The people of Kiribati people first arrived in the Gilbert islands around 1000 to 1300 AD. Archeological evidence shows that these people were Austronesians. Since Fujians and Tongans invaded the islands several times after this settlement, around the 14th century, there was intermarriages between these groups; thus, the culture of Kiribati has Polynesian and Micronesian influences.

The first Europeans arrived in the 16th century, when whalers, slave traders and sailboats arrived in the 1800s. A Russian hydrographer named Kursenstern named the Gilbert Islands in the 1820s. Europeans spread much of disease and began conflicts with the natives in the beginning. During this time, traders mostly exchanged coconut oil and Copra; in addition, a practice called ‘blackbirding’ which was kidnapping natives to slavery, occurred during this time.

In the 1850s, the first missionaries arrived. By 1893, the Gilbert and Ellice islands were made British protectorates; the capital was declared in Tarawa. In 1916, the majority of the islands were made into a British colony.

During World War II, the islands were violently taken over by the Japanese, after a bombing in Tarawa and Butaritari. Then in November 1943, the US Navy assaulted the Japanese forces on the island, which was one of the bloodiest battles in the Central Pacific during the war and an important Ally victory.

In 1975, the Ellice Islands separated from the rest of the colony and became its own country, called Tuvalu. In 1977, the Gilbert Islands became an independent country.  

The islands were heavily mined for phosphates from the turn of the century until 1979, when the deposits were exhausted. Since phosphate mining accounted for 80 percent of export profits and 50 percent of government revenue, this had a devastating impact on the economy.