Nauru
"Rich people also get poor." Nauru, which was still a primitive society in the 19th century, became the richest country in the world with its unique advantages, with a per capita GDP of about 25,000 Australian dollars. But "fate is not infinitely generous even to its favorite darling", and by the end of the 20th century, questions seemed to come to the Nauruans as if they had been agreed upon, and the Nauruans, who had long been accustomed to a comfortable and happy life, were exhausted and upset by these annoying questions. In the end, the endless wealth of the Nauruans is gone, the happy life is gone, and everything they have has become the smoke of the past, which has drifted away with the wind.
First, Nauru's past
Nauru in the South Pacific is a coral island with an area of only 21 square kilometers, and today its population is only about 10,000 people. As early as 1798, a ship led by the British explorer John Filn was the Hunter who first discovered Nauru. During their investigation of the island, Philn and others found that Nauru has 12 tribes that do not belong to each other, and the people of each tribe live a peaceful and beautiful life like "Peach Blossom Garden", so they named Nauru "Happy Island". The arrival of the British broke Nauru's isolation from the world, connected with the world, and at the same time, brought disaster to Nauru. In the first half of the 19th century, in order to punish the prisoners, the British government exiled those prisoners to Nauru and other places, and these vicious prisoners came to Nauru and acted recklessly, provoking conflicts between various tribes, enslaving the indigenous people of Nauru, and destroying the ecological environment of the island... In the end, the British turned the original "Happy Island" like a peach blossom into an "Island of Disaster". By 1888, Germany had seized control of Nauru from the British, and the Germans expelled 12 tribal leaders from Nauru and sent a German merchant to administer it. But at this time, the Germans only used Nauru as a temporary stop or supply place for ships, and other than that, Nauru did not have much other significance in the eyes of the Germans.
Second, the discovery of phosphate
The year 1897 was an extraordinary year in the history of Nauru. This year, a man from Australia found a strange stone during an investigation in Nauru and brought it back as a souvenir when he returned to Australia. In Melbourne, Albert inadvertently saw this unusual stone, out of great curiosity, he took the stone to test, after the test he was surprised to find that this stone is a very high-grade phosphate ore, and the phosphorus content in it is amazingly 80%. This phosphate is not an ordinary thing. Since the Industrial Revolution, phosphate has been widely used in all walks of life with its special function, such as aspirin and other drugs and many fertilizers are phosphate as an important raw material. Because of its many irreplaceable functions, phosphate is widely sought after all over the world and has gained the reputation of "ore treasure".
Phosphate mines
The news of the discovery of phosphate in Nauru, like the discovery of gold in San Francisco in 1848, spread around the world in just a few months. Soon, the world knew that Nauru had phosphate mines, and people around the world flocked to Nauru like the "gold diggers" of the year, setting off a "panning fever" for mining phosphate mines in Nauru.
Mining of phosphate mines
In order to maintain its ruling order in Nauru and to obtain high profits from the phosphate mines, Germany gave the right to mine the phosphate mines to the British in the early 20th century. After the outbreak of World War I, Germany drove its enemy, Britain, from Nauru. The First World War ended in Germany's defeat, so Nauru, which was originally under German jurisdiction, was also assigned to the British, New Zealand and Australia by the League of Nations, and Nauru's phosphate mines were also divided among these countries. After the outbreak of World War II, poor Nauru was occupied by Japan again, and the phosphate mine was also frantically mined by Japan, until 1945, when Nauru was retaken by Australia and re-entered the jurisdiction of Australia and other countries.
Third, the glory of Nauru
Beginning in 1798, Nauru was under the rule of the Western powers, suffering so much humiliation that even its own minerals had to be ceded to others. Perhaps it is the exploitation and domination of Nauru by the Western powers for more than a hundred years that makes Nauruans extremely eager to break free from the shackles of the West and fight for their precious freedoms. As a result, countless nauruan people have launched an anti-colonial and national independence movement for freedom and liberation. Eventually, under the leadership of Nauru's "father of independence", Hammer de Robert, among others, Nauru declared its independence in 1968. This also opened a highlight moment for Nauru, a small country.
Flag of Nauru
Soon after Nauru's independence, it withdrew the right to mine phosphate mines from the United Kingdom and other countries, declared that the phosphate mines were owned by the state, and established the Nauru Phosphate Mining Company to manage ore mining in a unified way. From 1970 to 1980, Nauru exported an average of about 2 million tonnes of phosphate ore per year, and on this basis alone, Nauru earned $120 million a year. That's astronomical for Nauru, which has a population of just over 10,000. It was with this hefty income from phosphates every year that the small country of Nauru became the richest country in the world in the 1970s and 1980s.
