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Kiritimati,〔''Kiritimati'' is the rendition of Christmas in Taetae ni Kiribati, the local Kiribati language, and it is pronounced very closely to "Christmas," with the same meaning.〕 sometimes Christmas Island, is a Pacific Ocean raised coral atoll in the northern Line Islands, and part of the Republic of Kiribati. The name "Kiritimati" is a rather straightforward respelling of the English word "Christmas" in the Kiribati language, in which the combination ''ti'' is pronounced ''s'', and the name is thus pronounced . Although most non-Kiribati people still correctly say the island's name as Christmas or Christmas Island, the change in spelling sometimes results in those not "in the know" to mispronounce it as the letter combination "Kiritimati" would be pronounced in English. The island has the greatest land area of any coral atoll in the world, about 388 square kilometres (150 sq mi);〔 its lagoon is roughly the same size. The atoll is about 150 km (93 mi) in perimeter, while the lagoon shoreline extends for over 48 km (30 mi).〔 Kiritimati comprises over 70% of the total land area of Kiribati, a country encompassing 33 Pacific atolls and islands. It lies 232 km (144 mi) north of the Equator, south of Honolulu, and from San Francisco. Kiritimati Island is in the world's farthest forward time zone, UTC+14, and is one of the first inhabited places on Earth to experience the New Year (see also Caroline Atoll, Kiribati). Despite being east of the 180 meridian, a 1995 realignment of the International Dateline by the Republic of Kiribati moved Kiritimati to west of the dateline. Nuclear tests were conducted on and around Kiribati by the United Kingdom in the late 1950s, and by the United States in 1962. During these tests islanders were not evacuated. Subsequently British, New Zealand, and Fijian servicemen as well as local islanders have claimed to have suffered from exposure to the radiation from these blasts. The entire island is a Wildlife Sanctuary; access to five particularly sensitive areas (see below) is restricted.〔 ==History== At Western discovery, Kiritimati was uninhabited. As on other Line Islands there might have been a small or temporary native population, most probably Polynesian traders and settlers, who would have found the island a useful replenishing station on the long voyages from the Society Islands to Hawaiʻi, perhaps as early as AD 400. This trade route was apparently used with some regularity by about AD 1000. From 1200 onwards Polynesian long-distance voyages became less frequent, and had there been human settlement on Kiritimati, it would have been abandoned in the early-mid second millennium AD. Two possible village sites and some stone structures of these early visitors have been located.〔 Today, most inhabitants are Micronesians, and Gilbertese is the only language of any significance. English is generally understood, but little used outside the tourism sector. Kiritimati was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Hernando de Grijalva in 1537, that charted it as ''Acea''.〔A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea Or Pacific Ocean. Volume 1. Page 181-182 Author: James Burney. Editor: Printed by Luke Hansard, 1803〕〔Maude, H.E. "Spanish discoveries in the Pacific" ''Journal of the Polynesian Society'', Wellington, New Zealand, 1959, Volume 68, No. 4, p 296.〕〔Brand, Donald D. ''The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations'' The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.122.〕 This discovery was referred by a contemporary, the Portuguese António Galvão, governor of Ternate, in his book ''Tratado dos Descubrimientos'' of 1563.〔Galvano, Antonio ''The Discoveries of the World, from their First Original unto the Year of our Lord 1555'' Hakluyt Society, London, 1865, (Ser. I, no. 30).〕 Captain James Cook visited it on Christmas Eve (24 December) 1777. It was claimed by the United States under the Guano Islands Act of 1856, though little actual mining of guano took place. Permanent settlement started by 1882, mainly by workers in coconut plantations and fishermen but, due to an extreme drought which killed off tens of thousands of coconut palms – about 75% of Kiritimati's population of this plant – the island was once again abandoned between 1905 and 1912.〔 Many of the toponyms in the island go back to Father Emmanuel Rougier, a French priest who leased the island from 1917 to 1939 and planted some 800,000 coconut trees there. He lived in his ''Paris'' house (now only small ruins) located at Benson Point, across the Burgle Channel from ''Londres'' (today London) at Bridges Point where he established the port. Joe's Hill was named by Joe English, who served as plantation manager for Rougier between 1915 and 1919. English was left alone on the island for a year and a half (1917–19), with two teens, when cholera broke out in Papeete and transport stopped due to the First World War. English was later rescued by Lord John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, admiral of the British Fleet. English, still thinking the war was in effect and that the ship was German, pulled his revolver on the British admiral, causing a short standoff until some explanation defused the situation. Upon his rescue, English's adventures were later chronicled in the ''Boston Globe''.〔Boston Globe, (February 1920).〕 Kiritimati was occupied by the Allies in World War II; the Americans took over the island garrison, allowing Australian troops to use it for mainland defense. The first contingent of Americans was a company from the 102nd Infantry Regiment, a National Guard from New Haven, Connecticut. The Island was important to hold because if the Japanese had captured it, an airbase could have been constructed that would have allowed interdiction of the main Hawaii-to-Australia supply route. For the first few months there were next to no recreational facilities on the island, and the men amused themselves by shooting at sharks that swam into the lagoon. The first airstrip was constructed then〔 for servicing the US Army Air Force weather station and communications center. The airstrip also provided rest and refueling facilities for planes traveling between Hawaii and the South Pacific. There was also a small radio-meteorological research station operated by the Kiribati Meteorological Service.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.mfed.gov.ki/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Census-Report-2010-Volume-1.pdfhttp://www.climate.gov.ki/met/ )〕 In 1975 the Captain Cook Hotel was built on the former British military base. The U.S. Guano Islands Act claim was formally ceded by the Treaty of Tarawa between the U.S. and Kiribati, signed in 1979 and ratified in 1983. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kiritimati」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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