There are more than 200 countries and regions in the world, each with its own characteristics and their own unique style.
There is such a "special" country in Oceania, with a land area of only 21.1 square kilometers, the size of only one village, and the smallest island state in the world.
Once rich and invincible, Manchuria was full of "fat houses", but now they are living in debt, and the island is full of garbage.
01 The original Nauru
In the vast seas of the South Pacific, there are countless islands, in addition to the largest Australia and the more developed New Zealand, more than 60 kilometers south of the equator, there is a small island with a land area of only 21.1 square kilometers.
The island is Nauru, which has a population of about 13,000 people and once had a nice name , "Paradise Island".
It is inconceivable that this land, which is only the size of a village, has been divided into 14 small villages.
Even so, it is a country, one of the smallest in the world by area, after the Vatican and Morocco.
Unlike the countries we see now, the earliest Nauru was a bit unseen, and even somewhat similar to the indigenous feeling of the primitive period.
For centuries, people living on the island have made a living from fishing and have rarely seen visitors from outside the island.
Fast forward to the 18th century, when European countries embarked on a path of frantic overseas expansion.
The most important thing they do every day is to drive the ship around the world, stop when they see a favorite place, occupy the land, and declare it their own territory whether the natives want it or not.
Nauru's first guest was John Finn of England.
When John Finn discovered the island in the South Pacific on his Hunter, he found it not only scenic but also inhabited.
Adhering to the principle of saying it is one's own at a glance, John Finn named the island "Happy Island".
Unfortunately, although the scenery here is good, its area is too small.
For all these reasons, Captain John regarded it only as a leisure resort, and he never expected that when he had a blind eye, he would miss the fish that slipped through the net in Nauru.
Fast forward to 1888, as Prussia, who had nothing to share in the Age of Discovery, they came to the Pacific Ocean to find leaks.
This time they really didn't find anything for nothing, because they accidentally found Nauru, which was then named "Happy Island".
Adhering to the principle of "taking bean bags as dry food", they immediately sent troops to occupy this place, but what they did not expect was that they came casually and actually picked up the treasure.
What is "Baby"? What happened then?
02 Nauru's road to prosperity
This refers to the "baby" is high-quality phosphate rock.
In 1901, a German geologist stumbled upon the fact that more than 80 percent of the soil in Nauru's palm-sized territory was high-quality phosphate rock.
You think there are only a few layers on the surface? Wrong, it is tens of meters thick.
The reason for the formation of this soil is also simple, that is, bird droppings, and I don't know whether it is hundreds of years or thousands of years, this small island in the South Pacific has become a paradise and habitat for birds, they come and go, and even more so, they don't leave.
This place where birds live and leaves layer after layer of bird droppings, eventually forming a thick layer of phosphate rock.
The era of industrialization is beginning, and phosphate rock happens to be one of the indispensable chemical materials.
In addition, although its demand is large, there is a hard requirement for use: phosphate rock must be high-quality and pure, and the phosphate rock layer in Nauru has this advantage.
In the days that followed, the Germans frantically mined phosphate mines here.
Because there are so many, even if you dig wildly, it still looks like a considerable amount.
With the outbreak of the First World War, the scramble for territory intensified, and the British also reoccupied the land, adhering to the principle of the victorious countries to get rich together, and united with Australia and New Zealand to dig phosphate mines.
Since then, Nauru has changed hands several times, and by the time of World War II, Nauru was occupied by the Japanese.
It was not until 1968 that Nauru often changed hands, because in that year" "Nauru" became "Republic of Nauru"!
After several worlds of invasion and exploitation, Nauru finally became an independent country, and phosphate rock was finally in its own hands.
03 Nauru – a country that has exploited its resources to the fullest
After taking the initiative, the Government of Nauru began large-scale logging in the 1970s.
With good times and high profits, Nauruans instantly became the top of the world's richest list with phosphate ore, and villages of thousands of people truly became a veritable paradise after centuries.
It is no exaggeration to say that the money nauru made in the 1980s was not achieved in the 21st century in many countries.
The more money there is, the more happiness there is, the invaders are gone, the happiness of the Nauruans is back, and the GDP per capita of nearly $40,000 is enough for them to buy everything they want!
There are special planes out of the door, the country has built an airport, if you want to go to Dubai, you can go to Dubai, if you want to go to Europe, luxury brands, jewelry, luxury cars and watches are all available.
Although they already have these, they are still not satisfied.
In order to make more money, Nauruans are like gold miners digging like crazy mines, digging almost all year round day and night, and really exchanging for money.
From the comprehensive to the government into a frenzy, the advice of professionals was forgotten, the mining progress and total amount were released, as long as it could be dug out, it would not worry about selling, and finally it would be exchanged for dollars and returned to the hands of Nauruans again.
There are many ways to play with money, and the first thing a country does when it has money is to build and change people's livelihood and welfare.
Don't look at Nauru's small size, all kinds of entertainment functions are available.
In the face of national welfare, as long as you can think of the project, all are free, education, fertility, medical care and a series of actions, individuals do not need to bear any costs, in addition to enjoying is to collect money.
In addition, in addition to shopping and traveling, the greatest pleasure of Nauruans every day is to sit at home and watch TV and eat at the same time.
It is said that they eat as many as 6 meals a day, sticky rice mixed with sugar and various high-fat foods, do not limit their diet at all, the final result can be imagined: up to 90% of the obesity rate is accompanied by more than 60% of the residents with diabetes.
I have to say that this is also a change of money for illness.
