Yaren, Nauru

Yaren is the seat of government of the Republic of Nauru, a small island nation in the South Pacific. Though Yaren is not officially established as the capital of Nauru, it is internationally accepted as such. The country's parliament and governmental and administrative offices and ministries, as well as the international airport, are located there. Nauru is the only republic in the world that does not have an official capital.

Landscape

Nauru is an island in the South Pacific Ocean that lies south of the equator, with Australia 4,025 kilometers (2,500 miles) to the southwest and Hawaii 4,025 kilometers (2,500 miles) to the northeast. With a land mass of 21 square kilometers (8 square miles), Nauru is the smallest independent republic in the world. Due to its small size, it has no cities, and is divided into fourteen inhabited regions.

The discovery of rich phosphate deposits of guano in 1900 resulted in the mining of roughly 80 percent of the island's territory. The center of the island consists of a barren surface covered by pillars of coral up to 15 meters (49 feet) high that are left over from the mining.

Yaren is situated in the southern left corner of the oval-shaped island. Yaren's administrative district lies along a narrow strip of land between 150 and 300 meters (492 and 984 feet) wide. The district of Yaren itself is only 3.8 square kilometers (1.5 square miles) in size. It borders the Pacific Ocean and has a white sand beach. At low tide, the coral reef surrounding the island becomes exposed, revealing more coral pinnacles.

Yaren's proximity to the equator affects its tropical climate. The humidity typically hovers around 80 percent, but breezes from the ocean often counter the heat. Temperatures average around 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) year-round. The Yaren district is alternately exposed to droughts and heavy rains, both results of the El Niño effect, a phenomenon in which the temperature of the ocean fluctuates temporarily near the equator. Global climate change has compounded the problem of water scarcity. Rainfall is heaviest between November and February, and the island's annual rainfall total is 2,060 millimeters (81 inches). Rainwater is an important source of freshwater for Nauru--buildings include collection systems and the government has installed large storage tanks for drought periods. The island also relies on desalination plants, which operate using fossil fuels. Desalinated water is delivered to homes around Nauru by trucks.

People

Of the roughly 9,852 people living in Nauru (2023 estimate), most are of Polynesian descent, with a Micronesian and Melanesian blend. The population of Nauru has grown significantly since the mid-twentieth century. As such, overcrowding is an issue. The only inhabitable land on the island is the strip between the mined regions and the coast.

The remoteness of the island isolates the population as well as the language. The national language, Nauruan, does not resemble other Polynesian and Micronesian languages, and is spoken by 93 percent of the population. English, though, is spoken widely. Roman Catholicism and Protestantism are the main religions, constituting approximately 33 percent and 60 percent of the nation, respectively. National holidays include Nauru's Independence Day (celebrated on January 31), Constitution Day (observed on May 17), Angam (Homecoming) Day (observed on October 26), and National Youth Day (held on September 25).

Like its neighboring Pacific Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu, Nauru uses the Australian dollar for currency. When profits from phosphate mining were high, the government provided national health care and education, keeping the literacy rate above 90 percent. After the economy began to decline, those public services diminished. Obesity has been a significant problem among Nauru's population in the twenty-first century.

Economy

Yaren is the chief port of the island and, as the de facto capital, exerts control over the Nauruan economy. The electricity, water supply, postal service, banks, and transportation systems are all government-owned and operated. The economy of the island itself has been reliant on the export of guano and subsistence agriculture, which includes the cultivation of coconut, bananas, pineapples, pandanus (a flowering plant), and various vegetables. Nonetheless, the cultivation and production of food on the island is insufficient, and food is generally imported. More than 90 percent of items consumed on the island are shipped in, including some water. The island is also home to other small-scale mining operations.

Changes over the years have given Nauru one of the most dramatically shifting economies in the world. Because of the depletion of guano, the government has had to resort to more creative methods of supporting its economy and generating revenue, including the sale of fishing rights in its water zone for profit. In 2001, Nauru agreed to house two Australian refugee camps for payment; Australia discontinued the use of the detention centers in 2008 but resumed from 2012 to 2019 and again from 2021 to 2023.

