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Kiribati has been inhabited by Micronesians since 3000 BC. Conquerors from Samoa, Tonga and Fiji later introduced Melanesian and Polynesian cultures. Cultural homogenization then followed after the intermarriage between the Micronesian and the Polynesian peoples.
British and American ships first sighted the country in the late 18th and the 19th centuries. This has been the start of introduction of diseases and firearms from the merchant vessels, whalers and slave traders who visited the land.
In 1982, the Gilberts (Gilbert Islands or Kiribati) became a British protectorate and together with Ellice Islands, became the crown colony of Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Some of Kiribati's islands were occupied by the Japanese during World War II and were used as testing sites of hydrogen bombs and nuclear weapons by the United States and the United Kingdom. One the bloodiest encounters in US Marine Corps history happened in Tarawa.
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands became independent in 1971, were separated in 1975, and in 1978, Ellice became the country Tuvalu.
Kiribati is predicted to become one of the countries to disappear due to the continuing climate change.