Tarawa is one of the two largest of the Gilbert Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, but it is a very tiny island, with an area of about eight square miles, and a population of about 17,000. Small as it is, three nations fought to control and use it as an air base during World War II. The Japanese took it from the British in 1941, only to lose it to the Americans tow years later after one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Today, the Gilbert Islands having become part of the Kiribati Pepublic, Tarawa is now its capital and major seaport . 【查看更多】
