Who Loves Tuvalu? Trivia Quiz

Answer: They are named after the English politician, Edward Ellice

Edward Ellice was a member of the British parliament for 41 years and a director of the Hudson's Bay Company.

The first recorded sighting of Tuvalu, by a European, came in 1568 when the Spaniard, Álvaro de Mendaña y Neyra, saw the island of Nui. The islands were "rediscovered" in 1819, when Arent de Peyster came upon the atoll of Funafuti. De Peyster, a close friend of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, gave it the name, "Ellice's Group", as his ship had been provided by Ellice. He went on to chronicle other islands now part of Tuvalu which were named "De Peyster's Islands" but, unfortunately for him, the first name stuck.

Answer: Eight together

There are actually nine islands/atolls that make up the Tuvalu group. One of these, Niulakita was unoccupied prior to 1949, when it was settled to prevent over-population on the island of Niutao. Unlike the other islands in Tuvalu, Niulakita was formed by volcanic activity as part of the Samoan hotspot.

Answer: The United Kingdom

In 1886, the United Kingdom and Germany signed an agreement dividing the "unclaimed" islands of the South Pacific between themselves. Nevertheless, the UK was reluctant to take on full responsibility for the then Ellice Islands and only did so six years later.

Between 1892 and 1916, they formed the Ellice Islands protectorate. From 1916 until 1974, they became the colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands and, after 1974, the two island groups were once again separated, with the Gilbert Islands becoming Kiribati. Tuvalu continued as a British dependency until independence came in 1978.

Answer: Samoa

Telematua is said to have had two wives, Futi, which means "banana" and Tupu, which means "abundant". From these names derive the names of Funafuti and its neighbour, Vaitupu. Telematua is said to have divided his time between the two wives and the two atolls. Tuvalu has a population of approximately 11,000 people, of which one half lives on Funafuti and another sixth on Vaitupu.

Modern studies back up the claims that the islanders probably originated from Samoa. They are Polynesian in culture rather than Micronesian and this led to the decision to detach themselves from Kiribati upon independence.

Answer: Global warming

Tuvalu is particularly vulnerable to any rises in sea level as its highest point is a mere 15 feet above sea level. Experts predict that, if present trends continue, the islands will become unsustainable within the next 50 years.

"350" relates to carbon dioxide levels within the atmosphere and the "safe" levels, recommended by some scientists, expressed as 350 parts per million.

Sea levels around Tuvalu have, in fact, been rising for the last few thousand years. In 1986, scuba divers discovered an underwater cave on the Tuvaluan island of Nanumanga which showed evidence of human activity and had, at one time, had fires lit within it. Remarkably, this cave is more than 130 feet below present sea levels and has forced experts to reconsider the point at which the islands were first populated.

Answer: Stamps

The "scandal" of the Funafuti Provisionals occurred in July 1916. The young, inexperienced postmaster at Funafuti had run out of higher value stamps and, ignorant of the correct procedure to follow, was persuaded to personally surcharge lower value stamps by the islands' senior Medical Officer, Dr. McNaughton.

This was done by a mixture of rubber stamp and handwriting. McNaughton, a keen collector of stamps, was only too aware that this action created an extremely limited quantity of such stamps that immediately become very rare and, therefore, highly collectible.

He also made the news available to the international philatelic community, having several of the stamps in his own possession. There was, not surprisingly, a universal outcry and debate ever since as to whether these stamps should or shouldn't be counted as an official issue.

Answer: Tuvalu for the Almighty

Virtually all of the population belongs to the Tuvalu Christian Church which is the de facto state church. Its roots go back to 1861 when the islands were evangelised by Elekana, a missionary from the Cook Islands. Sadly, the islanders' very rapid embrace of Christianity inadvertently led to one of the blackest stains on their history.

In the mid-1860s, slave traders from Peru abducted more than 400 people after reputedly tempting them onto their ships with the promise of bible teaching. For the next century, the church came under the auspices of the London Missionary Society before gaining its independence in 1969.

Answer: Remittances sent from Tuvaluans living overseas

Tuvalu is a small, densely populated country amounting to just 10 square miles in area. The soil is poor and agricultural activity is limited to subsistence farming. It has no mineral deposits and its remoteness serves as a barrier to tourism. Many Tuvaluans work overseas or as sailors and their contribution to the economy was estimated at $2m in 2007. This compares to a GDP of about $15m. (Source: CIA World Fact Book)

The biggest source of Tuvalu's revenue derives from overseas aid, in particular income from an international trust fund established in 1987.

Answer: They were not eligible to play in the competition

Tuvalu became an associate member of FIFA in 2006 but only full members are eligible to enter the World Cup. The anomaly arose because Tuvalu entered the South Pacific Games in 2007 which FIFA then chose to use as part of its qualifying process. Any potential embarrassment was avoided when Tuvalu finished bottom of its group after defeats against the Cook Islands (4-1); New Caledonia (1-0); and Fiji (16-0) and a draw with Tahiti (1-1).

Answer: .tv

In 2000, Tuvalu leased the rights to the .tv suffix in a deal reported as bringing in $50m over a 12-year period. Given that the country's annual GDP is only about $15m, this represented a huge bonus. Unfortunately, the bursting of the Internet bubble meant that such figures did not materialise but, as of 2010, the rights were still bringing in over $2m per year.

The 2000 deal also enabled Tuvalu to become the 189th member of the United Nations, which it did in September of that year. The country had previously been unable to pay for registration.