Nauru receives foreign aid from nations such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, and Taiwan, which intervened to fund a new airline so commercial imports could resume after the government declared bankruptcy in 2004.

In 2006, scientists discovered the possibility of continued phosphate mining on the island, and a secondary layer of the resource estimated to be good for thirty years began to be extracted. However, national debt remained a problem. In response, Yaren has begun a revised economic program with import and export, tourism, fishing, and banking as the chosen industries to replace the depleting phosphate mines.

Landmarks

Yaren itself is a landmark, existing on an island made completely of elevated coral. Although the single lagoon and prime areas for swimming are located on other parts of the island, the section of the coral reef accessible through Yaren provides opportunities for the observation of tropical marine life, such as marlin, tuna, and barracuda. As such, the waters around Yaren are considered ideal for sailing and fishing.

Behind the cliffs facing Yaren sits an accessible plateau of a phosphate field measuring 30 meters (100 feet) long. Here, coral spikes as high as 15 meters (49 feet) make up the rock surface, creating a wasteland of space that is uninhabitable for plants or animals.

Yaren's only landmarks of note, independent of the natural environment, are the side-by-side government and parliament houses. The houses are Western in style, and sprawl across the majority of the length of Yaren. The international airport's airstrip, serving the country's single airline, forms a backdrop for the modern government buildings.

History

The first inhabitants of Nauru were likely of Micronesian and Polynesian descent, though the unique character of the Nauruan language has led to various theories as to their origins. The first European visitors to the island appeared in 1798, giving Nauru the name Pleasant Island. Contact with Europeans increased in the early-to-mid nineteenth century when whaling ships began to fish in nearby Pacific waters. This increased exposure to Western civilization brought new diseases and conflict to the island, and a civil war began in 1878. By 1888, the population of the island had dropped to 900 inhabitants. At the end of the civil war, the island became the property of Germany.

In 1900, a British mining company discovered vast depositories of phosphate-rich guano on the island. Guano was a popular and extremely marketable fertilizer, and it began to be mined extensively in 1906 by the Pacific Phosphate Company.

In 1914, Austria overtook the island for the duration of World War I. At the end of the war, in 1920, rule of the island was given over to a three-part system of rule between Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. Together, they created the British Phosphate Commissioners, and phosphate mining resumed.

Japan occupied Nauru during World War II in 1942. When the war ended, the island became a territory of Australia under a mandate by the League of Nations. In 1967, the government bought out the British Phosphate Commissioners, and the Nauru Phosphate Corporation took over mining. One year later, on January 31, 1968, Nauru became an independent republic, and government offices were installed in the district of Yaren.

In 1989, Nauru sued Australia, New Zealand, and Britain for the damage done to the island during the time of Australia's jurisdiction. Nauru won the suit, and received one-time payments from New Zealand and Great Britain, and twenty years of multi-million dollar settlement payments from Australia. The 1990s were a time of prosperity for Nauru, as it exported as much as one million tons of guano annually.

With the economy booming, the government in Yaren, receiving the profits from all sales, was able to provide citizens with tax-free health care and education. Knowing that the phosphate supply would not outlast the century, Nauru's government began creating trust funds to invest large amounts of money in foreign businesses. In 2000, the mineral supply ran out, and commercial mining soon ceased. However, because of corruption and bad financial choices, the trust funds were also devastated.

In 2001, Nauru began accepting aid from Australia in return for the establishment of a refugee center on the island. This agreement, and the accompanying aid, ended in 2008. Additional political instability in the presidency, which experienced a series of no confidence votes and frequent elections between 2000 and 2008, added to the country's difficulties. Phosphate mining operations resumed in the 2000s with the discovery of deeper layers of reserves, helping to revive the economy. A further boost came in 2012 when Australia reopened its Nauru-based immigration detention center, although the decision also drew controversy and protest. This arrangement lasted for about seven years. The center housed migrants again from 2019 to 2023. Economic reform plans continue to be executed and discussed in hopes of eliminating Nauru's dependency on mining and foreign aid.

Bibliography

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"Nauru." The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 20 Feb. 2024, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/nauru/. Accessed 27 Feb. 2024.

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