Canton and Enderbury Islands

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The Canton and Enderbury Islands are the coral atolls of Canton (now Kanton) and Enderbury in the northeastern part of the Phoenix Islands, about 1,850 miles (3,000 km) south of Hawaii in the central Pacific Ocean. The islands were important naval and air bases on the way between the Americas and the Philippines and Australia and were claimed by both the United Kingdom and the United States of America under the Guano Islands Act. From 1939 to 1979 they formed a British–American condominium. The US and UK relinquished control over the islands to the government of Kiribati in 1979.