Flint (island)

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Flint
Flint Island satellite image
Flint Island satellite image
Waters Pacific Ocean
Archipelago Line Islands
Geographical location 11 ° 25 '48 "  S , 151 ° 49' 10"  W Coordinates: 11 ° 25 '48 "  S , 151 ° 49' 10"  W
Flint (Island) (Kiribati)
Flint (island)
length 4.1 km
width 900 m
surface 3.2 km²
Highest elevation 7  m
Residents uninhabited

The island of Flint , ( English Flint Island ) is an uninhabited coral island in the Pacific Ocean south of the equator . It is the southernmost of the southern Line Islands and the southernmost island of the island state of Kiribati .

geography

Flint is the southernmost island of the Line Islands and is about 158 ​​km southeast of the neighboring island of Vostok and a good 232 km southwest of the Caroline Atoll . The island is 4.1 km long and 0.9 km wide and has an area of ​​3.2 km² and a height of 7 m above sea level. It represents a so-called elevated atoll , where the former lagoon has become several inland lakes. Flint is almost completely surrounded by a coral reef , only in the west there is a narrow passage. Landing with boats is therefore considered difficult.

history

With the exception of 1801, no further information is available about the discovery of the island. Citing the Guano Islands Act , passed in 1856 , Flint was claimed by the United States , but not taken possession of. However, the island was leased to the British company Houlder Brothers and Co. , which mined guano intensively from 1875 to 1880 . From 1881 coconut palms were planted on the island to produce copra . The plantations were abandoned in the 1930s and the island has had no permanent residents since then.

A research group from the Lick Observatory observed the total solar eclipse on January 3, 1908 , which was also used to determine the exact position of the observation site and thus the island.

Originally assigned to the British colony of Gilbert and Ellice Islands , Flint has been part of the newly founded Kiribati since 1979.

Flora and fauna

While Flint was still described as "densely forested" on February 5, 1841 during a US expedition, the researchers of the Mangareva expedition found mainly coconut palms and some papaya trees on October 16, 1934 . With the exception of a few Pisonia forests, the original flora and fauna were largely destroyed by the intensive use of the island in the past. Flint Island is home to one of the largest populations of the palm thief ( Birgus latro ).

  • Views

  • The island seen from the sea

  • The passage in the fringing reef on the west coast

  • One of the numerous inland lakes that emerged from the former lagoon

  • An original forest of Pisonia grandis on Flint

literature

  • Krusenstern, Adam Johann von: Contributions to the hydrography of the larger oceans as explanations of a chart of the entire world according to Mercator's projection ; Leipzig; Kummer, 1819 (in full text from the Digitization Center of the Göttingen University Library) [1]

Web links

Commons : Flint Island  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ UNEP Islands (English)