Baker Island

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Baker Island
Aerial view of Baker Island
Aerial view of Baker Island
Waters Pacific Ocean
Geographical location 0 ° 11 '42 "  N , 176 ° 28' 42"  W Coordinates: 0 ° 11 '42 "  N , 176 ° 28' 42"  W.
Location of Baker Island
length 2 km
width 1 km
surface 2.1 km²
Highest elevation 8  m
Residents uninhabited
main place Meyerton ( historical )
Map of Baker Island
Map of Baker Island

The Baker Island ( English Baker Island , [ ˈbeɪkər ]) is a small uninhabited island in the Pacific , which is geographically in front of the Phoenix Islands and politically belongs to the outskirts of the United States . This is a so-called "non-incorporated territory" that is assigned to the United States Minor Outlying Islands for statistical purposes . Together with Howland Island, the island forms the only land area in the time zone UTC − 12 (International Date Line West, IDLW).

geography

The island, with an area of ​​2.1 km² and a circumference of 4.9 km, is 3091 kilometers southwest of Honolulu , about halfway between Hawaii and Australia and only 21.7 kilometers north of the equator . The distance to the neighboring Howland Island to the north is 68.3 kilometers. Baker Island is an upscale atoll surrounded by a coral reef and has no natural freshwater sources.

history

Baker was discovered in 1818 by Captain Elisha Folger of the whaling ship Equator in Nantucket and named New Nantucket . In August 1825 the island was sighted again on the Loper by the American whaling captain Obed Starbuck . Today it is named after Michael Baker, who visited it for the first time in 1832. On February 12, 1857, seven days after Howland Island, Baker Island was taken for the United States under the Guano Islands Act . From 1859 to 1878 guano was mined intensively , after which the economic interest in the island decreased again. The amount of guano mined during this period is estimated to be between 200,000 and 240,000 tons.

On April 3, 1935, the ship Itasca brought four Hawaiian settlers to the island for colonization under the Baker, Howland and Jarvis Colonization Scheme . The colonization attempt failed, however, in the turmoil of World War II ; After Japanese air raids on the only settlement Meyerton (named after Captain HA Meyer of the United States Army , who supported the construction of the settlement in 1935) the island was evacuated in 1942. From July 1943 on, the island was expanded with the construction of a runway by engineers of the United States Army Air Forces into an air force base for the fight against Japan. After intensive use by B-24 bombers in November and December 1943, operations were suspended and the island was abandoned in March 1944. The United States Coast Guard set up a LORAN radio navigation transmitter on Baker Island from June 1944 , which operated until May 1946. The island has been uninhabited since then, and the runway from that time can no longer be used today.

  • The signal tower

  • Remnants of the Meyerton settlement

In 1974 the entire island was placed under nature protection; since then it has been administered by the US Fish & Wildlife Service , an agency of the US Department of the Interior, as Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge . Entering the island requires a special permit, which is generally only granted for scientific and teaching purposes. Together with six other American islands in the Pacific, the nature reserve of Baker Island has formed the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument since January 6, 2009 .

Flora and fauna

The treeless island is only sparsely overgrown. The flora is characterized by species poverty, as only heat and drought-resistant species can survive on Baker Island. In addition to various sea ​​birds that nest on the island, the green turtle and the hawksbill turtle also find food off the coast of the island. 247 species of fish and 104 species of coral have been counted in the surrounding waters and reefs .

literature

  • Edwin Horace Bryan : American Polynesia: coral islands of the central Pacific . Tongg Publishing Company, Honolulu, Hawaii 1941 (English).
  • Henry Evans Maude : Of islands and men. Studies in Pacific history . Oxford University Press, Melbourne / New York 1968 (English).

Web links

Commons : Bakerinsel  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikimedia Atlas: Baker Island  - geographical and historical maps

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Don Palawski: Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge: Comprehensive Conservation Plan . National Wildlife Refuge Complex, 2008, Chapter 3: Goals, Objectives, Strategies, and Rationale - Goal 1 , p. 27 (English, accessible online at Data.gov [PDF; 2.4 MB ]).
  2. ↑ Distance from Baker Island to Honolulu. In: www.timeanddate.de. Time and Date AS, accessed May 19, 2017 .
  3. ^ Don Palawski: Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge: Comprehensive Conservation Plan . National Wildlife Refuge Complex, 2008, Chapter 4: Recent Cultural History - Guano Mining Era , p. 53 (English, accessible online at Data.gov [PDF; 2.4 MB ]).
  4. ^ Don Palawski: Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge: Comprehensive Conservation Plan . National Wildlife Refuge Complex, 2008, Chapter 4: Recent Cultural History - Military Era , pp. 54 (English, accessible online at Data.gov [PDF; 2.4 MB ]).
  5. ^ US Unincorporated Possessions. Baker Island. In: World Statesmen.org. Retrieved May 19, 2017 (English).
  6. ↑ Wildlife & Habitat. Iceland Habitat section . In: Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge. United States Fish and Wildlife Service , accessed May 24, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Wildlife & Habitat. Fish section . In: Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge. United States Fish and Wildlife Service , accessed May 24, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Marine Habitat. Section Coral . In: Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge. United States Fish and Wildlife Service , accessed May 24, 2017 .