Kiribati (IPA: or kee-ree-bas in Gilbertese, sometimes incorrectly pronounced in English), officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. It comprises 33 atolls dispersed over 1,351,000 square miles (3,500,000 km²) straddling the equator and borders the International Date Line to the east.
The name Kiribati is the local variant of "Gilberts", derived from Kiribati's pre-independence name, the Gilbert Islands.
