VOSTOK ISLAND

also spelled Vostock, formerly Staver Island coral atoll in the Southern Line Islands, part of Kiribati, southwestern Pacific Ocean. It lies 400 miles (640 km) northwest of Tahiti. A low formation, with a land area of only 0.1 square mile (0.3 square km), it has no anchorage in its lagoon. Vostok was sighted in 1820 by the Russian Antarctic explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and was named for his ship. It was claimed by the United States under the Guano Act of 1856, and its guano deposits were exploited from 1873 to 1943. With the other Southern Line Islands, Vostok became a part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony in 1972 and a part of independent Kiribati in 1979. The island is uninhabited.