Tuvalu is a small island country in the South Pacific Ocean.Tuvalu, an independent country in the South Pacific Ocean. Tuvalu consists of a chain of nine coral atolls with an area of about 10 square miles (26 km 2). The people are of Polynesian descent and live by fishing and the raising of coconuts. The population at the 1991 census was 9,043. A dialect akin to Samoan is generally spoken; English, however, is the official language. Fongafale, on Funafuti, is the capital. From 1892 to 1975 Tuvalu was part of the British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. In 1975 the Ellice Islands separated from the Gilberts (now the independent country of Kiribati) and became the colony of Tuvalu; in 1978, independence was granted.
