Member-only story
Fred’s Gold Map Story №1: ‘THE GILBERT ISLANDS’.
STORIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD FOR NEW & OLD READERS
This golden map, first mentioned in an introductory article that I titled: “Found! Golden Version of World Map” was the stimulus for regular reminiscences … a re-presentation of some of my true world stories.
Today (in June 2023) I present the first in this series. It is all about an island nation that was originally known as ‘THE GILBERT ISLANDS’
What, and where are ‘The Gilbert Islands’?:
The Gilbert Islands, often referred to simply as ‘Gilberts’ are a group of some 30+ islands situated in The Central Pacific, and located near the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line
The Gilbert Islands are small coral atolls and only have a total land area of about 260 sq mile (673 sq Km), yet they are spread over two million square miles (5 sq Km) of sea! For the most-part, they are very narrow strips of land, no more than 100 yards (90 meters) wide, and are often associated with a lagoon, protected by a ring of coral reef, lying just below the sea surface.
In terms of height above sea level, they are extremely low … the average elevation above sea level being 6 feet (1.8 m) … there are no hills!
