Calle Islas Gilbert

The Gilbert Islands are sixteen coral atolls in the central Pacific, half a world from Tetuán. The name of this street in Berruguete refers to them. The archipelago had been inhabited by Micronesian peoples for millennia when the British captain Thomas Gilbert crossed it in 1788, and around 1820 the nautical charts fixed the islands with his surname. The inhabitants themselves later adapted that name to their language: “Kiribati” is “Gilberts” pronounced the local way, and since 1979 it names the independent country. Several streets in this part of Berruguete bear the names of islands, though the reason for the choice was never recorded. They are reefs that rise barely a couple of metres above the sea, seated on the line of the date change.