers and Doug Munro (1980) identify Niutao as the island that Francisco Antonio Mourelle named on May 5, 1781 thus solving what Europeans had called The Mystery of Gran Cocal.

The next European to visit was Arent Schuyler de Peyster, of New York, captain of the armed brigantine or privateer Rebecca, sailing under British colours, which passed through the southern Tuvalu waters in May 1819; de Peyster sighted Nukufetau and Funafuti, which he named Ellice's Island after an English Politician, Edward Ellice, the Member of Parliament for Coventry and the owner of the Rebecca's cargo. In 1820 the Russian explorer Mikhail Lazarev visited Nukufetau as commander of the Mirny. Following 1819 whalers were roving the Pacific though visiting Tuvalu only infrequently because of the difficulties of landing ships on the atolls. No settlements were established by the whalers.

Peruvian slave raiders ("blackbirders") seeking workers to mine the guano deposits on the Chincha Islands in Peru, combed the Pacific between 1862 and 1865, including the southern islands of Tuvalu. The Rev. A. W. Murray, the earliest European missionary in Tuvalu, reported that in 1863 about 180 people were taken from Funafuti and about 200 were taken from Nukulaelae as there were fewer than 100 of the 300 recorded in 1861 as living on Nukulaelae.

Christianity first came to Tuvalu in 1861 when Elekana, a deacon of a Congregational church in Manihiki, Cook Islands became caught in a storm and drifted for 8 weeks before landing at Nukulaelae. Elekana began proselytizing Christianity. He was trained in a London Missionary Society school in Samoa before beginning his work in establishing the Church of Tuvalu. In 1865 the Rev. A. W. Murray of the London Missionary Society - a Protestant congregationalist missionary society - arrived as the first European missionary where he too proselytized among the inhabitants of Tuvalu. By 1878 the Church of Tuvalu was well established with preachers on each island.

Trading firms & traders

Trading companies became active in Tuvalu in the mid-nineteenth century; the trading companies engaged palagi traders who lived on the islands, some islands would have competing traders with dryer islands only have a single trader. In 1892, Captain Davis of the HMS Royalist, reported on trading activities and traders on each of the islands visited. Captain Davis identified the following traders in the Ellice Group: Edmund Duffy (Nanumea); Jack Buckland (Niutao); Harry Nitz (Vaitupu); John (also known as Jack) O'Brien (Funafuti); Alfred Restieaux and Fenisot (Nukufetau); and Martin Kleis (Nui). This was the time at which the greatest number of palagi traders lived on the atolls, acting as the agent for the trading companies.

In the later 1890s and into first decade of the 20th century, structural changes occurred in the operation of the Pacific trading companies, with the trading companies moving from a practice of having traders resident on each island to trade with the islanders to a business operation where the supercargo (the cargo manager of a trading ship) would deal directly with the islanders when a ship would visit an island. From 1900, the numbers of palagi traders in Tuvalu declined, with the last of the palagi traders being Fred Whibley on Niutao and Alfred Restieaux on Nukufetau. However, by 1909 there were no resident palagi traders representing the trading companies, although both Fred Whibley and Alfred Restieaux remained in the islands until their deaths.

Scientific expeditions & travellers

The United States Exploring Expedition under Charles Wilkes visited Funafuti, Nukufetau and Vaitupu in 1841. During the visit of the expedition to Tuvalu Alfred Thomas Agate, engraver and illustrator, recorded the dress and tattoo patterns of men of Nukufetau.

In 1890, Robert Louis Stevenson, his wife Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson, and her son Lloyd Osbourne sailed on the Janet Nicoll a trading steamer owned by Henderson and Macfarlane of Auckland, New Zealand, which operated between Sydney, Auckland and into the central Pacific. The Janet Nicoll visited Tuvalu; while Fanny records that they made landfall at Funafuti and Niutao, however Jane Resture suggests that it was more likely that they visited Nukufetau rather than Funafuti. An account of the voyage was written by Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson and published under the title The Cruise of the Janet Nichol, together with photographs taken by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne.

In 1894, Count Rudolph Festetics de Tolna, his wife Eila (née Haggin) and her daughter Blanche Haggin visited Funafuti aboard the yacht Le Tolna. Le Tolna spent several days at Funafuti with the Count photographing men and woman on Funafuti.

