![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/1911_5d_stamps_of_the_Gilbert_%2526_Ellice_Islands.jpg/640px-1911_5d_stamps_of_the_Gilbert_%2526_Ellice_Islands.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Postage stamps and postal history of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/1911_5d_stamps_of_the_Gilbert_%26_Ellice_Islands.jpg/640px-1911_5d_stamps_of_the_Gilbert_%26_Ellice_Islands.jpg)
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Gilbert_and_Ellice_Islands_1911_%28Mar.%29_Pandanus_Pine_1d._carmine.jpg/130px-Gilbert_and_Ellice_Islands_1911_%28Mar.%29_Pandanus_Pine_1d._carmine.jpg)
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Stamp_Gilbert_Ellice_Islands_1939_3p.jpg/640px-Stamp_Gilbert_Ellice_Islands_1939_3p.jpg)
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/1956_stamps_of_the_Gilbert_and_Ellice_Islands.jpg/640px-1956_stamps_of_the_Gilbert_and_Ellice_Islands.jpg)
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Cover_Gilbert_Ellice_Islands_1949_UPU.jpg/640px-Cover_Gilbert_Ellice_Islands_1949_UPU.jpg)
The islands in the South Pacific Ocean were a British protectorate from 1892 and colony from 1916.