Tuvalu (Imperialist Oceania)

Tuvalu (formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country located in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It is comprised of three reef islands and six atolls spread out west of the International Date Line. Tuvalu has a population of 11,646 (according to the 2071 Census). The total area of the islands of Tuvalu is approximately twenty-six square kilometers or ten square miles across the entirety of the Tuvaluan islands.

The first inhabitants of the islands of Tuvalu were the Polynesians, an ethnolinguistic group of closely related natives to Polynesia. It is addressed in the theories of migration in the Pacific that begin approximately three thousand years ago. During the years where European contact was impossible, the native Polynesians would frequently conduct canoe voyages between their islands - Tuvalu, Samoa, and Tonga.

It is believed that the Polynesians first discovered Tuvalu after conducting a canoe voyage from their islands of Samoa and Tonga, eventually stumbling upon Tuvalu and claiming it as their own. It became a centerpoint for Polynesian canoe voyages and resulted in further Polynesian migration into Micronesia and Melanesia.

Back in 1568, Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña became the first European to sail through the archipelago, sighting the island of Nui (now one of nine districts in Tuvalu) during his expedition in search of the hypothetical continent of Terra Australis. The Funafuti atoll - now the capital of Tuvalu - was named Ellice's Island in 1819, and the name was applied to all nine reef islands and atolls. Eventually, during the nineteenth century, the British Empire gained control over the Ellice Islands with their sphere of global influence. As a result, the islands were declared a British protectorate by Captain Gibson of Curacoa.

A referendum was held in 1974 to determine whether the Gilbert and Ellice Islands should govern over their own island territories. The referendum came out with majority approval, and thus the island nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu were formed as a sovereign state within the realm of the Commonwealth.

Politics
Tuvalu is officially a non-partisan representative democracy and a parliament-based constitutional monarchy. No formal political parties have been established in Tuvalu. Tuvalu is also an advocate and follows the Westminster democratic system. There were attempts to abolish the idea of a Queen of Tuvalu and to establish an e