Banana, Kiribati Explained

Banana, Kiribati should not be confused with Banana (disambiguation).

Banana
Settlement Type:	Village
Pushpin Map:	Kiribati
Coordinates:	1.8667°N -157.4°W
Population As Of:	2010
Population Total:	955
Utc Offset:	+14

Banana is a village in Kiribati, located on the island of Kiritimati, within the Archipelago of Line Islands. It is located close to Cassidy International Airport.

Name

In 1962, when over 4,000 American servicemen were on the island as part of Operation Dominic, the village became known as Banana for unclear reasons.^[1]

Demographics

In 2010, Banana was inhabited by 955 people, making it the third most populous of the four villages on the island.^[2] The great majority of the population of Kiritimati as of 1989 lived in the Banana, London, or Poland villages.

Social media incident

In 2024, a twitter account (@KiribatiGov) which had successfully impersonated the Kiribati government for some time went viral after responding "Fine. You're not invited." to a post making fun of the city's name.^{[3] [4]}

Notes and References

1. Scott . Derek A. . 1993 . Teeb'aki, Republic of Kiribati . A Directory of Wetlands in Oceania . 199–228 . [i] International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau; [ii] Asian Wetland Bureau . [i] Slimbridge, UK; [ii] Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia . http://archive.wetlands.org/Portals/0/publications/Report/WI_DIR-Oceania_1993.pdf . https://web.archive.org/web/20180830210238/http://archive.wetlands.org/Portals/0/publications/Report/WI_DIR-Oceania_1993.pdf . 30 August 2018.
2. Web site: Report on the Kiribati 2010 Census of Population and Housing. August 2012.
3. Web site: Dingle . Sarah . 2024-02-25 . How a man faked Kiribati government's X account . 2024-08-19 . www.abc.net.au . en-AU.
4. Web site: 2024-02-21 . Kiribati's government not responsible for viral post, sorry . 2024-08-19 . France 24 . en.