Gilbert and Ellice Islands

8.8

A former British colony in the Pacific that became Kiribati and Tuvalu in the 1970s

proper noun

: Islas Gilbert y Ellice

The Gilbert and Ellice Islands gained independence as Kiribati and Tuvalu in the 1970s.

Examples

The Gilbert and Ellice Islands were once a British colony.
During World War II, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were strategically significant in the Pacific.
Many historic documents from the colonial era reference the Gilbert and Ellice Islands as a British possession.
Did you know the Gilbert and Ellice Islands became independent in the 1970s?
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands became two separate nations, Kiribati and Tuvalu, after gaining independence in the 1970s.
During the colonial period, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were administered by the British government.
Many travelers are unaware that the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were once a significant British colony in the Pacific.

Surface Forms

Gilbert and Ellice Islands main

Morphology

Gilbert + and + Ellice + island

The phrase is compositionally transparent: it literally names two proper nouns joined by 'and' plus 'islands', so a B1 learner who knows 'and' and 'islands' would infer it refers to an island group composed of places called Gilbert and Ellice. The specific historical detail (that it was a former British colony split into Kiribati and Tuvalu) is not derivable from the constituents, but the basic referent as an island group is predictable from the parts.

Etymology

Gilbert and Ellice Islands comes from the last names of two British men: Captain Gilbert, who first sailed past and wrote about some islands, and Mr Ellice, a British politician who later helped claim them. That's why this name was used for the group of islands that were a British colony and later became the countries Kiribati and Tuvalu.