Nauru is an independent nation in Micronesia. With the capital city of Yaren District, Nauru 2020 population is estimated at 10,835 according to countryaah. Almost nothing is known about Nauru’s early history. During the 19th century, the encounter with Europeans led to many residents dying of disease and fighting. Germany annexed Nauru in 1888 and phosphate began to be mined in the early 1900s. After the First World War, the island was managed by Australia and during the Second World War it was occupied by Japan.
The Naurus are long believed to have lived in isolation from the outside world. When a British ship discovered them in 1798, they were divided into twelve clans, each with their chief. The British discoverers called the island Pleasant Island.
- AbbreviationFinder.org: Comprehensive guide to and popular abbreviations of Nauru, covering history, economy, and social conditions.
From the 1830s, whalers and other visitors began to carry firearms, alcohol and European diseases to the island. It had disastrous consequences for the Nauru. Combined with a ten-year civil war, this led to the population almost halving. For Nauru political system, please check diseaseslearning.
When the island was annexed by Germany, only 900 Naurus, mostly women, were left alive. With the Germans, missionaries came to Nauru, and a contract was signed with a British company to begin exploiting the island’s phosphate deposits beginning in 1906.
Australia conquered Nauru during the First World War and, after the war, was commissioned by the United Nations forerunner of the League of Nations to administer the island together with the United Kingdom and New Zealand. During World War II, Nauru was occupied by Japan, and more than half of the island’s population was taken to another Pacific island for forced labor. Nearly 500 of them died from hardships.
