Editing Line Islands

{{Short description|Chain of eleven atolls and low coral islands in the central Pacific Ocean}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox Islands
|name = Line Islands
|native_name = Teraina Islands
|image = Line Islands location map (with names).svg
|location = [[Pacific Ocean]]
|country1 = {{Flag|Kiribati}}
|country1_admin_divisions_title = Administrative division
|country1_admin_divisions = None
|country1_largest_city_type = island settlement
|country1_largest_city = [[Kiritimati]]
|country1_largest_city_population = {{Wikidata|properties|qualifier|reference|Q193331|P1082|P585=2020|P585}}
|country2 = {{Flag|United States}}
|country2_admin_divisions_title = [[Territories of the United States|Territories]]
|country2_admin_divisions = ''[[Territories of the United States#Incorporated vs. unincorporated territories|Incorporated]]''<br />{{Flag|Palmyra Atoll}}<br />''[[Territories of the United States#Incorporated vs. unincorporated territories|Unincorporated]]''<br />{{Flag|Jarvis Island|local}}<br />{{Flag|Kingman Reef}}
|total_islands = 11
|area_km2 = 503.28
|map = Kiribati#Oceania#Pacific Ocean
|pushpin_map_width = 300
|coordinates = {{Coord|1.7|N|157.2|W|dim:2000km|display=inline,title}}
}}

The '''Line Islands''', '''Teraina Islands''' or '''Equatorial Islands''' ({{langx|gil|Aono Raina}}) are a chain of 11 [[atoll]]s (with partly or fully enclosed [[lagoon]]s, except [[Vostok Island|Vostok]] and [[Jarvis Island|Jarvis]]) and [[coral]] [[island]]s (with a surrounding [[reef]]) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the [[Hawaiian Islands]]. Eight of the atolls are parts of [[Kiribati]]. The remaining three—[[Jarvis Island]], [[Kingman Reef]], and [[Palmyra Atoll]]—are [[territories of the United States]] grouped with the [[United States Minor Outlying Islands]]. The Line Islands, all of which were formed by volcanic activity, are one of the longest island chains in the world, stretching {{cvt|2350|km|mi|abbr=off}} from northwest to southeast. One of them, [[Starbuck Island]], is near the geographic center of the [[Pacific Ocean]] ({{Coord|4.97|S|158.75|W|format=dms|type:landmark_region:FR_scale:10000|display=inline}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=International Journal of Oceans and Oceanography, Volume 15 Number 1, 2021, Determining the Areas and Geographical Centers of Pacific Ocean and its Northern and Southern Halves, pp 25-31, Arjun Tan |website=Research India Publications |url=https://www.ripublication.com/Volume/ijoov15n1.htm |ref={{sfnref}} |access-date=2022-07-18 |archive-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621213544/https://www.ripublication.com/Volume/ijoov15n1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Another, [[Kiritimati]], has the largest land area of any atoll in the world. Only Kiritimati, [[Tabuaeran]], and [[Teraina]] have a permanent population. Besides the 11 confirmed atolls and islands, [[Filippo Reef]] is shown on some maps, but its existence is doubted.

The [[International Date Line]] passes through the Line Islands. The ones that are parts of Kiribati are in the world's farthest forward [[time zone]], [[UTC+14:00]]. The time of day in these atolls is 24 hours ahead of the state of [[Hawaii]] in the United States, which uses [[UTC−10:00]], and 26 hours ahead of some other islands in [[Oceania]], such as [[Baker Island]], which uses [[UTC−12:00]].

==Overview==
[[Copra]] and [[Fishkeeping|pet fish]] are the islands' main export products (along with seaweed).

[[File:Map of Kiribati CIA WFB.png|thumb|left|Map]]
Archaeologists have identified the remains of coral [[Marae]] platforms and/or village complexes on several of the islands,<ref>{{cite book |author=Patricia A. Nagel |title=Results of the First Joint US-USSR Central Pacific Expedition (BERPAC): Autum[n] 1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zWwVAQAAIAAJ |year=1992 |publisher=U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zWwVAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA6&dq=marae+%22line+islands%22 6] |access-date=26 February 2021 |archive-date=2 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902033415/https://books.google.com/books?id=zWwVAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> including the Kiritimati and Tabuaeran atolls, Teraina Island, Malden, Millennium Atoll and Flint Island. These remains are dateable as far back as the 14th century, and show that the inhabitants of the Line Islands were likely permanent or at least semi-permanent.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/basch/uhnpscesu/pdfs/sam/DiPiazza2001AS.pdf |title=Voyaging and basalt exchange in the Phoenix and Line archipelagoes: the viewpoint from three mystery islands |last1=di Piazza |first1=Anne |last2=Pearthree |first2=Erik |journal=Oceania Archaeology |volume=36 |year=2001 |issue=3 |pages=146–152 |doi=10.1002/j.1834-4453.2001.tb00488.x |access-date=5 November 2022}}</ref>

Most 18th-century visitors to these isles overlooked these telltale signs of former Polynesian settlement. This included Captain Cook, who landed on Christmas Island (now called Kiritimati) in 1777, as well as Captain Fanning, who visited Teraina (Washington Island) and Tabuaeran (Fanning Atoll) in 1798.

