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Wake Island (also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll located in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, 2,416 km (1501 mi) east of Guam, 3,698 km (2,298 mi) west of Honolulu and 3,205 km (1,992 mi) southeast of Tokyo. The island is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States, but claimed by the Marshall Islands. Wake Island is one of the most isolated islands in the world and the nearest inhabited island is Utirik Atoll in the Marshall Islands, 952 km (592 mi) to the southeast. Wake Island is administered by the United States Air Force, under agreement with the Department of the Interior. The center of activity on the atoll is at Wake Island Airfield which is primarily used as a mid-Pacific refueling stop for military aircraft and as an emergency landing area. The runway is the longest strategic runway in the Pacific islands. Located south of the runway is a missile launch facility operated by the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the Missile Defense Agency. The Base Operations Support contractor at Wake is Chugach Alaska Corporation. There are about 94 people living on Wake Island and access to the island is restricted. On December 11, 1941, Wake Island was the site of Japan's first military setback against American forces during World War II when Marines, Navy and some civilian personnel on the island repelled an attempted Japanese invasion, sinking two destroyers and a transport. The island subsequently fell to Japanese forces 12 days later after a successful second invasion attempt on December 23, 1941, this time with extensive support from Japanese carrier-based aircraft returning from the attack on Pearl Harbor. Wake Island remained occupied by Japanese forces until the end of the war; the garrison surrendered the island back to United States forces on September 4, 1945.〔''American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-present'', Jack Sweetman, Naval Institute Press, 2002〕 On January 5, 2009, President George W. Bush included the submerged and emergent lands at the atoll as a unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Presidential Proclamation 8336 )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents: Monday, January 12, 2009 Volume 45 – Number 1, Page 14 )〕 For statistical purposes, Wake Island is grouped as one of the United States Minor Outlying Islands (UM-79) by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 3166). ==Etymology== Wake Island derives its name from British sea captain Samuel Wake, who re-discovered the atoll in 1796 while in command of the ''Prince William Henry''. The name is sometimes attributed to Captain William Wake, who also is reported to have discovered the atoll from the ''Prince William Henry'' in 1792.〔"Facing Fearful Odds: The Siege of Wake Island." Gregory J.W. Urwin, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002〕 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「Wake Island」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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