Bike Island
Abemama Atoll - Gilbert Islands
Republic of Kiribati
Island History
Local People
Bike Island, Abemama
Abemama is an atoll in the central part of the Kiribati (Gilberts) Group located 95 miles southeast of Tarawa and just north of the Equator. It has an area of 16 square kilometres and an estimated population of 3,608. The islets surround a deep lagoon. The eastern part of the atoll of Abemama is linked together by causeways making automobile traffic possible between the different islets. The outlying islands of Abatiku and Bike are situated on the southwestern side of the atoll.
The village of Kariatebike serves as the government center for the atoll which includes an administration building, the police station and a hospital. An airstrip is located on the north end of Abemama near the village of Tabiang.
Abemama is known as the island where the Declaration of a British Protectorate was made by Captain Davis of Royalist on 27 May 1892. In 1889 it was also the home of Robert Louis Stevenson. Near Tabontebike is the tomb of tyrant-chief Tem Binoka, who was immortalized by Stevenson in his novel "In the South Seas"
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