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Wake Island

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of Oceania
(Australasia)

   USGS Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite image of Wake Island.
   Enlarge
   USGS Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite image of Wake Island.

   Wake Island (also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll having a
   coastline of 12 miles (19 kilometers) in the North Pacific Ocean,
   located about two-thirds of the way from Honolulu (2,300  statute miles
   or 3,700 km west) to Guam (1,510 miles or 2,430 km east). It is an
   unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States, part of the
   United States Minor Outlying Islands, administered by the Office of
   Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior. Wake is located to
   the west of the International Date Line and is one day ahead of the 50
   states. Access to the island is restricted, and all current activities
   on the island are managed by the United States Air Force, the United
   States Army, and Chugach McKinley, Inc., a civilian base operations and
   maintenance services company.

   Although Wake is officially called an island in the singular form, it
   is actually an atoll comprising three islands (Wake, Wilkes, and Peale)
   surrounding a central lagoon. Referring to the atoll as an island is
   the result of a pre-World War II desire by the United States Navy to
   distinguish Wake from other atolls, most of which were Japanese
   territory. The largest island (Wake Island) is the centre of activity
   on the atoll and features a 9,800 foot (3,000 m) runway.

Geography

   Wake Island
     * Geographic coordinates: 19°17′N 166°36′E
     * Area (land): 2.5 mi² (6.5 km²)
     * Coastline: 12.0 mi (19.3 km)
     * Maritime claims
          + exclusive economic zone: 200  nm (370.4 km)
          + territorial sea: 12 nm (22.2 km)
     * Elevation extremes:
          + lowest point: Pacific Ocean, 0 feet (0 meters)
          + highest point: Ducks Point, 20 feet (6 m)

Climate

   Wake Island lies in the tropical zone but is subject to periodic
   temperate storms during the winter. Sea surface temperatures are warm
   all year long, reaching above 80  °F in summer and fall. Typhoons
   occasionally pass over the island.

Typhoon Ioke

   On August 28, 2006, the United States Air Force evacuated all 188
   residents as category 5 Super Typhoon Ioke headed toward Wake. By
   August 31, the southwestern eyewall of the storm passed over the
   island, with winds well over 185 miles per hour (300 km/h) , driving a
   storm surge and waves directly into the lagoon.

History

Pre-European discovery

   Some scant indigenous Marshallese oral tradition suggests that prior to
   European exploration, nearby Marshall Islanders traveled to what is now
   Wake Island, which the travelers called Enen-kio after a small orange
   shrub-flower said to have been found on the atoll. In ancient
   Marshallese religion, rituals surrounding the tatooing of tribal
   chiefs, called Iroijlaplap, were done using certain fresh human bones,
   which required a human sacrifice. A man could save himself from being
   sacrificed if he obtained a wing bone from a certain very large seabird
   said to have existed on Enen-kio. Small groups would therefore brave
   traveling to the atoll in hope of obtaining and returning with this
   bone, thus saving the life of the potential human sacrifice.

   Based upon this oral tradition along with concepts of first-usage lands
   rights claims commonly held in Micronesian cultures as legitimate for
   settling indigenous land disputes , a small separatist group of
   Marshall Island descendents who call themselves the Kingdom of EnenKio
   lay claim to Wake Island. The Marshall Islands and U.S. governments,
   who also have competing claims over the island, vigorously deny the
   claim. No evidence suggests there was ever a permanent settlement of
   Marshall Islanders on Wake Island.

European discovery and exploration

   On October 20, 1568, Álvaro de Mendaña de Neyra, a Spanish explorer
   with two ships, Los Reyes and Todos Santos, discovered "a low barren
   island, judged to be eight leagues in circumference," to which he gave
   the name of "San Francisco." The island was eventually named for
   Captain Samuel Wake, master of the British trading schooner, Prince
   William Henry, who visited in 1796.

   On December 20, 1840, the United States Exploring Expedition commanded
   by Commodore Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Navy, landed on and surveyed
   Wake. Wilkes described the atoll as "a low coral one, of triangular
   form and eight feet above the surface. It has a large lagoon in the
   centre, which was well filled with fish of a variety of species among
   these were some fine mullet." He also noted that Wake had no fresh
   water and that it was covered with shrubs, "the most abundant of which
   was the tournefortia." The expedition's naturalist, Titian Peale,
   collected many new specimens, including an egg from a short-tailed
   albatross and various marine life specimens.

Wreck of the Libelle

   Wake Island first received international attention with the wreck of
   the Libelle. On the night of March 4, 1866, the barque Libelle of
   Bremen, Germany, struck the eastern reef of Wake Island during a gale.
   The ship was under the command of Captain Tobias and en route from San
   Francisco to Hong Kong. Among its passengers were opera singer Anna
   Bishop, her husband Martin Schultz (a New York diamond merchant), and
   three other members of an English opera troupe.

   After 21 days, the 30 stranded passengers and crew set sail in a
   longboat and a gig for the Spanish island of Guam. The longboat,
   containing the opera troupe, Mr. Schultz and other passengers, arrived
   on Guam April 8. The gig, commanded by the Libelle’s captain, was lost
   at sea. While stranded on Wake Island, Captain Tobias had buried
   valuable cargo including 1,000 flasks (34,500 kg) of mercury, coins and
   precious stones worth approximately $150,000, and at least five ships
   conducted salvage operations in their recovery. The plight of the
   Libelle, its passengers and cargo was reported by many newspapers.

American possession

   Wake Island was annexed by the United States on January 17, 1899. In
   1935, Pan American Airways constructed a small village, nicknamed "
   PAAville", to service flights on its U.S.-China route. The village was
   the first human settlement on the island and relied upon the U.S.
   mainland for its food and water supplies; it remained in operation up
   to the day of the first Japanese air raid.

