I love learning new things. The other day I got curious as to what is the smallest country in the world aside from Vatican City. It turns out that it’s the Republic of Nauru, an island in the South Pacific that is only 8.1 square miles in area, with a population of about 9,378.
Never heard of it? Don’t feel embarrassed. Neither had I. And I bet most people haven’t, even though it is a member of the United Nations and has participated in the Olympics. Not exactly on the tourist trail, it’s 186 miles from its nearest island neighbor. But I have to say that after reading the article in Wikipedia, I have to admire this spunky little country.
Even 3,000 years ago, these people showed an unbelievable talent for making do. They practiced aquaculture. They caught juvenile fish, acclimatized them to fresh water, then raised them in their lagoon for a reliable food source. That’s pretty darned amazing, if you ask me.
They had no real contact with the outside world until a whale hunter stumbled upon them in 1798. By 1830, ships were replenishing their fresh water on the island, and deserters from European ships began to live there. The islanders traded food for alcohol and firearms, which, you guessed it, sparked a 10 year tribal war in 1878.
Their island was occupied by the Japanese during World War II, and 1,200 of their people were shipped off as slave labor. Ah, the joys of civilization. The island basically got exploited and handed from country to country until its independence in 1968.
In the late 1960s and early 70s Nauru had the highest per capita income in the world because the island had a great deal of phosphate due to the droppings of sea birds. (Talk about making lemonade out of lemons!) Unfortunately, its reserves had pretty much been depleted due to strip mining by 2011.
So what do you do when you’re on a tiny little patch of ground in the middle of nowhere and your only source of income disappears? You become a tax haven and an illegal money laundering center. They also sold passports to foreign nationals. Not exactly ethical, but pretty darned smart. When that fell through due to international pressure, they then hosted a detention center for the Australian Government. I bet they don’t get too many escapees.
Although I admire this country’s ability to make the most of what they have, I have no real desire to visit, even though there are no taxes. Why bother when the island has 90 percent unemployment? And Nauruans are the most obese people in the world. They have the highest level of type 2 diabetes. Life expectancy for a Nauruan male is only 60 years. These are not proud statistics.
Global warming has made Nauru the seventh most threatened nation due to flooding, so its future isn’t particularly bright. What little high ground they have has been decimated by strip mining. But if anyone can figure out how to survive, I bet it’s a Nauruan.
[image credit: Wikipedia.org]
The View from a Drawbridge 
This was fascinating!
Isn’t it freaky to find out something so interesting after so many years on the planet?
well, it isn’t complete news… I watch the discovery channel… but some of the facts, yes