Tuvalu is a tiny Polynesian island nation in the central Pacific, made up of nine low-lying coral atolls and reef islands scattered between Hawaii and Australia. One of the smallest and least populous countries in the world, and among the lowest-lying, it is famous as a nation on the front line of climate change, its existence threatened by rising seas. With almost no resources and a population of only a few thousand, Tuvalu has supported itself in unusual ways, including the lucrative leasing of its internet domain name, the memorable suffix dot tv.
The islands were settled by Polynesians, probably from Samoa and Tonga, and developed as a string of small island communities. In the nineteenth century they came under British influence and were joined with the Gilbert Islands as a single colony, known then as the Ellice Islands. Cultural and ethnic differences with the Micronesian Gilbertese led the Polynesian Ellice Islanders to vote to separate, and the islands became the self-governing territory of Tuvalu before gaining full independence from Britain in 1978, as one of the smallest nations on Earth.
Tuvalu consists of nine tiny coral atolls and reef islands spread over a vast stretch of the central Pacific, with a total land area of only around 26 square kilometres, among the smallest of any country. The islands are extremely low and flat, rising scarcely a few metres above sea level at their highest, ribbons of sand and coral enclosing lagoons. This makes Tuvalu one of the most vulnerable nations in the world to rising sea levels, coastal erosion, storm surges, and the salt contamination of its scarce fresh water and soil.
The flag of Tuvalu has a light blue field with the British Union Jack in the upper corner and nine yellow stars arranged on the fly to mirror the geographic layout of the country's nine islands. The blue represents the Pacific Ocean, the Union Jack reflects the historic link with Britain and membership of the Commonwealth, and the nine stars, laid out as a map of the scattered atolls, stand for the islands that make up the nation, the name Tuvalu meaning roughly eight standing together, from its long-inhabited islands.
Tuvalu is an overwhelmingly Christian country, and the Congregationalist Church of Tuvalu, descended from the work of nineteenth-century missionaries, is the established church to which the great majority of the population belongs, central to the life of every island community. The church, its services, and its choirs are woven deeply into Tuvaluan culture, alongside respect for tradition, the extended family, and the councils of elders that guide island affairs. Religion is a powerful unifying force across the scattered atolls of the small nation.
Tuvaluan cuisine is built on the limited produce of the atolls and the abundant resources of the sea. Fish and seafood are the staples, eaten fresh, along with coconut in many forms, breadfruit, bananas, the giant swamp taro called pulaka grown in cultivated pits, and other tubers. Coconut and its cream flavour many dishes, and food is often cooked in earth ovens for feasts. With so little land for farming, the people depend heavily on the ocean and the coconut palm, supplemented in modern times by imported rice and tinned goods.
Agriculture is extremely limited in Tuvalu by the poor, sandy soils and tiny land area of the coral atolls. The main crops are coconuts, from which copra is produced, the giant swamp taro pulaka, grown with great effort in dug pits enriched with compost, breadfruit, bananas, and a few vegetables. Pigs and poultry are kept. With almost no commercial agriculture, the economy depends on fishing, on the licensing of its waters to foreign tuna fleets, on remittances from Tuvaluans working abroad, and, famously, on the revenue from leasing its dot tv internet domain.
The Polynesian settlement of the islands, the colonial era as part of the Ellice Islands, the separation from the Gilberts, and independence in 1978 shaped Tuvalu. The country found unexpected fortune in the digital age when its internet country code, dot tv, proved highly marketable to television and media companies worldwide, providing a significant share of government revenue. Above all, Tuvalu has become a global symbol of the climate crisis, its leaders pleading at international gatherings for action to save a nation that rising seas may submerge.
Tuvalu has a population of only around 11,000 people, making it one of the least populous sovereign nations in the world, almost entirely Polynesian Tuvaluans, sharing the Tuvaluan language alongside English. The population is spread thinly across the inhabited atolls, with a large share on the main atoll of Funafuti, home to the capital and the country's only airfield. Society is highly traditional and close-knit, organised around the extended family, the island community, and the church. A growing number of Tuvaluans live abroad, especially in New Zealand.
