Tuvalu

Well, yesterday I was at home resting for a while and decided to watch Multishow, my favorite chanel. Especially when they are showing trips.  One great tv show is Não Conta Lá Em Casa, where four young men travel to places currently “in conflict” and register their points of view with a camera. The aim is to reveal another side of countries that are in a situation of constant conflict, closed to the world. The last program was about Tuvalu, formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian’ Island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji (I’m crazy about this island). It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls. Its population of 12,373 makes it the second-least-populated sovereign state in the world, with only Vatican City having fewer inhabitants. In terms of physical land size, at just 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi) Tuvalu is the fourth smallest country in the world.
The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesian people. The islands came under the UK’s sphere of influence in the late 19th century. The Ellice Islands were administered by Britain as part of a protectorate from 1892 to 1916 and as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony from 1916 to 1974. In 1974, the Ellice Islanders voted for separate British dependency status as Tuvalu, separating from the Gilbert Islands which became Kiribati upon independence. Tuvalu became fully independent within the Commonwealth in 1978.  Noways Tuvalu is one of the places on Earth that is most vulnerable to the affects of global warming, which is the reason the guys from the tv show went there. The threat of sea level rise may bring complete disasterto the 10.000 Tuvaluans residing on nine extremely low-lying coral atolls. 

A person from the internet sent me this: “I took a photo of Funafuti (Tuvalu) back in 1973 which I have posted on Webshots (coopec100). My album is (I think) Pacific Inslands, Can you spot the differences between my photo and the above photo?! http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2831763940083294338HgMOik ”

>> Fran’s blog:  http://colunas.multishow.globo.com/franontheroad
>>Site: http://multishow.globo.com/Nao-Conta-La-em-Casa/