KIRITIMATI ATOLL

also called Christmas Atoll, largest island of purely coral formation in the world, having an area of 150 square miles (388 square km) and a circumference of about 100 miles (160 km). It is in the Northern Line Islands, part of Kiribati, in the west-central Pacific Ocean. Kiritimati Atoll was sighted on Christmas Eve in 1777 by the English navigator Captain James Cook. Although claimed by the United States under the Guano Act of 1856, the atoll was annexed by Britain in 1888 and was incorporated into the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony in 1919. British sovereignty was challenged by the United States in 1936, and ownership remained in dispute until 1979, when Kiritimati became a part of independent Kiribati. The atoll has port facilities, an airfield, and a large government-owned copra plantation. After 1956 it was an operational base for both U.S. and British nuclear-weapons tests. Pop. (1988 est.) 1,861.