Global InformationWake Island information
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Wake Island
Ānen Kio (Marshallese) | |
|---|---|
Unincorporated and unorganized U.S. territory (Disputed) | |
 Unofficial flag | |
| Motto: "Where America's Day Really Begins"[1] | |
 Map of Wake Island | |
  Wake Island Location in the North Pacific Ocean | |
| Coordinates: 19°17′43″N 166°37′52″E / 19.29528°N 166.63111°E | |
| Administered by |  United States |
| Status | Unorganized unincorporated territory |
| Territory | United States Minor Outlying Islands |
| Claimed by |  Marshall Islands |
| Claimed by the United States | January 17, 1899 |
| Claimed by the Marshall Islands | Oral tradition |
| Government | |
| • Body | United States Air Force (under the authority of the U.S. Department of the Interior) |
| • Civil Administrator | General Counsel of the Air Force PACAF Regional Support Center |
| Area | |
| • Total | 13.86 km2 (5.35 sq mi) |
| • Land | 7.38 km2 (2.85 sq mi) |
| • Water | 6.48 km2 (2.5 sq mi) |
| • Lagoon | 5.17 km2 (2.00 sq mi) |
| • EEZ | 407,241 km2 (157,237 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 6 m (21 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Population (2017) | |
| • Estimate | 0 |
| • Non-permanent residents | c. 100 |
| Demonym | Wakean |
| Time zone | UTC+12:00 (Wake Island Time Zone) |
| APO / Zip Code | 96898 |
Wake Island (Marshallese: Ānen Kio, lit. 'island of the kio flower'; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the Micronesia subregion of the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The atoll is composed of three islets and a reef surrounding a lagoon. The nearest inhabited island is Utirik Atoll in the Marshall Islands, located 592 miles (953 kilometers) to the southeast. The United States administers Wake Island as an unorganized and unincorporated territory, and it is one of the nine insular areas that comprise the United States Minor Outlying Islands. The Marshall Islands also claim Wake Island.
Wake Island was probably discovered by prehistoric Austronesian mariners before Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira made the first recorded discovery in 1568. European and American ships visited the atoll in the 19th century, before the United States claimed the atoll in 1899. The island had little development until 1935, when Pan American Airways constructed an airfield and hotel to serve as a waypoint for trans-Pacific flying boats. Japan seized the island at the outset of World War II in December 1941; it remained under Japanese occupation until the end of the war in September 1945.[2]
The Federal Aviation Administration, (FAA), originally, Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), was responsible for administration of Wake atoll from 1945 to 1972.
Pan American Airways continued post-war commercial operations on the atoll until 1972, when widespread use of Boeing 747s made a trans-Pacific layover obsolete. The United States Air Force took over administration after commercial flights ceased.
Wake Island is administered by the United States Air Force under an 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 9,800-foot (3,000 m) runway is the longest strategic runway in the Pacific islands. South of the runway is the Wake Island Launch Center, a missile launch site. The military also used the atoll as a processing location for Vietnamese refugees during Operation New Life in 1975. The island has no permanent inhabitants, but approximately 100 people live there at any given time. The natural areas of Wake are mix of trees, scrub, and grasses that prefer tropical weather and get by on the limited rainfall. Thousands of hermit crabs and rats live on Wake, in the past there were also feral cats which had been there to help control the rat population which at one time was estimated at 2 million. The Wake Island rail, a small flightless bird, used to live on the atoll but went extinct during World War II. Many species of seabird also visit Wake, although because of the thick vegetation in most natural areas prefer nesting on a mowed grass area on Wilkes Island, which is designated a bird sanctuary.
The submerged and emergent lands at Wake Island comprise a unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. The island also has a number of remains from its history, including seaplane port and hotel remains, various old buildings, World War II bunkers, and war memorials. Occasionally, inhabitants discover human remains from World War II grave sites – as recently as 2011 – and unexploded ordinances.
The atoll consists of three islands.[3] The main island is also called Wake Island. This island, shaped like a V pointing to the east, hosts the airstrip and most buildings. In the northeast is Peale Island, which was home to the old Pan American hotel and seaplane base, and in the southwest is Wilkes Island. Wake Island is connected to Wilkes via a causeway, but Peale and Wake are not connected as the wooden bridge burned down around 2002.
Wake is 3,714 kilometers (2308 miles) west of Honolulu and 2,426 kilometers (1507 miles) northeast of Guam.[4]
- ^ Rauzon, Mark J. (2016). Isles of Amnesia: The History, Geography, and Restoration of America's Forgotten Pacific Islands. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-8248-4679-4.
Wake island's motto—'Where America's Day Really Begins'—is a response to Guam, which claims that it is where America's day begins. In fact, the rising sun first shines on America at Peacock Point, the easternmost tip of Wake Island, which is just west of the international date line. If the motto sounds a bit defensive, that's only natural, for defense has always been the main purpose of Wake.
- ^ Sweetman, Jack (2002). American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775–present (3rd ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-867-4. OCLC 48046120.[page needed]
- ^ "Wake Atoll". www.doi.gov. June 11, 2015. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
- ^ "Education Resources: Regional Information, Wake Island | PacIOOS". Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS). Retrieved October 26, 2023.