MALDEN ISLAND

formerly Independence Island, coral atoll in the Central and Southern Line Islands, part of Kiribati, southwestern Pacific Ocean. It is situated 1,700 miles (2,700 km) south of Honolulu. A level formation with a land area of 11 square miles (28 square km) and a large lagoon, it was first sighted in 1825 by a British naval officer, George Anson Byron. During the second half of the 19th century, when its guano deposits were being worked, the island was claimed by the United States under the Guano Act of 1856. Malden has remnants of an old Polynesian habitation. It was used (195664) as a viewing base by the British, who were testing nuclear weapons on nearby Kiritimati (Christmas) Atoll. The island became a part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony in 1972 and a part of independent Kiribati in 1979. It has no inhabitants.