In the 19th century, [[whaling]] ships were regular visitors to the islands. They came in search of water, wood and provisions. The first whaler recorded to have visited one of them was the ''Coquette'', which docked at [[Kiritimati]] (then called Christmas Island) in 1822.<ref>Robert Langdon (ed.) ''Where the whalers went: an index to the Pacific ports and islands by American whalers (and some other ships) in the 19th century'', Canberra, Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, 1984, p. 149 {{ISBN|0-86784-471-X}}.</ref>

In 1888, the United Kingdom was planning to lay the [[All Red Line|Pacific cable]], and annexed the islands with a view to using Tabuaeran (then Fanning Island) as one of the relay stations for the cable. The cable was laid and was operational between 1902 and 1963 (except for a short period in 1914)<!-- Commenting this disputed area for a moment, -MrMiscellanious: when German naval forces landed (? They did not land) at Fanning to cut the cable -->.

In 1916, the British annexed Fanning and Washington islands, making them part of the British colony of the [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]].<ref>Order in Council Annexing the Ocean, Fanning, and Washington islands to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, 1916.</ref> In 1919, they annexed Christmas Island to the same colony.<ref>Order in Council under the Colonial Boundaries Act, 1895, Annexing Christmas Island to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, 1919.</ref> The Line Islands occasionally featured briefly in the biennial reports furnished by the Colony's resident commissioner to the Colonial Office and Parliament in London (see, for example, the reports submitted in 1966 and 1967<ref>Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. (1969). Report for the Years 1966 and 1967. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.</ref>).

The United States contested the British annexations, based on the U.S. [[Guano Islands Act]] of 1856, which allowed for very wide-ranging territorial claims. It relinquished these claims only in 1979, when it entered into the [[Treaty of Tarawa]], which recognised Kiribati's sovereignty over the majority of the Line Islands chain.

