Phoenix Islands (Kiribati)

The Phoenix Islands, or Rawaki, are a group of eight atolls and two submerged coral reefs that lie east of the Gilbert Islands and west of the Line Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, north of Samoa. They are part of the Republic of Kiribati. Their combined land area is . The only island of any commercial importance is Canton Island (also called Abariringa). The other islands are Enderbury, Rawaki (formerly Phoenix), Manra (formerly Sydney), Birnie, McKean, Nikumaroro (formerly Gardner), and Orona (formerly Hull).

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area, established in 2008, is one of the world's largest protected areas, and is home to about 120 species of coral and more than 500 species of fish. All of the Phoenix Islands are uninhabited, except for a few families who live on Kanton Island.

At various times in history, the Phoenix Islands have been considered to be part of the Gilberts Island group (which itself was sometimes known as the ''Kingsmill'' island group).

Geographically, Baker Island and Howland Island, two unincorporated territories of the United States that lie to the north of the Phoenix Islands, could be considered part of the same island group as the Phoenix Islands. However, politically, and for statistical compilation purposes, Howland and Baker are considered part of the group known as the United States Minor Outlying Islands.

At one time, the United States laid claim to all the Phoenix Islands under the 1856 Guano Islands Act. However, when Kiribati became an independent republic in 1979, the United States and Kiribati signed the Treaty of Tarawa, under which the United States released all claims to the Phoenix Islands (except for Baker and Howland), which thenceforth became recognized as part of Kiribati.

The Phoenix Islands began to be known by that name sometime around the 1840s, as a generalization from one of the islands in the group, which had been named Phoenix Island earlier in the century (probably because Phoenix was a common name for the whaling ships that frequented the nearby waters at the time).

During the late 1930s, the Phoenix Islands were the site of the last colonial expansion attempted by the British Empire (through the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme).

Geography, flora and fauna

Canton Island

Canton Island (also called Abariringa), is the northernmost island in the Phoenix group, and the only inhabited one. It is a narrow ribbon of land , enclosing a lagoon of approximately . Canton is mostly bare coral, covered with herbs, bunch grasses, low shrubs and a few trees. Its lagoon teems with 153 known species of marine life, including sharks, tuna, stingrays and eels. Land fauna includes at least 23 bird species, as well as lizards, rats, hermit crabs and turtles.

In the mid-20th century, Canton had an important trans-Pacific airport and refueling station, called Langton, but its importance declined in the late 1950s with the introduction of long-range jet aircraft. After a brief stint as a U.S. missile-tracking station, the airport fell into disuse. However, today, the airport is still there, and () it was still home to a small military presence: 20 persons were residing there, mostly living in the buildings erected during the occupation of the island by Great Britain and the United States between 1936 and 1976.

Enderbury Island

Enderbury is a low, flat, small coral atoll lying east-southeast of Kanton. Its lagoon is rather tiny, comprising only a small percentage of the island's area. Herbs, bunchgrass, morning-glory vines and a few clumps of trees form the main vegetation on the island, while birds, rats and a species of beetle are the known fauna. Heavily mined for guano in the late 19th century, Enderbury has seen little human impact following the evacuation of the last four residents in 1942, during World War II.

Birnie Island

Birnie Island is a small, flat coral island about in area, measuring long by wide. It contains a tiny lagoon, which has all but dried up. A nesting place for flocks of seabirds, Birnie is devoid of trees and is instead covered with low shrubs and grass. Unlike most of the other Phoenix Islands, Birnie does not appear to have been worked for guano or otherwise exploited by humans. It was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1975.

McKean Island

McKean Island is the northwesternmost island of the Phoenix group. Its area is , and it is devoid of fresh water or trees, though it does have a hypersaline lagoon at its center. Carpeted with low herbs and grasses, McKean provides a sanctuary for the world's largest nesting population of lesser frigatebird (''Fregata ariel''), with a population of up to 85,000 birds. Actively worked for guano in the mid-19th century, it was abandoned by 1870, and no further use has been made of it.

Rawaki Island

Rawaki, or Phoenix Island, measures approximately by , and covers in area. Its lagoon is shallow and salty, with no connection to the ocean. It does, however, have several freshwater pools—the only known freshwater wetlands in the Phoenix Islands. Treeless, Rawaki is covered with herbs and grasses, and provides another important landing site for migratory seabirds. Worked for guano from 1859 to 1871, Rawaki was abandoned and no human use seems to have been made of it thereafter.

Manra Island

Manra, or Sydney Island, measures approximately . It has a large, salty lagoon with depths reportedly varying from between . The island is covered with coconut palms, scrub forest, herbs and grasses, including the species ''Tournefortia, Pisonia, Morinda, Cordia, Guettarda,'' and ''Scaevola''. Manra contains definite evidence of prehistoric inhabitation, in the form of at least a dozen platforms and remains of enclosures in the northeast and northwest portions of the island. K.P. Emory, an ethnologist at Honolulu's Bishop Museum, has estimated that two groups of people were present on Manra, one having migrated there from eastern Polynesia, the other from Micronesia. Wells and pits apparently dug by these early inhabitants were also found.

Extensively worked for guano beginning in 1884 by John T. Arundel & Co, Manra was developed into a copra plantation in the early 20th century. In 1938, Manra was selected as one of three atolls to be included in the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme, which represented the final expansion of the British Empire. Manra was subsequently plagued by drought and the death of the project's organizer. Due to these events, the effects of World War II and the declining copra market, the island was abandoned in 1963.

Orona Island

Orona, or Hull Island, measures approximately , and, like Kanton, is a narrow ribbon of land surrounding a sizable lagoon with depths of between . Like Manra, it is covered with coconut palms, scrub forest, and grasses; it also contains evidence of prehistoric Polynesian habitation. An ancient stone marae stands on the eastern tip of the island, together with ruins of shelters, graves and other platforms. Unlike Manra, Orona does not seem to have been worked for guano, but it became a coconut plantation and was made a part of the British Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme. Residents were evacuated in 1963, due to drought and the declining copra market.

Nikumaroro

Nikumaroro, or Gardner Island, is approximately long by wide, enclosing a large central lagoon. Vegetation is profuse, including scrub forest, coconut palms and herbs. Large quantities of birds nest on the island, which was once the headquarters for the British colonial officer heading up the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme, Gerald Gallagher. Gallagher constructed a village on the western end of the atoll, with wide, coral-paved streets, a parade ground, a cooperative store, an administrative center and residence, and a radio shack.

Gallagher died on Nikumaroro in 1941, and was buried on the island (where his empty grave monument can still be seen, though his remains were later moved to Tarawa

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