Nauru

Nauru, previously known as Pleasant Island, is an island nation and microstate in the central Pacific Ocean in Micronesia, Oceania. At just 21 km2, Nauru is the third smallest country in the world after Vatican City and Monaco, and therefore the smallest republic and the smallest island nation. With around 10 000 inhabitants, it is the second smallest in the world after Vatican City. Originally settled by peoples from Micronesia around 1000 BC, Nauru was annexed and claimed by the German Empire as a colony at the end of the 19th century. After the First World War, it became a mandate of the League of Nations, administered by Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Nauru was invaded by Japanese armies during World War II, and was bypassed during the Allied advance in the Pacific. After the end of the war, the country entered into United Nations trusteeship and then gained its independence in 1968. The island of Nauru is an island of phosphatic rock, whose rich deposits near the surface have allowed easy mining for more than a century. But this has severely damaged the country's environment, leading to the island nation being affected by a phenomenon known as the 'resource curse'. The lack of vegetation on the island and the consequences of phosphate mining have left the island with little wildlife. While there are no native land mammals, there are native insects, land crabs and birds, such as the endemic Nauru Reed Warbler, but several native birds have vanished or become very rare due to habitat destruction.