Coral atoll (pop., 1995: 32,354), Gilbert Islands , Kiribati.
The site of Bairiki , the capital of Kiribati, Tarawa is made up of 15 islets along a reef 22 mi (35 km) long. Occupied by the Japanese during World War II, it was seized by U.S. Marines in 1943 after a costly battle. Now a commercial and educational centre, it exports copra and mother-of-pearl and has an extension of the University of the South Pacific. It was the capital of Gilbert and Ellice Islands until 1975.