Discover Kiribati: Fill & Download for Free

In the 18th century, (1784) a treasure-hunting seaman from Japan named Chunosuke Matsuyama, shipwrecked on a South Pacific island with 43 shipmates, carved a message into coconut wood, put it in a bottle, and set it adrift. It was found in 1935—supposedly in the same village where Matsuyama was born. The bottle had washed ashore in the village of Hiraturemura, where Matsuyama supposedly was born. The find is quite shocking to me … What might be the chances for the coincidence? 151 years later, in the same village…Source of the picture: 7 Oldest Message in a BottleMatsuyama’s message had been delivered just in time :) …Source of the picture: Man Friday Cartoons and ComicsA real life story:‘’After drifting for 33 days in the South Pacific, Uein Buranibwe and Temaei Tontaake, two fishermen from Kiribati, were overjoyed to make landfall on a remote atoll in the Marshall Islands. And their joy soon turned to delight when they discovered that the descendants of an uncle of Mr Tontaake, feared drowned at sea in the 1950s, were living on the atoll.It turned out that the uncle, named Bairo, had ended up on the same atoll, Namdrik, after getting lost during a fishing trip. Stranded 350 miles from Kiribati with no way to return, he married a local woman, had children and became part of the community.’’ Source of the quoted paragraphs: Lost fishermen reach land – and solve a mysteryTemaei Tontaake, left, and Uein Buranibwe, right, on Namdrik after their Pacific ordeal. Source of the picture: Lost fishermen reach land – and solve a mystery

Quite a few, actually! In various regions of Australia, seven new beautiful species of peacock spider, in the genus Maratus, have been discovered.As well as a new species of parasitic fungus which was actually “discovered” on Twitter. Someone tweeted a picture of a millipede and a biologist noticed some strange dots on its exoskeleton, which turned out to be a new type of fungus.Just today, it was announced that five new species of frog in the genus Leptobrachella have been discovered in China’s Yunnan Province.Also, in the forests of Sri Lanka, a new type of orchid has been found. It seems as though it’s in critical danger of extinction.Other discoveries in early May include several types of freshwater fish, known as filament barbs, in the Western Ghats.And a species of the parasite worm Trichinella, a genus responsible for the disease trichinosis, which lives in wolverines. Due to the boreal nature of its hosts’ habitat, this species is highly tolerant of cold temperatures, and therefore freezing it won’t kill it, as is usually used on other Trichinella species.Further back, in late April, genetic analyses revealed that the Mata mata turtle of South America was in fact two, species, not one.In the Alps, several new species of moths were discovered, all of them being named after famous mountain climbers.A new blenny was discovered in the Pacific, found in the coastal waters off a handful of archipelagos such as the Pitcairn Islands, and the Line Islands of Kiribati.And in India, a new species of pit viper has been fittingly titled Triremurus salazar, after a certain Salazar Slytherin.On the same day as that snake, four species of leaf-nosed bat were discovered in Africa. Leaf-nosed bats are actually fairly closely related to horseshoe bats, likely the origin of a kind of virus known as COVID-19. You may have heard of it.And those are just the extant species. On the 29th of April, a Late Cretaceous lizard was found in South America, called Neokotus. It’s the oldest squamate known from the Southern Hemisphere by 20 million years.Also on the 29th, a new genus of gondwanathere (a group of Mesozoic mammals) was discovered from Late Cretaceous Madagascar, which is probably the best preserved mammal fossil from the whole Mesozoic era. It was also one of the largest.Really, it’s amazing that species are being discovered at such a rate, especially in a time when you think field activities might ground to a standstill in many places.

Certainly.(I have limited this to currently existing nations, and their names in English, to keep the answer from becoming over long. Thanks to those who have informed me about names in other languages.)Bolivia is named for Simon Bolivar.The United States of America was named after Amerigo Vespucci, through the name of the continent of America (later categorized as North and South America). Edit: a reader has pointed out that there is a claim the name came from a Bristol man named Richard Amerike.Albania was named after Albanoi, a rebel against the Byzantine Empire.*Azerbaijan was named after Atropates, an ancient king.*Belize is supposed to have gotten its name from a pirate named Wallace who set up a refuge there. The local people supposedly could not say the English sound represented by W.Colombia was named for Columbus.Cook Islands, named after Captain James Cook. (Thank you, Caroline Glass.)Georgia (the nation) was supposedly named for St. George.*Israel was named for the Patriarch Jacob, who was renamed Israel by GodKiribati is a transliteration of the name of Thomas Gilbert, the British explorer who identified the islands in 1788.Marshall Islands were named for Adm. John Marshall, who mapped them in 1788Mauritius was named after Prince Maurice of Nassau, Stadholder of the NetherlandsMongolia was named after Mongulu, an early khan.The Philippines were named after King Philip II of Spain.The first part of the name of St. Kitts and Nevis refers to St. Christopher.Saint Lucia is named after St. Lucy.The first part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines comes from the name of (tah-dah) St. Vincent.San Marino was named after Saint Marinus, who founded it as a refuge for Christians.Sao Tome and Principe is named in part for St. ThomasSaudi Arabia is named after Ibn Saud, who ruled it at the time of the Sykes-Picot AgreementSeychelles was named for Jean Mireau de Seychelles, a minister of Louis XV.The Solomon Islands were named after the Biblical King Solomon.Swaziland comes originally from the name of Mswati I, king of the Swazi people.*Are you sorry you asked? (* indicates that this origin claim is disputed.)Edit: The Dominican Republic was named for St. Dominic. (Thanks, Quora reader.)Edit: Another reader informs me that Bermuda was named for Juan de Bermudez, who discovered it in 1405.