🌿 Phoenix Islands Protected Area

The Phoenix Islands, or Rawaki, are a group of eight atolls and two submerged coral reefs that lie east of the Gilbert Islands and west of the Line Islands in the Polynesia sub-region of Oceania, in the central Pacific Ocean north of Samoa. They are part of the Republic of Kiribati. Their combined land area is 28 square kilometres (11 mi2). The only island of any commercial importance is Canton Island. The other islands are Enderbury, Rawaki, Manra, Birnie, McKean, Nikumaroro, and Orona. The islands had no permanent inhabitants until European colonization, and the current inhabitants descend from the Micronesian Gilbertese people despite the islands' location in the Polynesian Triangle.