Nauruans love beer, the state has built a brewery on the Solomon Islands, not for sale specifically for Naurun nationals; 5 Boeing planes have been played as buses, dedicated to travel to and from the United States; want to go to school? The whole process is free, and you can read as much as you want.
Three television buildings have been built in the palm-sized area to broadcast world programmes around the clock; for the sake of entertainment, zero-return opera performances have been held at the London Opera House.
In a country where all the people are upstarts, they will spend money as a real cause, in addition to the large-scale procurement and construction of various advanced facilities, they also set their sights on overseas construction.
In 1972, a cloud of great wealth drifted over the heart of Melbourne.
The Nauruans bought a piece of land here, and they wanted to build a Nauru mansion, which was the tallest building in Melbourne and needed to be able to hold all the nauruans.
A stone stirred up a thousand waves, Nauru's money almost shocked the world, and Australians adhered to the principle of having money to earn, unconditionally satisfied.
Soon the Nauru Building was completed, regardless of the quality of the project, at least from the surface of the bright and beautiful.
On the day of the completion and inauguration ceremony, celebrities from all walks of life gathered, and the whole publicity was pearlescent.
It is no exaggeration to say that the inauguration ceremony alone lasted for nearly half a month, and there are few words to describe it except luxury.
In addition, Nauru makes a wide range of global investments, such as finance and national trusts, but as Nauru's tricks "die", their good days are coming to an end.
Maybe Nauru is like a firework we see, dazzling, but only for a moment.
04 Journey of Nauru's Demise
We all know a common sense in life, that is, do not play stocks without experience, do not involve the financial industry that you do not understand, even if you want to have a professional financial personnel to do this.
The Nauruans clearly don't understand this.
From the time they dabbled in finance and trust, almost into the abyss of economic collapse, combined with the financial crisis of the 90s, the fate of Nauruans seems to be doomed.
If only investment fails, there may be a comeback day, but the lack of resources is irreversible. The unrestricted mining practices of the Nauruans have finally ushered in the end of phosphate rock.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, Nauru's phosphate mines have experienced a cliff-like decline in mining, but they have struggled to maintain.
Corresponding to the decline in mining volume is the decline in state revenue and the decline in the living standards of the people.
Previously unsustainable infrastructure, coupled with reparations and loans in the international market, Nauruans have gone from being rich to "negative".
At the same time, Western financial predators have encircled Nauru's brainless investment behavior, which has made the former rich man's head miserable.
What's more, the People of Nauru, who have lived a good life for 20 years, have almost been raised to be wasted by the state.
The fat man of more than 200 pounds per capita limits his mobility and reduces his life skills, and the excessive intake of sugar and fat makes people very unenergetic.
The island's over-logging has left the land in tatters, even if you want to pick up the cultivation industry again, even if you want to return to the fishing state of centuries ago, but the people can not achieve it.
After all, this ancestral skill was forgotten as early as the moment Nauru made its fortune.
After entering the 21st century, Nauruans finally realized the various problems in their finances and did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to hire a special finance minister from Australia.
However, it was too late for Nauru's economy to be irreversible, or so to speak, to the point of exhaustion.
The previous unlimited spending on meals, buying luxury cars, investing in financial hotel real estate, and emptying the pockets of Nauruans.
Even after being sold at a low price, the part that is taken back is quickly spent.
Television stations stopped, Boeing planes sold, luxury goods came back into the hands of others, and most importantly, the mountains of garbage on the island had not been cleaned up for a long time because they could not pay wages.
Happy Island was instantly turned into a mountain of garbage, and people were no longer keen to travel to Nauru.
Throughout The history of Nauru, it now seems that Nauruans are like an upstart who has directly entered modern society from primitive society.
It is unreasonable to force people to enter the life of the times without civilization, such as they do not know moderation when they have money, blindly buying some useless luxury goods, rather than using it to improve themselves and develop other industries.
You wouldn't think that a country that was once as rich as this is doing a terrible job in education and health care.
There is no comprehensive construction system for medical care, completely dependent on Australia next door, education is not such a concept, even if the government supports all aspects, there are very few people who can choose to go to school.
05 Nauru now
Nauruans, accustomed to a rich life, certainly cannot adapt to the current state of affairs.
In addition to selling the physical objects in their hands, they also dismembered and packaged all the virtual privileges of the country concerned, all in order to pay off the foreign debt that seems to outsiders to be unable to pay off.
In 2004, the once-dazzling Nauru Building in melbourne's city centre became a debt asset, and Nauruans lost their last refuge.
If the ocean floods Nauru one day, the island's inhabitants may indeed become homeless refugees.
Nauruans are almost crazy, in order to make money can have no bottom line, there is nothing to sell when they began to rely on the name of an independent country, sell passports, sell identities, help others offshore tax avoidance, launder black money, as long as there is money, Nauruans are willing to do anything, any resources can be provided.
People now frown at the mention of Nauru, which has become an extralegal place in some countries.
It is worth mentioning that Nauruans even sell diplomatic rights, such as where there is a defection or sovereignty dispute.
As long as Nauru is paid a part of the money, Nauru will establish diplomatic relations with it, and there will be no consequences at all except money, just as Algeria once ordered Nauru to recognize the rights and interests of the Western Saharan countries, and was even willing to pay Nauruans $10 million a year.
epilogue
The root of all this and the process of turning from prosperity to decline are nothing more than the first "bird droppings" caused by the disaster, thousands of years of sedimentation brew wealth at the same time, but also push people into the abyss of greed, but who can blame all this?
This can only be blamed on Nauru itself, in its glory, for not understanding the sustainable development of resources.
Now I want to return to a state where I can use bird resources again, maybe it will take hundreds of years, but in Nauru today, will the birds really come?