History
Thomas Gilbert, captain of the East India Company vessel Charlotte, was the first European to describe Tarawa, arriving on June 20, 1788. Gilbert's 1788 sketches survive.
Sir Arthur Grimble was a cadet administrative officer based at Tarawa (1913–1919);. and became Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony in 1926.
During World War II, Tarawa was occupied by the Japanese, and beginning on November 20, 1943 it was the scene of the bloody Battle of Tarawa. On that day United States Marines landed on Tarawa and suffered heavy losses from Japanese soldiers occupying entrenched positions on the atoll. The Marines secured the island after 76 hours of intense fighting with around 6,000 dead in total from both sides.
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