Nauru Was One of the Richest Countries on Earth. Where Did the Money Go?

Nauru is a tiny island in the Pacific. In the 1970s, the island's income per person was about the same as Australia's, because the middle of the island was packed with phosphate, the rock that farmers spread on their fields to make crops grow. The leaders knew the rock would run out one day, so they saved a big share of the money in a fund. The fund built an office tower in Melbourne that was the tallest building in the city, and the island even started its own airline. It looked like a country that would be fine for generations. Then the fund made bad deals. A lender seized the tower over unpaid debts, and the island's only jet was taken back at the airport. Today Nauru sells its citizenship and takes in people Australia wants to deport, to pay for a home on the land the mining left behind. If your income came from something you knew would run out, what would you do differently? It was obvious. Until it wasn't. #Nauru #Phosphate #Australia #PacificIslands #History #ObviousUntil