Bauro Tokatake

Bauro Tokatake, also known as Paul or George Tokatake, was an I-Kiribati politician and landowner. He was the king of Abemama, Kuria and Aranuka in the Gilbert Islands.

Bauro inherited the historic titlea relic from the precolonial-era State of Abemama with no legal basisfrom his father, Tekinaiti, in the 1960s. Due to his lineage, he also owned the most land on his home island of Abemama. He received income through copra production, as custom allowed him to ask any of his subjects to come work on his properties, and, more contentiously, by selling off land. Bauro served as President of the Island Council from 1968 to 1977. He represented Abemama on the Legislative Council of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands from 1971 to 1978.

Life Bauro Tokatake was born . Bauro complained that "being a king on Abemama is a bum deal. No power, and people help themselves to whatever you own. No, these days it is better to be a commoner than a king." Bauro was elected to the Legislative Council of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in 1971. :378 In addition, Bauro served as President of the Island Council from 1968 to 1977, while his uncle was the Island Executive Officer. During their time, the Council's funds were consistently short each month, and Bauro's uncle asked him to cover the missing money. This ongoing issue led to Bauro's uncle being fired and Bauro resigning from his position. :266 He now only had 115 lands, or 132 parcels, in the Lands Register, :174

When the United Kingdom granted Kiribati independence in 1979, the elders of Abemama penned a letter to Queen Elizabeth II, requesting that Abemama, Kuria, and Aranuka either be made a separate country or remain a British protectorate. A new village, , between and , was recorded in 2005 with a population of 140, near where Bauro once lived. R. F. Watters suggests that Bauro allowed I-Abemama families to rent some of his land, perhaps cutting copra for the king and fishing in the lagoon, leading to the development of what is now a community of 525 (2020) the second-largest village on Abemama. :297 Bauro's position as uea was inherited by Donald "Don" Tokatake, his eldest son. was asked by an Australian aid worker how it felt to be a king and compared himself to "a dog with no teeth," since the title, he said, was nothing but a word. described Don as "only a figurehead". :286