King of Abemama and his son Bauro

King of Abemama and his son Bauro and sitting behind are his many wives King Binoka' great-great-grandfather Ten Tetabo, was a giant of a man who had saved Abemama from invasion by an army from Tarawa King Binoka was immortalised by Robert Louis Stevenson's description of him in his book In the South Seas. Stevenson spent two months on Abemama in 1889. Stevenson described King Binoka as the "one great personage in the Gilberts … and the last tyrant". Stevenson described the ambitions of King Binoka as an embryonic "empire of the archipelago" and established his importance in the Gilbert Islands as King Binoka figures in the patriotic war-songs of the Gilberts like Napoleon in those of our grandfathers." Picture Credit: Robert Louis Stevenson 1889

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OldPik

OldPik

March 3, 2025

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