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Caroline Island, also known as Millennium Island, is an uninhabited coral atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, part of the territory of Kiribati, located at 10º00' S, 150º25' W. It is best known as the first point of land on earth to have entered the year 2000, based upon official local time, due to a 1995 realignment of time zones and its location as the easternmost of the Line Islands.
The crescent-shaped atoll (3.76 square km in area), consists of roughly 38 islets surrounding a shallow, narrow lagoon of roughly 6 km by 0.5 km. Caroline extends approximately 9.2 km from north to south, and is about 1.6 km wide at its widest point on South Islet. At their highest point, the islets rise only 6 meters above sea level.
The island is surrounded by a dangerous reef, ending approximately a mile out from the southern end. There are no natural anchoranges, landings are generally made at a break in the reef at the northwest corner of South Islet. A freshwater lens exists below the largest islets at the north and south, and wells have been constructed to obtain water for previous settlements (two on South Islet, one on Nake Islet).
Named islets include: Nake Islet and Long Islet at the northern end of the atoll; Pig Islet, Brothers Islet, and Arundel Islet along the eastern side of the lagoon; Bird Islet west of the lagoon, and South Islet at the southern tip of the atoll.
Caroline Island is considered to be the most untouched of the Line Islands, and was at one point under consideration for designation as a World Heritage Site.
Caroline Island is an important breeding site for a number of series of seabirds, most notably the Sooty Tern (a colony dominates the eastern islets) and the Great Frigatebird . Caroline Island is home to one of world's largest populations of the Coconut crab (Birgus latro). Other notable fauna include Tridacna clams and Green Turtle s. Thick groves of Pisonia trees grow on most of the islets.
The first recorded sighting of Caroline Island occurred on December 16, 1795, by Captain William Robert Broughton of the HMS Providence . Caroline Island was again sighted in 1821 by the English whaling ship Supply and was then named Thornton Island for the ship's captain. There is, however, evidence of prior settlement by Polynesian peoples on both South Islet and the northernmost Nake Islet.
In 1872, the island was leased by the British government to Houlder Brothers, who conducted minimal guanoGuano (from the Quechua 'wanu') is the name given to the collected droppings of seabirds and bats. It can be used as an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of nitrogen. Soil that is deficient in organic matter can be made much more productive by a mining on the island. In 1883Events January January 16 The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil service, is passed January 19 The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires begins service ( Roselle, New Jersey) It was built by Thomas E, an expedition of AmericanThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in astronomers traveled from PeruFor other uses, see Peru (disambiguation The Republic of Per ( Spanish: Per Quechua, Aymara: Piruw is a country in western South America, bordering with Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Brazil to the east, Bolivia to the east, south-east and south, Chil to Caroline Island aboard the USS Hartford to observe the May 6 total solar eclipseFor Solar Eclipse the alien friend of the rubber doll Betty Spaghetty, see Betty Spaghetty Zambia 2001 eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Moon and Earth are on a single line with the Moon in the middle. Seen from the Earth, the Moon is in front. A French expedition also observed the eclipse from Caroline, and the United States NavyThe United States Navy USN is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. Navy consists of slightly fewer than 300 ships and over 4,000 operational aircraft. It has over a half million men and women on active or ready re mapped the atoll.
In 1846Events January 5 The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom February 5 The Oregon Spectator becomes the first newspaper on the Pacific coast of the United States. February 10 Many Mormons, a small stock-raising and copraCopra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut. The name derives from koppara the Malayalam word for dried coconut. Copra is the commercial form of coconut from which coconut oil is extracted by boiling and pressing. It was developed as a commercial p community was established on the island. In 1868, Caroline was claimed by the British vessel HMS Reindeer , who noted 27 residents in a settlement on the South Islet. The island's settlement slowly decreased in population; by 1926, there was only 10 residents, and in 1936, the settlement consisted of only two Tahitian families before its end in the late 1930s. The island has been uninhabited since then.
The entire island is presently owned by the government of the Republic of Kiribati. It is occasionally visited by copra gatherers. Caroline was also leased to a French Polynesian entrepreneur in the 1990s; he established a small homestead on one of the islets and reportedly had plans for the development of the atoll.
The atoll has also been known under the names of Hirst Island, Clark Island and Independence Island.