Kingman Reef facts for kids
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Southeast part of Kingman Reef, looking north
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 Kingman Reef
Location in Kiribati
Kingman Reef
Location in Oceania
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| Geography | |
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| Location | Oceania |
| Coordinates | 6°23′N 162°25′W / 6.383°N 162.417°W |
| Area | 76 km2 (29 sq mi) |
| Length | 18 km (11.2 mi) |
| Width | 9 km (5.6 mi) |
| Administration | |
Kingman Reef is a special place in the North Pacific Ocean. It's mostly underwater and doesn't have any people living on it. This reef is shaped like a triangle. It stretches about 18 kilometers (11 miles) from east to west and 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) from north to south.
Kingman Reef is located roughly halfway between the Hawaiian Islands and American Samoa. It is the most northern part of the Line Islands. The closest island, Palmyra Atoll, is about 67 kilometers (42 miles) away. Kingman Reef is about 1,722 kilometers (1,070 miles) south of Honolulu.
Contents
History of Kingman Reef
Discovery and Naming
An American captain named Edmund Fanning first found Kingman Reef on June 14, 1798. He was sailing on a ship called the Betsey. Later, on November 29, 1853, Captain W. E. Kingman described the reef in more detail. The reef was named after him.
Claim by the United States
In 1860, a company called the United States Guano Company claimed Kingman Reef. They called it "Danger Reef." This claim was made under a law called the Guano Islands Act of 1856. However, there is no proof that guano (bird droppings used as fertilizer) was ever found or dug up on Kingman Reef.
Geography and Features
Kingman Reef has a lagoon inside it that can be as deep as 82 meters (270 feet). The total area of the reef, including the lagoon, is about 75 square kilometers (29 square miles).
On the eastern edge of the reef, there are two small areas of dry land. These bits of land are made of coral pieces and large clam shells. The highest point on the reef is less than 1.5 meters (5 feet) above the ocean. This means it's often wet or covered by water, making Kingman Reef a danger for ships. The reef does not have any natural resources or economic activities.
Status and Protection
Kingman Reef is an unincorporated territory of the United States. This means it belongs to the U.S. but is not a full part of it. It is managed by the United States Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C..
The reef is not open to the public. For official records, Kingman Reef is part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands. In January 2009, Kingman Reef was made a special protected area called a marine national monument.
Kingman Reef is part of a larger group of protected areas called the Pacific Remote Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex. In January 2009, President George W. Bush made this area even more protected by naming it the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
Images for kids
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Orthographic projection over Kingman Reef
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NASA Landsat 8 true-color photo of Kingman Reef
See also
In Spanish: Arrecife Kingman para niños
