TUVALU

formerly Ellice Islands country in the west-central Pacific Ocean. It is composed of nine small coral islands scattered in a chain lying approximately northwest to southeast over a distance of some 420 miles (676 kilometres). The islands are small, and Tuvalu has a land area of less than 10 square miles (26 square kilometres). The capital is Fongafale, on Funafuti Atoll. With colonial Kiribati, Tuvalu formed the unit known as Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. formerly Ellice Islands constitutional monarchy comprising five atolls and four coral islands in the west-central Pacific, 2,500 miles (4,000 km) northeast of Australia. Fongafale islet of Funafuti Atoll is the capital. Area 9.25 square miles (23.96 square km). Pop. (1985) 8,229; (1991) 9,043; (1996 est.) 9,482. Additional reading Australian Museum, Sydney, The Atoll of Funafuti, Ellice Group: Its Zoology, Botany, Ethnology, and General Structure Based on Collections Made by Mr. Charles Hedley, 10 pt. (18961900), is a broad scientific survey. See also Anne Chambers, Nanumea Report: A Socio-Economic Study of Nanumea Atoll, Tuvalu (1975, reissued as Nanumea, 1984); and Donald Gilbert Kennedy, Field Notes on the Culture of Vaitupu, Ellice Islands (1931). Hugh Laracy (ed.), Tuvalu: A History (1983), provides an introduction. Barrie Macdonald, Cinderellas of the Empire: Towards a History of Kiribati and Tuvalu (1982), is comprehensive.