Banana Wells
Village
Banana
Banana Wells Show map of Kiribati Banana Wells Show map of North Pacific
Coordinates: 1°52′00″N 157°24′00″W / 1.86666667°N 157.4°W / 1.86666667; -157.4

Banana (also called Banana Wells) is a small village located on the northern side of the Kiritimati Atoll (also known as Christmas Atoll), Kiribati. It is located close to Cassidy International Airport and the James Cook Hotel. It is the third-largest village on the island, with a population of 1,209 people in 2015.^[1] Banana is located near the settlements of Tabwakea, London, Poland and Paris, with Paris being abandoned.

History

Exploration and settlement

Banana and the rest of Kiritimati is believed to have been inhabited first by the Polynesians, beginning around 1250–1450 AD. The islands were rediscovered during the Spanish Hernando de Grijalva [es] expedition in 1537, and again by James Cook in the eighteenth century.^{[citation needed]}

20th century

During World War II, the island was captured by the United States to serve as a stop along the flight route from Hawaii to Australia and New Zealand. The United States also used Kiritimati as a staging ground to attack the Japanese-occupied Gilbert Islands. Between 1957 and 1962, the island was used for several nuclear tests by the United States and United Kingdom, without the locals being evacuated.

From the late 1970s to the early 1990s, the office of the Kiritimati Fisheries Sub Division of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development was in the village.^[2]

Demographics

Banana is home to around 1,209 ethnic I-Kiribati people, making up most, if not all of the population.^{[citation needed]} Banana is the third-most populous village in Kiritimati.