It is precisely because of this high income that the lives of Nauruans have undergone earth-shaking changes. In terms of education, Nauru implements a compulsory free system, and the cost of schooling for Nauruan students is fully reimbursed by the Government; In terms of medical treatment, Nauru also implements a free medical system, even if Nauruans want to go to Australia and other foreign countries to see a doctor, the cost is fully borne by the government; When it comes to travel, Air Nauru has a number of Boeing airliners, which facilitate the travel of Nauruans by air. The average household has two cars, which also gives people great convenience for traveling on the road. In addition, since Nauru is a small island, the convenience of natural sea travel is also conceivable. At work, about 93 per cent of Nauruans work in simple jobs in the Government, and high-intensity jobs such as phosphate mining are carried out entirely by foreign hired workers. In fact, due to the impact of Nauru's high welfare policy, work is just a hobby for Nauruans in their leisure time. In terms of daily diet, wealthy Nauruans love sweets, alcohol, etc., and they eat mostly high-end imported food shipped from Australia and other places, which also leads to obesity becoming a symbol of Nauru. In terms of entertainment activities, Nauru, with an area of only 21 square kilometers, has a golf course for people to relax and entertain, and Nauru's national television station also has three channels to broadcast a variety of entertainment programs for Nauruans. In terms of housing, Nauruans do not need to build their own houses, they almost all live in government-built mobile homes. All in all, Nauruans have lived happily with phosphate in their "born rich" life, and it seems that the former "Happy Island" is back.
Fourth, happiness is not eternal
After all, nature's gifts are not infinite. Although Nauru has about 100 million tons of phosphate ore storage, but due to years of uncontrolled mining, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, an average of 2 million tons of phosphate per year, eventually led to the depletion of Nauru's phosphate ore storage, in the 1990s Nauru's phosphate mine mining was rapidly declining, by 2002, Nauru's phosphate mining volume plummeted to 200,000 tons, and by 2004, it was only 40,000 tons.
The depletion of phosphate mines also exposes Nauru's past problems that have been completely obscured by wealth. The first is the policy issue, which has long been a high welfare policy in Nauru due to the endless wealth of phosphate mines, but the cost of this policy can only be afforded in the seventies and eighties, when phosphate mining is extremely high. Mining declined in the 1990s, but the high welfare policy did not change much, leaving Nauru with an annual deficit of $250 million in the 1990s. Followed by health problems, long-term unhealthy diet, exercise and other habits lead to 90% of Nauruans are obese patients, more than 50% of people suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure and other affluent diseases, so the average life expectancy of Nauruans is only about 55 years old. In Nauru, from the president down to the people, there is a deformed concept of consumption, and luxury cars are all over the island, and it is said that even President De Robert treats Nauru Airlines planes as private cars. Finally, there is the problem of work, as the Lion King says: "The process of life is to enjoy slowly, not to catch up." "Almost no Nauruan is willing to do high-intensity work, and 95% of them only work in the government and enjoy a relaxed and enjoyable life.
Nauru declined
Faced with a series of problems, the Government of Nauru is actively looking for a way out. Their first thought was to go to foreign investment, so the Nauruan government built a 7-story building in Washington and a beer company in the Solomon Islands, the most famous of which was a 52-story "guano building" built by the Nauruan government in Melbourne in 1982 for more than $20 million. But in fact, these investments have been caused by problems such as construction and operation and management, resulting in a perennial state of insufficient income, and have also exacerbated Nauru's deficit crisis. In addition, in order to maintain the original affluent life, the Nauru government also acquiesced to the Bank of Nauru to carry out money laundering and other activities, which also made Nauru a world-famous "tax haven" and "money laundering holy land".
"Guano" building/
After a series of reforms failed, the Naurun government finally had to appeal to Australia for help, in a manner similar to selling sovereignty, in exchange for Australian asylum.
Wen Shijun said
"Success is also Xiao He, and defeat is also Xiao He." Nauru thrived on the phosphate mines and declined because of them. But in fact, Nauru's decline is not the fault of the phosphate mines, but the fault of people's laziness and greed, after receiving natural gifts, they cannot think of danger in peace, and finally they can only complain about the world after the resources are exhausted. From the rise and fall of Nauru, we can also see how important the sustainable development strategy adhered to by the mainland is and how great the significance is for future generations.
bibliography
Wang Jiantang: "Nauru", Journal of Henan University, No. 3, 1984.
Wu Zhonghua, "China's New Friend: Nauru, a Small Country in The World Of Knowledge," No. 17, 2002.
Feng Rui and Cui Wanglai, "Exploring the Economic Development of South Pacific Island Countries: Taking Nauru as an Example", Jiangsu Business Journal, No. 7, 2016.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Revitalization DingFang)
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