Nauru

Introduction to Nauru

The Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island republic in the South Pacific Ocean. It is one of the world's smallest independent countries both in terms of population and land area. It is also the smallest non-European country (in terms of land area), and it is the only nation in the world with no official capital.

Much of its past prosperity derived from the large amount of phosphate deposits on the island, believed to be either of guano or of marine origin. Superphosphate is used as a fertilizer around the world in aerial topdressing and the majority of it has been exported to Australia. With the exhaustion of the phosphate supplies, Nauru faces an uncertain future. In the 1990s, it tried to gain new sources of income by introducing itself as a tax haven, but this story came to an end in July 2004.

Nauru currently houses a detention centre, which holds and processes asylum seekers as part of Australia's Pacific Solution.