Phoenix Islands

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For other meanings of the word Phoenix, see Phoenix (disambiguation)

The Phoenix Islands are a group of eight atolls, plus two submerged coral reefs in the central Pacific Ocean, east of the Gilbert Islands and west of the Line Islands. They are part of Kiribati. During the late 1930s they were the site of the last attempted colonial expansion of the British Empire (the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme).

The group is uninhabited except for a few families on Kanton (41 people according to the 2005 census). The United States territories Baker Island and Howland Island can be considered northerly outliers of the group, in a geographic sense. Those two are statistically grouped with the United States Minor Outlying Islands. All of the islands (not including the reefs) were claimed by the United States at some point.

The islands are named after the whaling ship Phoenix of Nantucket, Massachusetts, which was active in the area and also the discoverer of Winslow Reef.^[1]

Atoll/Island/Reef	Island Area km²	Lagoon km²	Coordinates
Phoenix Islands (Kiribati)
Abariringa (Canton Island)	9.0	50	02°50′S 171°43′W
Enderbury Island	5.1	0.6^*	03°08′S 171°05′W
Birnie Island	0.2	0.02^*	03°35′S 171°31′W
McKean Island	0.4	0.2^*	03°36′S 174°08′W
Rawaki (Phoenix Island)	0.5	0.5	03°43′S 170°43′W
Manra (Sydney Island)	4.4	2.2^*	04°27′S 171°15′W
Orona (Hull Island)	3.9	30	04°30′S 172°10′W
Nikumaroro (Gardner Island)	4.1	4	04°40′S 174°31′W
Phoenix Islands (Kiribati)	27.6	84.5
Submerged coral reefs
Winslow Reef	-	1	01°36′S 174°57′W
Carondelet Reef	-	?	05°34′S 173°51′W
U.S. territories to the north
Baker Island	1.6	-	00°13′N 176°28′W
Howland Island	1.8	-	00°48′N 176°38′W

^* The lagoon areas marked with an asterisk are contained within the island areas of the previous column because they are, unlike in the case of a typical atoll, inland waters completely sealed off from the sea.

The islands and surrounding areas are home to some 120 species of coral and more than 500 species of fish. Kiribati has announced plans to establish a huge marine park. [1]