Santorum: Ich bin ein Puerto Rican-er ("I never said only English should be spoken here. Never...")

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. I'm glad you put Tuvalu as #8 - because it's nothing to do with the USA

The islands came under Britain's sphere of influence in the late 19th century, when the Ellice Islands were declared a British protectorate by Captain Gibson, R. N. of HMS Curaçao between 9th and 16 October 1892. The Ellice Islands were administered as British protectorate by a Resident Commissioner from 1892 to 1916 as part of the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT), and later as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony from 1916 to 1974.

In 1974, the Ellice Islanders voted for separate British dependency status. As a consequence Tuvalu separated from the Gilbert Islands which became Kiribati. Tuvalu became fully independent within the Commonwealth on October 1, 1978. On September 5, 2000, Tuvalu became the 189th member of the United Nations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuvalu

You've still got your +7 - but you don't get to annex the valuable .tv suffix!