==List of atolls, islands and reefs==
Geographically, the Line Islands is divided into three subgroups: the Northern, Central, and Southern Line Islands (however, the Central Line Islands are sometimes grouped with the Southern Line Islands). The table below lists the islands from north to south.
{| class="wikitable"
!style="background: #DDD;" rowspan=2| [[Atoll]] / [[Island]] / [[Reef]] !!style="background: #DDD;" colspan=2| Area (km<sup>2</sup>) !!style="background: #DDD;" rowspan=2| Population<ref name="CIA UM" /> !!style="background: #DDD;" rowspan=2| Coordinates !!style="background: #DDD;" rowspan=2| Status
|-  
!style="background: #DDD;" | Land !!style="background: #DDD;" | Lagoon
|-
| style="background: #EEE;" colspan="6" align="center"| '''Northern Line Islands''' (Fanning's Group)
|- style="background: #FFF;"
| [[Kingman Reef]] ||align="right"| 0.01<ref name="CIA UM" /> ||align="right"| 60 ||align="right"| 0 || {{coord|6|24|N|162|24|W|name=Kingman Reef}} || [[Territories of the United States|U.S. territory]] ([[Territories of the United States#Incorporated vs. unincorporated territories|unincorporated]])
|- style="background: #FFF;"
| [[Palmyra Atoll]] ||align="right"| 3.9<ref name="CIA UM" /> ||align="right"| 8 ||align="right"| 4 || {{coord|5|52|N|162|6|W|name=Palmyra Atoll}} || [[Territories of the United States|U.S. territory]] ([[Territories of the United States#Incorporated vs. unincorporated territories|incorporated]])
|- style="background: #FFF;"
| [[Teraina]]<br />(Washington Island)<ref name="Ter2012">{{cite web |work=Office of Te Beretitent – Republic of Kiribati Island Report Series |title=22. Teeraina |year=2012 |url=http://www.climate.gov.ki/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/22_TEERAINA-revised-2012.pdf |access-date=28 April 2015 |archive-date=29 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170529090552/http://www.climate.gov.ki/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/22_TEERAINA-revised-2012.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> ||align="right"| 9.55<ref name="Kiribati" /> ||align="right"| 2<sup>*</sup> ||align="right"| 1,155<ref name="Kiribati" /> || {{coord|4|43|N|160|24|W|name=Teraina}} || A part of [[Kiribati]]
|- style="background: #FFF;"
| [[Tabuaeran]]<br />(Fanning Island)<ref name="Tab2012">{{cite web |work=Office of Te Beretitent – Republic of Kiribati Island Report Series |title=21. Tabuaeran |year=2012 |url=http://www.climate.gov.ki/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/21_TABUAERAN-revised-2012.pdf |access-date=28 April 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304213605/http://www.climate.gov.ki/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/21_TABUAERAN-revised-2012.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>  ||align="right"| 33.73<ref name="Kiribati" /> ||align="right"| 110 ||align="right"| 2,539<ref name="Kiribati" />|| {{coord|3|52|N|159|22|W|name=Tabuaeran}} || A part of [[Kiribati]]
|- style="background: #FFF;"
| [[Kiritimati]]<br />(Christmas Island)<ref name="Kir2012">{{cite web |work=Office of Te Beretitent – Republic of Kiribati Island Report Series |title=20. Kiritimati |year=2012 |url=http://www.climate.gov.ki/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20_KIRITIMATI-revised-2012.pdf |access-date=28 April 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304211839/http://www.climate.gov.ki/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20_KIRITIMATI-revised-2012.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> ||align="right"| 388.39<ref name="Kiribati" /> ||align="right"| 217.61<ref name="Kiribati" /><ref name="CIA KR" /> ||align="right"| 5,115<ref name="Kiribati" />|| {{coord|1|53|N|157|24|W|name=Kiritimati}} || A part of [[Kiribati]]
|-
| style="background: #EEE;" colspan="6" align="center"| '''Central Line Islands'''
|- style="background: #FFF;"
| [[Jarvis Island]] ||align="right"| 5<ref name="CIA UM" /> ||align="right"| — ||align="right"| 0 || {{coord|0|22|S|160|03|W|name=Jarvis Island}} || [[Territories of the United States|U.S. territory]] ([[Territories of the United States#Incorporated vs. unincorporated territories|unincorporated]])
|- style="background: #FFF;"
| [[Malden Island]] ||align="right"| 39.3 ||align="right"| 13<sup>*</sup>  ||align="right"| 0 || {{coord|4|01|S|154|59|W|name=Malden Island}} || A part of [[Kiribati]]
|- style="background: #FFF;"
| [[Filippo Reef]]<br />(''existence uncertain'') ||align="right"| — ||align="right"| 1.5 ||align="right"| 0 || {{coord|5|30|S|151|50|W|name=Filippo Reef}} || Outside the I-Kiribati [[exclusive economic zone|EEZ]]
|- style="background: #FFF;"
| [[Starbuck Island]] ||align="right"| 16.2 ||align="right"| 4<sup>*</sup>  ||align="right"| 0 || {{coord|5|37|S|155|56|W|name=Starbuck Island}} || A part of [[Kiribati]]
|-
| style="background: #EEE;" colspan="6" align="center"| '''Southern Line Islands'''
|- style="background: #FFF;"
| [[Millennium Island]]<br />(Caroline Island) ||align="right"| 3.76 ||align="right"| 6.3 ||align="right"| 0 || {{coord|9|57|S|150|13|W|name=Millenium Island}} || A part of [[Kiribati]]
|- style="background: #FFF;"
| [[Vostok Island]] ||align="right"| 0.24 ||align="right"| — ||align="right"| 0 || {{coord|10|03|43|S|152|18|46|W|name=Vostok Island}} || A part of [[Kiribati]]
|- style="background: #FFF;"
| [[Flint Island]] ||align="right"| 3.2 ||align="right"| 0.01<sup>*</sup>  ||align="right"| 0 || {{coord|11|26|S|151|48|W|name=Flint Island}} || A part of [[Kiribati]]
|- style="background: #DDD;"
| '''Line Islands''' ||align="right"| 503.28 ||align="right"| 422.42 ||align="right"| 8,813 || ||
|}
Note:

<sup>*</sup>The lagoon areas marked with an asterisk are included in the land areas of the previous column because, unlike typical lagoons in atolls, they are inland waters completely sealed off from the sea.

==Time zone realignment==
{{Further|Time in Kiribati}}
[[File:DateLine-with-Caroline-Island.PNG|thumb|300px|Following a 1995 time zone realignment, Millennium Island, then Caroline Island, (''red dot at far east of map'') became the easternmost land west of the International Date Line.]]

On 23 December 1994, the Republic of Kiribati announced a change of [[time zone]] for the Line Islands, to take effect from 31 December 1994. This adjustment effectively moved the [[International Date Line]] more than {{cvt|1000|km|mi}} to the east within Kiribati, which placed all of Kiribati on the Asian or western side of the date line, despite the fact that Millennium Island's longitude of 150 degrees west corresponds to [[UTC−10:00]] rather than to its official time zone of [[UTC+14:00]]. Millennium Island is now at the same time as the Hawaiian Islands ([[Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone]]), but one day ahead.<ref name="Harris">{{cite magazine |first=Aimee |last=Harris |url=http://www.trussel.com/kir/dateline.htm |title=Date Line Politics |magazine=Honolulu Magazine |page=20 |date=August 1999 |access-date=10 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060628045504/http://trussel.com/kir/dateline.htm |archive-date = 28 June 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref> This move made Millennium Island (then Caroline Island) the easternmost land in the earliest time zone (by some definitions, the [[extremes on Earth|easternmost point on Earth]]), and one of the first points of land which saw sunrise on 1 January 2000 – at 5:43 am, as measured by local time.

