Timothy Detudamo

Timothy Detudamo (* in Uaboe ; † April 11, 1953 ) was a Nauruan politician. He was the father of Buraro Detudamo , the grandfather of Robbie Detudamo , who failed in the parliamentary elections in 2003, and the great-grandfather of tennis player Angelita Detudamo. He is considered the founder of modern Nauruan society. He served as a pastor in his younger years .

In 1917 Detudamo traveled to the United States with Philip Delaporte , whom he had helped create a Nauruan dictionary for years , to continue helping with the translations of religious texts into Nauruan . To finance the trip, he needed 500 US dollars (a lot of money at the time), which he received from collective donations. Detudamo stayed in America until 1921 before he returned to Nauru and became politically active. In 1928 he was Chief of Nauru until 1942 .

Around 1940 he tried to make the Nauruan language easier to understand for Europeans and Americans. His reforms could only partially or not at all prevail, so that today the old spelling is used. Nevertheless, Detudamo is considered the most important Nauruan language politician, as he spoke a total of five languages: Nauruan , English , German , Marshallese and Kiribati .

By the thirtieth June 1943 he was governor of Nauru until he like most Nauruans to Chuuk was deported as a result of the Japanese invasion. From January 31, 1946 he was again chief of the island, until December 18, 1951, the executive Naurus was politicized and professionalized. From then until his death, Detudamo was the head of government of Nauru.