Nikumaroro

Nikumaroro, also called Kemins Island or Gardner Island, is part of the Phoenix Islands in Kiribati. It sits in the western Pacific Ocean. The island is a long, triangular coral atoll covered in plants, with a big water area in the middle called a lagoon. Nikumaroro is about 7.5 km (4.7 mi) long and 2.5 km (1.6 mi) wide. People have lived there before, but today no one lives there all the time.

In 2006, Kiribati made the Phoenix Islands Protected Area. This large protected water area grew bigger in 2008. It covers 425,300 km² (164,200 mi²) and includes eight coral atolls, including Nikumaroro.

Nikumaroro is famous because some think pilot Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan might have landed there in July 1937. They disappeared while trying to fly around the world. Small clues on the island make some think a woman from Europe or America might have been there, but no proof of Earhart’s plane or her has ever been found.

Features

Nikumaroro has two narrow entrances called Tatiman Passage and Baureke Passage. Both have a wide fringing reef, which makes a coral beach when the tide is low. The ocean past the reef is very deep. The best place to anchor boats is at the west end of the island, but only when the southeast trade winds are blowing. Landing on the island can be tricky, usually south of where boats anchor. Bigger boats sometimes tie up near the wreck of the SS Norwich City, which ran aground there in 1929.

Geography

Thick scrub and Pisonia forest cover Nikumaroro. The trees can grow up to 15 meters (49 feet) tall. There are also coconut palms left from old attempts to grow crops on the island between 1893 and 1963.

The island has very little fresh water, which made it hard for people to live there. This was one reason a British project to colonize the island did not succeed from 1938 to 1963.

Flora and fauna

Nikumaroro is sometimes visited by biologists because of its many marine and avian ecosystems. The atoll has coconut crabs, migratory birds, and many rats. Several kinds of sharks and bottlenose dolphins have been seen in the waters around it.

The island is part of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area and is an Important Bird Area, especially for its group of red-tailed tropicbirds that breed there.

Pre-history

Evidence of prehistoric occupation

Little is known about people on the island before 1824. In 1989, a group from TIGHAR visited the island. They thought they found old fish traps along the shore, which might show people lived there long ago. They also found a stone tool made of basalt, called an adze.

Identity of prehistoric peoples

Ancient settlements on nearby islands like Manra and Orona may have started around 1000 BC. People from places such as Samoa, the Marquesas, and the Cook Islands brought stone tools to these islands between the 12th and 14th centuries AD. It is possible that Nikumaroro was also home to early settlers. On Manra and Orona, archaeologists found clues that suggest two different groups of people lived there—one from eastern Polynesia and another from Micronesia.

History

19th-century sightings and claims

Nikumaroro had many names in the early 1800s, like Kemins' Island and Mary Letitia's Island. The first European to see it was Capt. C. Kemiss on the British whaling ship Eliza Ann in 1824. In 1840, the USS Vincennes of the U.S. Exploring Expedition called it Gardner Island, a name from a U.S. Congressman named Gideon Gardner.

In 1856, an American company claimed the island, but no one lived there. In 1892, the United Kingdom claimed it and tried to plant coconuts, but this failed because of drought.

SS Norwich City wreck

In 1929, a big British ship called the SS Norwich City got stuck on Nikumaroro during a storm. The crew tried to escape, but some people did not survive. The survivors stayed on the island for a few days before being rescued. Parts of the ship stayed on the reef for many years.

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in 1937 while flying near Nikumaroro, which was then called Gardner Island. People have searched the island for clues about what happened to them. Some items found there have made people wonder if Earhart and Noonan may have landed there. However, no clear proof has been found to confirm this.

British settlement scheme

In 1938, British officials brought settlers to Nikumaroro to try to build a small community. They cleared land and planted coconuts, but the island had very little fresh water, making it hard to survive. By the 1960s, the settlement was abandoned, and the island was left empty.

Kiribati

In 1979, the island became part of Kiribati when the country gained independence. It was renamed Nikumaroro, a name that comes from local legends.

Island folklore

The island of Nikumaroro is named after a legendary goddess called Nei Manganibuka from the Gilbertese people. Legends say she came from Samoa and taught the Gilbertese people how to build canoes and navigate the ocean. The name was given by locals who traveled with British visitors in 1938. In the Gilbertese language, “Nei” means something like “Miss” and “Manganibuka” means “old woman of the Buka trees.”

Stories also tell of a special meeting place called the Ghost Maneaba. According to legend, the first leader’s wife saw a grand meeting house where Nei Manganibuka sat with children and wise elders, talking about a bright future for the island. That place is now called Kanawa Point.