Welcome to Fanning Island

When we got off the tender at the dock, there was a group of local people singing. This was our welcome to Fanning Island. All of the local people that we meet on the island were friendly and quick to smile.

There is some evidence of early Polynesians living on the island, but when Captain Fanning arrived in 1798, there were no inhabitants. In 1846 a coconut plantation was established on the island. Workers were brought from other islands. The local people are either descendents of these settlers or of others who have moved to the island over the last 200 years. Most of the population growth has occurred in the last 20 years, as families from other islands in the Republic of Kiribati have moved here.