Kiritimati

Kiritimati , largest atoll in the Pacific (1990 pop. 2,537), 222 sq mi (575 sq km), in the Line Islands , one of the island groups that compose the Republic of Kiribati . It was previously called Christmas Island when it made up part of the former British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. The island's chief agricultural product is copra. The airstrip there is used an emergency runway for trans-Pacific commercial flights. The atoll was explored by Capt. James Cook in 1777, annexed by Great Britain in 1888, and included in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony in 1919. British nuclear tests were conducted on the atoll in 1957 and 1958 and U.S. tests in 1962.

Kiritimati (Christmas Island) Largest atoll in the world, one of the Pacific Line Islands, forming part of Kiribati. It was the site of nuclear tests by Britain (1956–62) and the USA (1962). Area: 575sq km (222sq mi). Pop. (2002 est.) 5300.

Kiribati A Pacific state of islands in east Micronesia, consisting of some 33 islands, including Ocean Island (Banaba), with its now exhausted phosphate deposits, and Kiritimati (Christmas Island), scene of the British hydrogen bomb test of 1957. In 1892 the islands, together with the Ellice Islands, became a British Protectorate as the Gilbert Islands. In 1916 they were renamed the Crown Colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. The islands were occupied by Japan in 1942, when the whole population of Ocean Island was deported. They were liberated by US marines in 1943 after fierce fighting. In 1974 the Polynesian Ellice Islanders voted to secede, becoming the independent state of Tuvalu on 1 October 1975. On 12 July 1979 the remaining islands of the colony gained independence as Kiribati, which chose to remain a member of the Commonwealth. On 1 October 1994 Teburoro Tito became President, and he was re-elected in 1998. The economy has been overwhelmingly reliant on the export of copra (dried coconut flesh which is used to make coconut oil). Additional revenue came from the sale of fishing rights and the development of tourism.