Tuvalu Trivia

1. The islands that form Tuvalu are found in the South Pacific. They were formerly known as the Ellice Islands, part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Where does the "Ellice" derive from?

From Quiz Who Loves Tuvalu?

Answer: They are named after the English politician, Edward Ellice

Edward Ellice was a member of the British parliament for 41 years and a director of the Hudson's Bay Company. The first recorded sighting of Tuvalu, by a European, came in 1568 when the Spaniard, Álvaro de Mendaña y Neyra, saw the island of Nui. The islands were "rediscovered" in 1819, when Arent de Peyster came upon the atoll of Funafuti. De Peyster, a close friend of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, gave it the name, "Ellice's Group", as his ship had been provided by Ellice. He went on to chronicle other islands now part of Tuvalu which were named "De Peyster's Islands" but, unfortunately for him, the first name stuck.

From Quiz Who Loves Tuvalu?

Answer: The United Kingdom

In 1886, the United Kingdom and Germany signed an agreement dividing the "unclaimed" islands of the South Pacific between themselves. Nevertheless, the UK was reluctant to take on full responsibility for the then Ellice Islands and only did so six years later. Between 1892 and 1916, they formed the Ellice Islands protectorate. From 1916 until 1974, they became the colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands and, after 1974, the two island groups were once again separated, with the Gilbert Islands becoming Kiribati. Tuvalu continued as a British dependency until independence came in 1978.

From Quiz Who Loves Tuvalu?

Answer: Stamps

The "scandal" of the Funafuti Provisionals occurred in July 1916. The young, inexperienced postmaster at Funafuti had run out of higher value stamps and, ignorant of the correct procedure to follow, was persuaded to personally surcharge lower value stamps by the islands' senior Medical Officer, Dr. McNaughton. This was done by a mixture of rubber stamp and handwriting. McNaughton, a keen collector of stamps, was only too aware that this action created an extremely limited quantity of such stamps that immediately become very rare and, therefore, highly collectible. He also made the news available to the international philatelic community, having several of the stamps in his own possession. There was, not surprisingly, a universal outcry and debate ever since as to whether these stamps should or shouldn't be counted as an official issue.

From Quiz Who Loves Tuvalu?

Answer: Tuvalu for the Almighty

Virtually all of the population belongs to the Tuvalu Christian Church which is the de facto state church. Its roots go back to 1861 when the islands were evangelised by Elekana, a missionary from the Cook Islands. Sadly, the islanders' very rapid embrace of Christianity inadvertently led to one of the blackest stains on their history. In the mid-1860s, slave traders from Peru abducted more than 400 people after reputedly tempting them onto their ships with the promise of bible teaching. For the next century, the church came under the auspices of the London Missionary Society before gaining its independence in 1969.

From Quiz Who Loves Tuvalu?

Answer: They were not eligible to play in the competition

Tuvalu became an associate member of FIFA in 2006 but only full members are eligible to enter the World Cup. The anomaly arose because Tuvalu entered the South Pacific Games in 2007 which FIFA then chose to use as part of its qualifying process. Any potential embarrassment was avoided when Tuvalu finished bottom of its group after defeats against the Cook Islands (4-1); New Caledonia (1-0); and Fiji (16-0) and a draw with Tahiti (1-1).

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Last Updated Apr 22 2024 11:03 AM

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