Banaba

[buh-nah-buh]

noun

1. an island in the W central Pacific Ocean, in the Gilbert Islands group of Kiribati.

Banaba

/ bəˈnɑːbə /

noun

1. Also called: Ocean Island. an island in the SW Pacific, in the Republic of Kiribati. Phosphates were mined by Britain (1900–79). Area: about 5 sq km (2 sq miles). Pop: 301 (2005)

Example Sentences

The exhaustion of phosphate reserves on Banaba Island led to hundreds more being settled in Fiji.

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This just so happened to be the same year that British mining companies took the last of the guano deposits from Banaba.

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Thirty-two of the islands are low-lying atolls; the 33rd, called Banaba, is a raised coral island that long ago was strip-mined for its seabird-guano-derived phosphates.

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Fraser, the Australian high commissioner who came to Kiribati after serving on Nauru, a nearby island nation made desolate, like Banaba, by guano mining, said the main hope for the I-Kiribati on Tarawa is to move to the more lightly populated atolls, or to begin preparing for an orderly escape altogether.

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We brought the story to life with the help of Belen de Guzman, 52, a slum dweller and river monitor in the community of Banaba.

Read more on The Guardian