Top of page

Nauru – 50 Years of Independence

Posted by: Kelly Buchanan

Share this post:

West Pacific Islands (Central Intelligence Agency, 1998). Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g9230.ct001521. Click image to access larger view. Nauru is located near 0° latitude (i.e., the equator), 165° longitude.

Fifty years ago, on January 31, 1968, Nauru became an independent nation. It is the smallest island republic in the world with a land area of just 8.1 square miles (“about 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC“) and a population of around 10,000 people