Military buildup

   In January 1941, the United States Navy constructed a military base on
   the atoll. On August 19, the first permanent military garrison,
   elements of the 1st Marine Defense Battalion, totaling 449 officers and
   men, were stationed on the island, commanded by Commander Winfield
   Scott Cunningham. Others on the island were 68 U.S. Naval personnel and
   about 1,221 civilian workers.

   They were armed with six used 5 inch (127 mm) cannons, removed from a
   scrapped cruiser; twelve 3 inch (76.2 mm) M3 anti-aircraft guns (with
   only a single working anti-aircraft sight among them); eighteen
   Browning M2 heavy machine guns; and thirty heavy, medium, and light,
   water or air-cooled machine guns in various conditions but all
   operational.

World War II

Battle of Wake Island

   On December 7, 1941, the same day as the Attack on Pearl Harbour (Wake
   being on the opposite side of the International Date Line), sixteen
   Japanese medium bombers flown from bases on the Marshall Islands
   attacked Wake Island, destroying eight of the twelve F4F Wildcat
   fighter aircraft belonging to Marine Corps fighter squadron VMF-211 on
   the ground. All of the Marine garrison's defensive emplacements were
   left intact by the raid, which primarily targeted the naval aircraft.

   The garrison—supplemented by civilian volunteers—repelled several
   Japanese landing attempts. After the initial Japanese amphibious
   assault was beaten back with heavy losses, the American commander was
   asked by his superiors if he needed anything; the commander was
   reported (erroneously) as having quipped "Send us more Japs!"

   Despite this defiant spirit, the garrison was eventually overwhelmed by
   the determined and numerically superior Japanese invasion force.
   American casualties were fifty-two military personnel killed, along
   with approximately seventy civilians. Japanese losses exceeded 700
   killed, with some estimates ranging as high as 900; in addition, the
   Japanese lost four destroyers and twenty aircraft.

   In the aftermath of the battle, some of the captured civilian laborers
   were pressed into service by the Japanese and tasked with improving the
   island's defenses. After a successful American air raid on October 5,
   1943, the Japanese garrison commander Rear Admiral Shigematsu Sakaibara
   ordered the execution of the ninety-eight prisoners on the pretext that
   they were spies. One prisoner escaped the mass execution, but was later
   personally beheaded by Sakaibara. After the war, Sakaibaira was tried
   for war crimes, found guilty, and executed; his subordinate was
   sentenced to life in prison.

   Captain Henry T. Elrod, one of the pilots from VMF-211, was awarded the
   United States Medal of Honour posthumously for shooting down two
   Japanese Zero fighters, and many of his comrades were also highly
   decorated for their roles in the fighting. The Wake Island Device was
   created for American veterans of the battle.

Japanese occupation and surrender

   The surrender of the Japanese garrison on Wake island - September 4,
   1945. Shigematsu Sakaibara is the Japanese officer in the
   right-foreground
   Enlarge
   The surrender of the Japanese garrison on Wake island - September 4,
   1945. Shigematsu Sakaibara is the Japanese officer in the
   right-foreground

   The Japanese-occupied island was bombed several times by American air
   forces; one of these raids was the first mission for future United
   States President George H.W. Bush.

   On September 4, 1945, the remaining Japanese garrison surrendered to a
   detachment of the United States Marine Corps. In a brief ceremony, the
   handover of Wake was officially conducted.
   US Civilian POWs Memorial
   Enlarge
   US Civilian POWs Memorial

Postwar

   On October 14, 1950, the island served as a one-day meeting site
   between General Douglas MacArthur and President Harry S. Truman,
   meeting to discuss strategy for the Korean War hostilities that had
   broken out four months earlier.

   Since 1974, the island's airstrip has been used by the U.S. military
   and some commercial cargo planes, as well as for emergency landings.
   There are over 700 landings a year on the island. There are also two
   offshore anchorages for large ships. On September 16, 1985, the World
   War II-related resources on Peale, Wilkes, and Wake Islands were
   designated a National Historic Landmark (and thereby also listed on the
   National Register of Historic Places).

   The United States military personnel have left, and there are no
   indigenous inhabitants. Wake, with an undelineated maritime boundary
   with them, is claimed by the Marshall Islands, and some civilian
   personnel ("contractor inhabitants") remain. As of August 2006, an
   estimated 200 contractor personnel were present. The island remains a
   strategic location in the North Pacific Ocean and serves as an
   emergency landing location for transpacific flights. Some World War II
   facilities and wreckage remain on the islands.

   Subsequently the island was used for strategic defense and operations
   during the Cold War. It was administered by the United States Army
   Space and Missile Defense Command (formerly known as the United States
   Army Space and Strategic Defense Command).
   Wake Island's Main Lagoon
   Enlarge
   Wake Island's Main Lagoon

   Since 1974, from Wake Island, military rockets were launched at
   19°17′24″N, 166°37′05″E. These rockets are launched for the test of
   anti-missile systems and for atmospheric re-entry tests.

   From late April until the middle of August 1975, Wake Island was used
   as a refugee camp for more than 8,000 Vietnamese refugees who fled
   their homeland after the fall of Saigon that ended the Vietnam War.

   The territorial claim by the Republic of the Marshall Islands on Wake
   Atoll leaves a certain amount of ambiguity regarding the actual or
   hypothetical role of the U.S. military, responsible under agreement for
   the defence of Marshallese territory, in the event of any strategic
   crisis or hostilities involving Wake. However, the atoll was formally
   annexed by the U.S. in the 19th century and is still administered by
   the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Flora and fauna

   The flightless Wake Island Rail was the island's only known native
   landbird. It became extinct when the Japanese garrison, cut off from
   resupply in 1944-45, turned to hunting and fishing to avoid starvation.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_Island"
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