The Tuvalu Portal

A beach at Funafuti atoll, Tuvalu, on a sunny day
A beach at Funafuti atoll, Tuvalu, on a sunny day
Tuvalu
Location of Tuvalu
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Tuvalu (/tˈvɑːl/ too-VAH-loo), formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Vanuatu, southeast of Nauru, south of Kiribati, west of Tokelau, northwest of Samoa and Wallis and Futuna, and north of Fiji.

Tuvalu is composed of three reef islands and six atolls spread out between the latitude of and 10° south and between the longitude of 176° and 180°. They lie west of the International Date Line. The 2017 census determined that Tuvalu had a population of 10,645, making it the second-least populous country in the world, behind Vatican City. Its total land area is 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi).

The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesians, according to well established theories regarding a migration of Polynesians into the Pacific that began about three thousand years ago. Long before European contact with the Pacific islands, Polynesians frequently voyaged by canoe between the islands. Polynesian navigation skills enabled them to make elaborately planned journeys in either double-hulled sailing canoes or outrigger canoes. Scholars believe that the Polynesians spread out from Samoa and Tonga into the Tuvaluan atolls, which then served as a stepping stone for further migration into the Polynesian outliers in Melanesia and Micronesia. (Full article...)

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Landing cargo on the reef at Niutao

Niutao is a reef island (as compared to an atoll) in the northern part of Tuvalu. A fringing reef surrounds the whole island, which makes any landing on the island difficult.

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