Tarawa << tah RAH wah >> (pop. 24,598) is the capital of Kiribati, a country of 33 small islands in the central Pacific Ocean. Tarawa is an atoll (ring-shaped reef) composed of many coral islets that cover a total of 9 square miles (23 square kilometers).
The commercial and shipping center of Kiribati is Betio, a densely populated islet in the southwest area of Tarawa. Bairiki, east of Betio, is the government center. Bonriki, in the southeast, has an international airport.
In 1788, the British explorer Captain Thomas Gilbert became the first European to sight Tarawa. The British took control of Tarawa in 1892. In 1942, during World War II, Japanese troops seized the atoll. American forces captured Tarawa from the Japanese in 1943 in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. After the war, Britain continued to govern Tarawa until 1979, when it became the government center of the independent nation of Kiribati.
