Kiritimati

Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is the world’s largest coral atoll by land area. It lies in Kiribati’s Line Islands in the central Pacific.

Atoll: A ring-shaped coral reef, island, or chain of islands enclosing a lagoon. Kiritimati is an exceptionally large example of this reef-built landform.
Tabuaeran: A coral atoll in Kiribati’s Line Islands, also known as Fanning Island. It is a nearby inhabited atoll that offers a smaller-scale comparison with Kiritimati.
Christmas Island nuclear tests: A series of British and American nuclear tests conducted near Kiritimati in the 1950s and 1960s. The atoll’s isolation made it a site for atmospheric weapons testing.
Kiribati phosphate mining: The extraction of phosphate rock from islands in Kiribati, especially Banaba, during the colonial era. Phosphate mining is often confused with Kiritimati’s distinct history of guano extraction.
Coral reef: A marine ecosystem built chiefly by colonies of reef-forming corals and their calcium-carbonate structures. Reef growth formed the framework underlying Kiritimati’s atoll.
Teraina: A coral atoll in Kiribati’s Line Islands, also known as Washington Island. Its freshwater lake contrasts with Kiritimati’s dry, porous atoll landscape.
Operation Grapple: A series of British thermonuclear weapon tests conducted in the Pacific between 1957 and 1958. Several tests in this operation took place near Kiritimati.
Nuclear fallout: Radioactive material dispersed through the atmosphere after a nuclear explosion and deposited on the ground. Testing near Kiritimati raised concerns about exposure among local people and test workers.
Lagoon: A shallow body of water separated from the open sea by a reef, barrier, or low island. Kiritimati contains a vast lagoon system within its encircling reef.
Poland: A settlement on Kiritimati named after the Polish engineer Stanisław Pełczyński. This village is one of the atoll’s principal inhabited places.

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