2°00N 157°30W, pop (2000e) 3000; area 390 km²/150 sq mi. Largest atoll in the world, one of the Line Is, Kiribati, C Pacific Ocean, 2000 km/1250 mi S of Honolulu; indented on the E by the Bay of Wrecks; visited by Captain Cook, 1777; annexed by the British, 1888; used as an air base; nuclear testing site in late 1950s; coconut plantations.
Coordinates: 1°53′00″N, 157°24′00″W
Geography
Kiritimati—also called Christmas Island but not to be confused with Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean—is a Pacific Ocean atoll in the northern Line Islands and part of the Republic of Kiribati.
Kiritimati is about 150 km in perimeter.
History
Kiritimati was discovered by Europeans on December 24, 1777 by Captain James Cook.
Presently, there are four villages on the island:
All villages are listed in the following table, with the preliminary census results of 2005:
| No. | Village |
Population (Census 2005) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | London | 1829 |
| 2 | Tabwakea | 1881 |
| 3 | Banana (Banana Wells) | 1170 |
| 4 | Poland | 235 |
| 5 | Paris (ruins) | - |
| Kiritimati | 5115 |
London is the main village and port facility. Many of the place names in the island date from Father Emmanuel Rougier, a French priest who leased the island from 1917 to 1939 and planted some 800,000 coconut trees there.
The British tested their first H-Bomb here in May 1957, and the United States conducted Operation Dominic here in 1962.
There is a Japanese NASDA satellite tracking station and an abandoned airfield (Aeon Field) proposed for reuse by the Japanese for their now-canceled HOPE-X project (a space shuttle).
The island has about 5,000 inhabitants and 2 representatives in the Maneaba ni Maungatabu.
Previously (ended on April 26, 2004) a charter flight by Air Kiribati (done by Aloha Airlines) connected Christmas to Honolulu every week with a Boeing 737.
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