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Wake Island
Ānen Kio (Marshallese) | |
|---|---|
| Motto: "Where America's Day Really Begins"[1] | |
 Map of Wake Island | |
  Wake Island Location in the North Pacific Ocean | |
| Coordinates: 19°17′43″N 166°37′52″E / 19.29528°N 166.63111°E | |
| Administered by |  United States |
| Status | Unorganized unincorporated territory |
| Territory | United States Minor Outlying Islands |
| Claimed by |  Marshall Islands |
| Claimed by the United States | January 17, 1899 |
| Claimed by the Marshall Islands | Oral tradition |
| Government | |
| • Body | United States Air Force (under the authority of the U.S. Department of the Interior) |
| • Civil Administrator | General Counsel of the Air Force PACAF Regional Support Center |
| Area | |
| • Total | 13.86 km2 (5.35 sq mi) |
| • Land | 7.38 km2 (2.85 sq mi) |
| • Water | 6.48 km2 (2.5 sq mi) |
| • Lagoon | 5.17 km2 (2.00 sq mi) |
| • EEZ | 407,241 km2 (157,237 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 6 m (21 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Population (2017) | |
| • Estimate | 0 |
| • Non-permanent residents | c. 100 |
| Demonym | Wakean |
| Time zone | UTC+12:00 (Wake Island Time Zone) |
| APO / Zip Code | 96898 |
Wake Island (Marshallese: Ānen Kio, lit. 'island of the kio flower', also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the Micronesia subregion of the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The atoll is composed of three islets and a reef surrounding a lagoon. The nearest inhabited island is Utirik Atoll in the Marshall Islands, located 592 miles (953 kilometers) to the southeast.
The first recorded discovery of the island was made by Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira in 1568, and ships visited the area until it was claimed by the United States in 1899. The island had little development until 1935, when Pan American Airways constructed an airfield and hotel as a waypoint for trans-Pacific flying boats. Japan seized the island at the opening of the Pacific Theatre of World War II in December 1941; it remained under Japanese occupation until the end of the war in September 1945.[2] The United States military also used the atoll as a processing location for Vietnamese refugees during Operation New Life in 1975.
The United States governs Wake Island as an unorganized and unincorporated territory and comprises part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands. It is administered by the United States Air Force under an agreement with the Department of the Interior. The Marshall Islands also claim Wake Island. The island has no permanent inhabitants, but approximately 100 people live there at any given time.
The natural areas of Wake are mix of tropical trees, scrub, and grasses that have adapted to the limited rainfall. Thousands of hermit crabs and rats live on Wake, and in the past there were also feral cats which had been there to help control the rat population, which at one time was estimated at 2 million. The Wake Island rail, a small flightless bird, once lived on the atoll but went extinct during World War II. Many species of seabird also visit Wake, although the thick vegetation has caused most birds to nest on a designated bird sanctuary on Wilkes Island. The submerged and emergent lands at Wake Island comprise a unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
- ^ Rauzon, Mark J. (2016). Isles of Amnesia: The History, Geography, and Restoration of America's Forgotten Pacific Islands. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-8248-4679-4.
Wake island's motto—'Where America's Day Really Begins'—is a response to Guam, which claims that it is where America's day begins. In fact, the rising sun first shines on America at Peacock Point, the easternmost tip of Wake Island, which is just west of the international date line. If the motto sounds a bit defensive, that's only natural, for defense has always been the main purpose of Wake.
- ^ Sweetman, Jack (2002). American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775–present (3rd ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-867-4. OCLC 48046120. Archived from the original on July 15, 2020. Retrieved May 28, 2022.[page needed]
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