coral atoll of the northern Gilbert Islands, part of Kiribati, in the west-central Pacific Ocean. Capt. Charles Bishop, who reached the atoll in 1799, named it Roger Simpson Island for one of his associates. Seat of the area’s ruling family in the 19th century, the atoll was the site of the formal British annexation of the Gilbert Island group in 1892. Occupied by Japanese forces from 1942 to 1943, Abemama became a U.S. military base for the following two years. Near the end of World War II, Abemama was proposed as the capital of Kiribati, but the idea was abandoned in 1947 in favour of Tarawa because the latter’s lagoon was more easily navigable. The administrative headquarters of Abemama Atoll is at Kariatebike. There are also a hospital and an airfield. Copra is exported. Pop. (2005 prelim.) 3,404.
Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.
If you think a reference to this article on "Abemama Atoll" will enhance your Web site,
blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article,
and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.
You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.