The boreholes on Funafuti at the site now called David's Drill are the result of drilling conducted by the Royal Society of London for the purpose of investigating the formation of coral reefs to determine whether traces of shallow water organisms could be found at depth in the coral of Pacific atolls. This investigation followed the work on the structure and distribution of coral reefs conducted by Charles Darwin in the Pacific. Drilling occurred in 1896, 1897 and 1911. Professor Edgeworth David of the University of Sydney lead the expeditions in 1896 & 1897. Photographers on the expeditions recorded people, communities and scenes at Funafuti.

Harry Clifford Fassett, captain's clerk and photographer, recorded people, communities and scenes at Funafuti during a visit of USFC Albatross when the U.S. Fish Commission were investigating the formation of coral reefs on Pacific atolls in 1900.

Dance and Music

The contemporary style of Tuvaluan music consists of a number of dances, most popularly including fatele. The traditions styles of fakanau and fakaseasea, were used to celebrate leaders and other prominent individuals. The Tuvaluan style can be described "as a musical microcosm of Polynesia, where contemporary and older styles co-exist".

Heritage

The traditional community system still survives to a large extent on Tuvalu. Each family has its own task, or salanga, to perform for the community, such as fishing, house building or defence. The skills of a family are passed on from parents to children.

Most islands have their own fusi, or community owned shops that are similar to a convenience store, you can buy canned foods and bags of rice, but goods are cheaper and fusis give better prices for their own produce.

Another important building is the falekaupule or traditional island meeting hall, where important matters are discussed and which is also used for wedding celebrations and community activities such as a fatele involving music, singing and dancing. Falekaupule is also used as the name of the council of elders - the traditional decision making body on each island. Under the Falekaupule Act, Falekaupule means “traditional assembly in each island...composed in accordance with the Aganu of each island”. Aganu means traditional custom and culture.

Cuisine

The traditional foods eaten in Tuvalu are pulaka, bananas, breadfruit, coconut, seafood (coconut crab, turtle and fish), seabirds (taketake or Black Noddy and akiaki or White Tern) and pork.

Pulaka is the main source for carbohydrates. It is grown in large pits below the water table in composted soil. Seafood is the main source of protein. Bananas and breadfruit are supplemental crops. Finally, coconut is used for its juice, making beverages, and to improve the taste of other dishes. Pork is eaten mostly at fateles (or parties with dancing to celebrate certain events).

Catching flying fish by using a boat, a butterfly net, and a spotlight to attract the flying fish, is both a source of food and an exciting activity.

Language

The Tuvaluan language of the Ellicean group spoken in Tuvalu. It is more or less distantly related to all other Polynesian languages, such as Hawaiian, Māori, Tahitian, Samoan, and Tongan, and most closely related to the languages spoken on the Polynesian outliers in Micronesia and Northern and Central Melanesia. Tuvaluan has borrowed considerably from Samoan, the language of Christian missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There are about 13,000 Tuvaluan speakers worldwide. Tuvaluan radio services are operated by the Tuvalu Media Corporation.

Sport and leisure

A traditional sport played in Tuvalu is kilikiti, which is similar to cricket. Another sport popular and specific to Tuvalu is ano, which is played with 2 round balls of 12 cm diameter.

More common sports such as football, volleyball and rugby union are also played in the country as recreational activities. Tuvalu has sports organisations for badminton, basketball, tennis, table tennis, volleyball and weightlifting. A major sporting event is the "Independence Day Sports" festival held annually on 1 October during the Tuvaluan Independence Day celebrations.

Tuvalu has a national football team, which trains at the Vaiaku Stadium in Funafuti. The Tuvalu national football team competes in the Pacific Games and South Pacific Games. The Tuvalu Football Association is an associate member of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and is seeking membership of FIFA.

Tuvalu first participated in the South Pacific Games in 1978. Tuvalu first participated in the Commonwealth Games in 1998, when a weightlifter attended the games held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Two table tennis players attended the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England; Tuvalu entered competitors in shooting, table tennis and weightlifting at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia; and three athletes attended the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, participating in the discus, shot put and weightlifting events.

The Tuvalu Amateur Sport Association was recognised as the Tuvalu National Olympic Committee in July 2007. Tuvalu entered the Olympic Games for the first time at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, China, with a weightlifter and two athletes participating in the men’s and women’s 100 metre sprint.

At the 2011 Pacific Games held in New Caledonia, Tuvaluan weightlifters won 2 silver medals and one bronze medal.