吉里巴斯小介

想必大家都看過常常在系館出沒的卡塔莉同學吧!大家一定都很好奇，想問說卡塔莉同學是哪裡的人，她的國家又有什麼樣迷人的文化存在?接下來，就讓我們學系電子報的編輯群和卡塔莉同學，一同攜手為學系的各位揭開卡塔莉國家的神秘面紗。

吉里巴斯位於中太平洋的海域之中，經赤道貫穿其吉爾伯特群島，而國際換日線亦有通過該國。吉爾伯特群島於3千年前即有人類定居，西元1892年，吉爾伯特群島成為英國的保護地，至西元1916年甚成為殖民地。二次世界大戰時亦曾遭日本佔領，戰後則回歸英國統治，直至西元1979年7月12日，吉爾伯特群島才脫離英國，自行獨立建國，並改稱為吉里巴斯共和國。

人口信仰方面，天主教約佔53%，基督教則約佔有40%，總人口約為九萬多人，是一個文化信仰特色十分顯著的國家。國政方面，則採民主共和國體輔以責任內閣制的政治體系。經濟方面，該國漁產豐實，並盛產椰子、麵包果及林投果等可食用之植物果實，另外一方面，該國政府亦努力維持民生基本物資如米、麵粉及糖之價格穩定，加上綿密之家族制度、財物共享之傳統，以及強大的宗教倫理約束力量，故社會治安普遍良好。

 

以下是卡塔利同學的介紹：

The name "Kiribati" is the local language equivalent of the word "Gilberts" and is pronounced as Ki-ri-bas."

The Republic has a total land area of 810 square kilometres and consists of thirty three atolls and islands, spread across approximately a third of a million square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean, of which 21 islands are inhabited.

Kiribati is divided into 3 groups:

1. Gilbert Group (Kiribati) - 16 islands or atolls, as well as Banaba (Ocean Island), about 400 kilometres south-west of Tarawa, capital of the Republic of Kiribati;

2. Line Islands, (The Northern Equatorial Islands) - eight islands, 2400 kilometres east of Kiribati and include the unique and beautiful Kiritimati (Christmas Island, the world's largest atoll in land area), Fanning Island (Tabuaeran) and Millennium Island (formerly Caroline Island) so named as it was the first to greet the dawn of the new millennium; and

3. Phoenix Group - eight islands, 1120 kilometres E.S.E.of Kiribati and include Canton Island (Kanton) and Hull Island (Orona).

The people of Kiribati live very simple lives, depending on sea resources and food crops for staple diet. They use local plants to build houses to live in.

Due to western influence, living life styles in Kiribati is slowly changing and people are starting to depend more on imported products from overseas countries to live on.

Below is a link to a small video about Kiribati:

(作者係卡塔利係本系97級同學，王湘富係本系96級同學，現為系學會會長)