With 71% of the earth being covered in Ocean, it's no surprise that in my random spinning of the globe this week I landed... in the middle of the ocean again. But honestly, that seems to be where some really bizarre stories go on.

Today, I landed on a fairly familiar name, but an otherwise unknown island chain which is a shame because this place is so damn interesting I don't think I can fit it into a single post!

Kiribati

Kiribati is probably a name heard recently due to its relationship with the immediate threat of climate change. Most of the island nation (consisting of several dozen islands) rarely reaches 1-2 metres above sea level, and with the inevitability of the rising seas, their president, Mr. Tong had to buy a 20 square km patch of land 2,000km away in the fiji islands in 2014:

...according to the projections, within this century, the water will be higher than the highest point in our lands...For our people to survive, then they will have to migrate. Either we can wait for the time when we have to move people en masse or we can prepare them—beginning from now ...

So let's have a look at this soon-to-be-extinct island chain:

Ok... not so helpful but we can see there are numerous other islands. Some more recognisable names somewhat nearby are Fiji, Cook Island and French Polynesia, and I'd say it's about halfway between Sydney and San Francisco. A little closer now...

You're right, this island does look a little Freudian. But... you might notice something even more strikingly bizarre...

Banana, Paris, London, Poland

This strange little island is called Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island or NOT That Place with the Ridiculous Crab Situation Also Called Christmas Island.

It seems like the sub-7,000 population has been having fun with names, right? Well it turns out there's method in their madness. But first, let's admire the topography of this place, because it's a truly alien world. Especially Paris.

As you can see, not much is actually going on in Paris in terms of human activity, and Poland looks like a painting of a shipwreck. I'm sure you can see what I'm on about:

But there's not much life going on really so far. But it seems most of the population seem to congregate in London. This is more like it:

Seems Google didn't want me looking so intimately so it decided to freak out after this:

So what's behind the names?

Quite simply, Kiritimati has been explored by many travelling nations. Poland got its name when Stanisław Pełczyński explored and helped out the village with irrigation systems. In gratitude, he had the place very uncreatively named after his country. There's like, no information on this guy, so moving on.

Paris was named after a French priest who made the place his home by leasing the entire island and shoving 800,000 palm trees on it. And presumably infeceting the place with his religion and churches I keep seeing around the island:

London, and in fact Kiribati as a whole is named after the fact that Britain controlled the islands as a 'protectorate' for some time - The very name Kiribati is a transliteration of 'Gilbert', as in Gilbert Islands.

Banana comes from the Supreme Master Race of the same name from the Plantation in India that went rogue.

I actually don't know, but I have a clue in some documents saying it was a toponym from the days where Kiribati was a victim of Nuclear testing in the 50's and 60's. I wasn't entirely sure where they got the idea of a banana, but after having a look I did see this:

Maybe?

So much more.

This post can only serve as a brief introduction to make you vaguely aware of the place. My browsing has shown that this place is rich in history, also terrible history, and culture and more. It's a place symbolic of climate change and natural destruction of pristine environments. These islands are a precious paradise and not long for this world, so go check 'em out and read more for yourselves, maybe visit and say hi from me ^__^