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Tuvalu

From Bahaipedia
(Redirected from Ellice Islands)
Tuvalu
National AssemblyTuvalu
Statistics:
Total Population
 -  UN 2021[1] 11,204
Bahá'í pop.
 -  Bahá'í source  
 -  Non-Bahá'í source 202
Related media
Categories: Tuvalu • People

Tuvalu is a country located in the Pacific Ocean consisting of nine major islands. Its official languages are Tuvaluan and English.

The region has been inhabited since prehistory. In the 19th century European trading companies began operating in the region and named the area the Ellice Islands. In 1892 the British Empire colonized the islands and established a Protectorate and in 1916 it became governed as part of the colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. In 1978 the country achieved independence from Britain as Tuvalu.

History[edit]

The Baha'i Faith was first established in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands by Roy and Elena Fernie who settled in Kiribati in 1954. They intended to stay in the islands for life, but due to religious government pressure from the Christians, Roy was deported within a year, but Elena remained and carried on the work until 1957.[2] In those days the government required a religious group to have 100 members to be registered. When Roy was deported, 300 people enrolled in a single night and the Bahá'í Faith was registered.[2]

In 1959, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were included in the new National Spiritual Assembly of the South Pacific Islands.[3]

In 1964, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were included in the new National Spiritual Assembly of the South Pacific Ocean.[4]

In 1967, The National Spiritual Assembly of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands was formed.[5]

In a short lived cholera epidemic, a Bahá'í served on the Cholera Committee and the Bahá'is of the Gilbert Islands and Tuvalu were able to offer services September of 1977. Services included relaying messages throughout the area using the Bahá'í owned catamaran Erena-Roe and transporting patients from outlying islands to the central hospital.[6]

In 1978 Tuvalu gained its independence from Britain. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Gilbert and Tuvalu was not the name of the National Spiritual assembly. In 1979 when the Gilbert Islands became independent as Kirbati it became the National Spiritual Assembly of Kirbati and Tuvalu.

In August 1979, it was announced that there were 80 Local Spiritual Assemblies with 16 of them registered, Bahá'ís in 201 localities, and 13 Hazíratu'l-quds within the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of Kirbati and Tuvalu.[7]

Eight members of the newly elected National Spiritual Assembly of Tuvalue with Hand of the Cause H. Collis Featherstone (back row 4th from left), Continental Counsellor Suhayl 'Alá'í (seated far right), Auxiliary Board member Dr. Tilinga Pulusi (seated far right) and Jack Pedro (representative of parent National Spiritual Assembly of Kiribati)

The National Spiritual Assembly of Tuvalu was formed with its seat in Funafuti in 1981. [8] [9] [10]

In September of 1985, the National Spiritual Assembly of Tuvalu sponsored its first National Youth Conference. Forty delegates from seven islands attended.[11]

In September of 1988, a group of Bahá'í youth performed with another youth group during the commemorative dinner celebrating the 10th anniversary of the independence of Tuvalu. Representatives of the National Spiritual Assembly of Tuvalu attended other official commemorative events.[12]

Bahá'í statistics indicate that 5.8% of the population were Bahá'ís and in 1991 the Universal House of Justice noted that the Bahá'í Community had attained the status of one of the "common religions" in Tuvalu. In 2000, the census listed 2052 Bahá'ís representing 2.4 \% of the national population of 84,494.[2]

Evotia Masipei passed away on June 13, 1997. She was born on November 27, 1935 on the island of Nanumea in Tuvalu (then Ellice Islands). She the the first native Tuvaluan to accept the Bahá'í Faith on Tuvaluan soil. She served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Bikenibeu for three years and raised six children.[13]

In 2019, Mason Stahl stated that the oceanic communities of the pacific may not represent a large Bahá population, but because of a low total population, they represent a significant portion of the population. The total population of the region was around 100,000 and the estimates of the Bahá'i population in this religiously diverse area is somewhere between 3%-10%. In Tuvalu, the island of Nana Mia was the only geographic area in the world where Bahá'ís are a majority of the population - albeit only with population of about 600.[14]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Graham Hassal. "Origins of the Bahá'í Faith in the Pacific Islands: The Case of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands". Journal of Bahá'í Studies. pp. 36, 38–40.
  3. ↑ Baha'i News (1953). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 267, Pg(s) 1. View as PDF.
  4. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 99. View as PDF.
  5. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 99. View as PDF.
  6. ↑ Baha'i News (1978). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 564, Pg(s) 17. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ Baha'i News (1979). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 581, Pg(s) . View as PDF.
  8. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 107. View as PDF.
  9. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 62. View as PDF.
  10. ↑ The Universal House of Justice. "Ridván 1981".
  11. ↑ Baha'i News (1986). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 658, Pg(s) 17. View as PDF.
  12. ↑ Baha'i News (1989). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 700, Pg(s) 13. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1999). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 26 (1997-1998), Pg(s) 274. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ Mason Stahl. "Who are the Bahá'ís?: The Forgotten 4th Abrahamic Faith".

See also[edit]

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