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Tuvalu consists of nine separate islands, six of which are atolls and three are reef islands. Since an atoll typically consists of several islets, there is a total of more than 124 islands and islets. The three remaining islands are actually atolls, too, but they have a completely closed rim of dry land, with a lagoon that has no connection to the open sea or that may be drying up. Each island is surrounded by a coral reef. The islands of Tuvalu are spread out between the latitude of 5° to 10° south and longitude of 176° to 180°, west of the International Date Line.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Maps of Tuvalu )〕 The name, Tuvalu, means "eight standing together" in Tuvaluan. The smallest island, Niulakita, which is the 9th island in the Tuvaluan archipelago, was not continuously inhabited. From the late 19th century it had been in private ownership. It was bought by the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony administration in 1944. The administration gave people from Vaitupu permission to settle Niulakita. However, in 1949 a later administration decided to have Niulakita settled by the community from Niutao, which was considered to be overpopulated. The removal of the Vaitupuans was controversial. Niulakita is a separate local government district but it is administered as part of Niutao. Niulakita is represented in the Parliament of Tuvalu by the members of the constituency of Niutao. At least 11 islands are inhabited, expanded over the biggest isles of the nine atolls, plus two islands in Funafuti. ==Royal Society of London investigation of the formation of coral reefs at Funafuti== An expedition (''Funafuti Coral Reef Boring Expedition of the Royal Society'') under Professor William Sollas of Oxford University,conducted by the Royal Society of London carried out drilling on the coral reef at Funafuti in 1896, 1897 and 1898. The Royal Society of London were investigating the formation of coral reefs and whether traces of shallow-water organisms could be found at depth in the coral of Pacific atolls. Three expeditions used drilling equipment to take core samples of the coral reef. A goal of the expeditions was to drill down to confirm that the coral material was located on a base of volcanic rock. This investigation followed the work on the structure and distribution of coral reefs conducted by Charles Darwin in the Pacific. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「List of islands of Tuvalu」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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