Nui (atoll) - Languages and History

Languages and History

The people of Nui speak the Gilbertese language, the language of Kiribati, and Tuvaluan, the official language of Tuvalu. The ancestors of Nui came from the Gilbert Islands in what is now Kiribati. The island was sighted in January 1568 by Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña y Neyra, who named it Isla de Jesús (Spanish for "Island of Jesus") but was unable to land.

The population of Nui from 1860-1900 is estimated to be between 250 and 300 people.

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