Tuvalu, territory formerly called Ellice Islands, is an independent state constituted by 8 islands (Tuvalu means 8 islands in Polynesian). They are scattered islands located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean whose total area is 10 km2 and its population of 12,000 inhabitants.
Sources of economic income
Internet Domain Systems allow to identify the groups of devices or equipment connected to the Internet network. There are two main categories of nomenclature: those that express territorial locations of domains (mx for Mexico, .es for Spain, etc.) and those that refer to generic identifications (gov or gub for governments, .edu for educational institutions, .org for civil organizations and other analogous organizations).
Each state has the right to a differentiated suffix. This applies to large states such as the United States (.us) or Russia (.ru) or the very small: Vatican (.va), Monaco (.mc) or San Marino (.sm).
In some countries its particular spelling allows strategic abbreviations of great commercial value. This is the case of Tuvalu, a small Pacific Ocean nation whose domain is .tv
The .tv domain is highly coveted internationally because it coincides with widely used initials in the television (TV) market.
In 2000, the Tuvalu government negotiated an agreement with a private company to exploit the .tv domain name for 12 years and 50,000,000 dollars. Tuvalu receives a quarterly sum of 1 million dollars for the use of the domain. This sum represents one of the main incomes of the tiny state of 12,000 inhabitants and only 25 km2 of surface.
Other sources of income for Tuvalu are the sale of fishing rights in the exclusive economic zone, licenses of telecommunications companies, international aid funds, sale of stamps and coins and transfers of Tuvalu residents abroad or on board Pacific fishing fleets. Due to the shortage of its income Tuvalu is the state with the lowest Gross Domestic Product in the world, calculated at only 36 million dollars per year.
The technological culture that led to the development of new advances in telecommunications and information technology are far removed from the routines of life in the atolls of Tuvalu. The island communities are closely linked to the environment of their tiny territories and the immense sea that surrounds them. Due to the narrowness of the island's geographic spaces there are no rivers or streams, there are practically no aquifers, the rains must be collected and stored in tanks or reservoirs. Exceptionally, a seawater desalination plant donated by the Japanese government was obtained, which serves the problem for a few hundred inhabitants.
Other resources
Traditional food is obtained from the sea (crabs, turtles, fish and shellfish) and from a few plants and animals imported by the Polynesian navigators who came to the islands two thousand years ago, including coconut palm coconut (whose dried pulp is used to produce copra), breadfruit, taro tubers, pigs and gallinaceae. Since the European colonization new crops were incorporated (corn, cassava, cassava, banana) that completed the current diet of the Tuvaluenses. Job opportunities are scarce, and for the most part, they are confined to government posts whose budget is very limited.
Tourism is practically non-existent with only 1000 visitors per year to the main atoll of Funafuti and many less to the other islands that lack an airport and must be accessed by sea.
In this productive and economic framework, the perspectives of the local communities appear as restricted to the small local area, very distant from the remote technological centers of the United States and other central countries.
Difficult accessibility
A characteristic feature of the state of Tuvalu is its extreme isolation. The closest continental territory, which is Australia, is 3,400 km away, North America is much farther away, at 8,300 km, while the nearest oceanic islands are Fiji at 1,000 km, Samoa at 1,340 km, Tonga at 1,740 km. km, New Zealand at 3,400 km and Hawaii at 4,000 km.
The main island is Funafuti, which has 4,500 inhabitants. It is a discontiguous ring shaped atoll that has an extensive lagoon inside. It is the only airport and the most important urban center, Vaiaku, which is also the capital of the country.
Another of the islands of Tuvalu is the Nukufetau atoll, about 86 km from Funafuti, with 3 km2 and 600 inhabitants. Its shape is roughly square and has an inner lagoon of about 100 km2.
To the northeast, 57 km away from the previous one, is the island of Vaitupu with the second urban nucleus of the archipelago.(Asau). The island has 5.6 km² and 1,600 inhabitants. Other insular territories are the atoll of Nululaelae (2.5 km², 400 people) with an oval shape enclosing a 330
large lagoon of 40 km². Nunumanga (3 km², 600 inhabitants) where are the underwater caves of the same name, Niutao, with an area of 2.5 km² and population of 700, Nunumea atoll with 3.87 km² and 600, Nuin, with 2.83 km² and 548, and the small Niulakita, with just 0.4 km² (40 hectares) and 35 residents who recently migrated.
Due to the lack of work five hundred Tuvaluenses are embarked in fishing vessels, usually Germans. The limited exports of the country (1 million dollars a year) are made up of copra (coconut pulp) and seafood.
In addition to the contributions of the Internet domain .tv lease, the resources of the state come from international aid (13 million dollars per year), coin sales, fishing licenses and income from the Tuvalu Trust Fund (state investments). out of the country that to 2011 added about 76 million Australian dollars).
One of Tuvalu's main sources of income is the sale of stamps and coins. Clubs and fans of philately and numismatics worldwide are willing to pay moderate prices for stamps issued regularly by the post office and coins minted by the country. This situation continues since the late nineteenth century when the British colony Ellice and its main island, Funafuti, began issuing their own stamps.
A curious anecdote occurred in 1916 when the most valuable stamps were missing and the postal official decided to use the less valuable copies by sealing them and rewriting them by hand with the increased value. Because of their rarity, these stamps acquired great value. They are known as the "Funafuti provisionals".
Funafuti provisionals
This situation was suspect, since the person who had suggested that this method of "issuance" be used was the official doctor of the Colony, Dr. McNaughton, who had an influence on the issuance of the said modified stamps of which he kept several copies and then could sell at a good price.
The slave trade in the Polynesian islands
In the 1860s the Peruvian government wanted to develop guano resources from coastal areas, particularly in the Chincha Islands. To this end, it implemented policies to promote the immigration of workers from the Polynesian and Micronesian islands of the Pacific Ocean. These activities were carried out by adventurers who received the name of blackbirders. In many cases these mercenaries cheated and kidnapped the islanders who became slaves of the guano exploiters.
The children of Tuvalu and Tokelau whose parents were transported to the guano islands in Peru upon reaching maturity333
One of the archipelagos from where deceived workers arrived was the British colony of Ellice (now Tuvalu). Rev. A. W. Murray, a missionary residing on the islands at that time, described the situation in the archipelago. The traffickers persuaded the natives to get on the boats where supposedly they would be taught about religious issues while working on the exploitation of coconut palms. According to Murray in 1863 almost 400 people were kidnapped to work in the guano islands. About 180 people were captured in the Funafuti atoll and another 200 in Nukulaelae (which in this action lost 2/3 of its original population).
The independence
In 1974 the citizens of Tuvalu, then the British dependency of Ellice, voted to separate from the territory of Gilbert (now called Kiribati) by a margin of 3,799 votes against 293. Four years later, in 1978, after agreements with the government of the Kingdom Together, the state of Tuvalu gained its independence by joining the UN on September 5, 2000. On April 30, 2008, the citizens of Tuvalu had to answer the question if they wanted to remain independent members of the Commonwealth of Nations as they have been until now. or if on the contrary they preferred to constitute a republic. The number of voters was a demonstration of the little interest that awakened the consultation, about the total of 9,000 possible voters slightly more than 20% were sufficiently interested in the subject to go to vote. Anyway, the result was categorical, 1260 voted for the permanence in the Community and only 679 chose the Republican option.
Tuvalu is the member state of the United Nations Organization with a smaller population (barely 12,000 inhabitants) and one of the smallest because of its size (it only has 25 km2 surpassing only Monaco and the Vatican143).
What makes Tuvalu different from European micro-states and other small countries in Europe and Asia is the size of the oceanic area
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