North Tabiteuea is a local council in

Tabiteuea Tabiteuea (formerly Drummond's Island) is an atoll in the Gilbert Islands, Kiribati, farther south of Tarawa. This atoll is the second largest and the most populated of the Gilbert Islands after Tarawa. The atoll consists of one main island, Aa ...

Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...

. North Tabiteuea (in

Gilbertese Gilbertese (), also known as Kiribati (sometimes ''Kiribatese'' or ''Tungaru''), is an Austronesian language spoken mainly in Kiribati. It belongs to the Micronesian branch of the Oceanic languages. The word ''Kiribati'', the current name of th ...

, ''Tabiteuea Meang'') has a land area of and a population of 4,120 , distributed among twelve villages (capital

Utiroa Utiroa is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on Tabiteuea atoll and is the capital of North Tabiteuea; Nuribenua is to its west, while Terikiai and Eita are to its north. Education Utiroa is served by Temwamwang School in Eita. The area ju ...

). On 1 July 1799, Charles Bishop and George Bass entered the Tabiteuea lagoon, while many pirogues approached the brig ''

Nautilus A nautilus (; ) is any of the various species within the cephalopod family Nautilidae. This is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and the suborder Nautilina. It comprises nine living species in two genera, the type genus, ty ...

''. Bishop named it Bishop's Island, and named

Aanikai Aanikai is the main island of North Tabiteuea, in Kiribati. Its surface area is 22.4 km2 (about 24 km2 of the entire northern part of the atoll). The following communities are found on Eanikai: * Eita Village * Utiroa * Tanaeang * Buo ...

, Drummond's Island. During the

United States Exploring Expedition The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby ...

, April 1841, the American captain William L. Hudson arrived at Tabiteuea, then known as Drummond's Island. Because a crew member who went ashore was missing for no reason, reprisals were decided: at least twenty of the inhabitants were killed by the Americans.

was set on fire and the maneaba destroyed, during the

Battle of Drummond's Island The Battle of Drummond's Island was a conflict between the United States Exploring Expedition and the village of Utiroa in April 1841 at Drummond's Island, Tabiteuea North, which is now part of Tabiteuea. The cause of the conflict was the dis ...

. The Catholic bishop

Octave Terrienne Octave Marie Terrienne MSC (9 September 1902 – 4 March 1994) was the Roman Catholic bishop of the apostolic vicariate of the Gilbert Islands from 1937 until 1961, when Pierre Guichet succeeded him. He was bishop of Menelaites (a titular see) ...

moved the seat of the apostolic vicariate of the Gilbert and Ellice islands to

Tanaeang Tanaeang is a village in North Tabiteuea, Tabiteuea North, Kiribati. History According to oral tradition, Tabiteuea has long been divided between Autonomy, autonomous districts or villages such as Tanaeang, known as ''aono''. One story describes ...

in today's North Tabiteuea, instead of Ocean Island, then the capital of the colony.

References

Gilbert Islands {{Kiribati-geo-stub