<!-- Controversy over realignment -->
The move was the fulfilment of a campaign promise by Kiribati President [[Teburoro Tito]]. Previously, the country straddled the Date Line, thus being constantly in two different days. Kiribati officials later capitalised on the nation's new status as owners of the first land to see sunrise in 2000.<ref name="Kristof">{{cite news |first=Nicholas D. |last=Kristof |url=http://www.trussel.com/kir/kirnews1.htm |title=Tiny Island's Date-Line Jog in Race for Millennium |newspaper=The New York Times |date=23 March 1997 |access-date=10 June 2006 |archive-date=13 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200713051745/http://www.trussel.com/kir/kirnews1.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Other Pacific nations, including [[Tonga]] and New Zealand's [[Chatham Islands]], protested the move, objecting that it interfered with their own claims to be the first land to see dawn in the year 2000.<ref name="Letts">{{cite news |first=Quentin |last=Letts |url=http://www.trussel.com/kir/kirnews2.htm |title=Pacific braces for millennium storm over matter of degrees |newspaper=The Times |date=25 January 1996 |access-date=10 June 2006 |archive-date=28 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060628045554/http://trussel.com/kir/kirnews2.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

<!-- Renaming and celebration -->
In 1999, to further capitalise upon the massive public interest in celebrations marking [[Millennium celebrations|the arrival of the year 2000]], Caroline Island was officially renamed Millennium Island. Although the island is uninhabited, a special celebration was held there to mark the occasion. It featured performances by native Kiribati entertainers and was attended by Kiribati's President Tito.<ref name="AP">{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=2000 greeted with song, dance |date=1 January 2000 |newspaper=The Japan Times |url=http://www.trussel.com/kir/millen.htm |access-date=27 January 2017 |archive-date=13 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200713052518/http://www.trussel.com/kir/millen.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Over 70 Kiribati singers and dancers travelled to Millennium Island from the capital, [[South Tarawa]],<ref name="warmly">{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.climateark.org/articles/1999/milislgr.htm |title=Millennium Island greets Y2K warmly |publisher=ClimateArk.org |date=30 December 1999 |access-date=11 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050213142246/http://climateark.org/articles/1999/milislgr.htm |archive-date=13 February 2005}}</ref> accompanied by approximately 25 journalists. The celebration, which was broadcast worldwide by satellite, had an estimated audience size of as many as one billion viewers.<ref name="AP"/>

==See also==
{{Portal|Islands}}
* [[List of islands in the Pacific Ocean]]
* [[Polynesian Triangle]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em| refs=
<ref name="CIA UM">{{cite web |title=Australia-Oceania :: United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/united-states-pacific-island-wildlife-refuges/ |work=CIA – The World Factbook |publisher=US CIA |access-date=16 September 2012 |archive-date=8 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408014336/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/united-states-pacific-island-wildlife-refuges/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="CIA KR">{{cite web |title=CIA – The World Factbook – Kiribati |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/photo_gallery/kr/photo_gallery_B1_kr_1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327082220/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/photo_gallery/kr/photo_gallery_B1_kr_1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 March 2010 |work=The World Factbook |publisher=US CIA |access-date=16 September 2012}}</ref>
<ref name="Kiribati">{{cite web |title=Kiribati 2005 Census of Population and Housing: Provisional Tables |url=http://www.spc.int/prism/Country/KI/Stats/Census2005/Gen-pdf/Gen1.pdf |publisher=Kiribati National Statistics Office |access-date=16 September 2012 |archive-date=9 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809171835/http://www.spc.int/prism/Country/KI/Stats/Census2005/Gen-pdf/Gen1.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> 
}}

==External links==
* {{commons category-inline|Line Islands|'''Line Islands'''}}
* [https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/pristine-seas/expeditions/southern-line-islands/ National Geographic – Southern Line Islands Expedition, 2009]

{{Kiribati geography}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Line Islands| ]]
[[Category:Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean]]
[[Category:Atolls of the Pacific Ocean]]
[[Category:Disputed islands]]
[[Category:Geography of Micronesia]]
[[Category:Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act]]
[[Category:Islands of Oceania]]
[[Category:Archipelagoes of the United States]]
[[Category:Eastern Indo-Pacific]]
[[Category:Marine ecoregions]]