Kiritimati Christmas Island is the first place to see the New Year
By jayita, Gaea News NetworkThursday, December 31, 2009
Are you excited to know, which is the lucky place on earth to first welcome New Year 2010. It’s called Kiritimati. This is the first inhabited place on Earth to experience the New Year each year. Kiritimati, better known as Christmas Island is a Pacific Ocean atoll in the northern Line Islands. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati.
Kiritimati comprises over 70% of the total land area of Kiribati, a nation encompassing 33 Pacific atolls and islands.This part of the Republic of Kiribati is in the world’s furthest forward time zone.
The name “Kiritimati” is a rather straightforward transliteration of the English word “Christmas” into Gilbertese where the ‘ti’ combination is pronounced ’s’.
Kiritimati was discovered by Captain James Cook on Christmas Eve (24 December) 1777. It was claimed by the United States under the Guano Islands Act of 1856, though little actual mining of guano took place.
At the time of discovery, Kiritimati was uninhabited. Most probably, Polynesian traders and settlers, would have found the island a useful replenishing station on the long voyages from the Society Islands to Hawaii, perhaps as early as AD 400.
Permanent settlement started by 1882, mainly by workers in coconut plantations and fishermen. The island was once again abandoned between 1905 and 1912, due to an extreme drought which ruined off thousands of Coconut Palms- about 75% of Kiritimati’s population of this plant,
The island’s population has strongly increased in recent years, from about 2,000 in 1989 to about 5,000 in the early 2000s. Kiritimati has two representatives in the Maneaba ni Maungatabu. Today there are four populated and one abandoned villages on the island:
London is the main village and port facility. Banana is near Cassidy International Airport. The abandoned village is Paris.
Start planning to visit Kiritimati at the advent of New Year. Who knows you might get a chance to enlist your name among the lucky few who witness the New Year first.
