Vostok Island is an uninhabited

coral island A coral island is a type of island formed from coral detritus and associated organic material. It occurs in tropical and sub-tropical areas, typically as part of a coral reef which has grown to cover a far larger area under the sea. Ecosystem ...

in the central Pacific Ocean, part of the

Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands (in Gilbertese, ''Aono Raina'') are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Haw ...

belonging to

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

. Other names for the island include Anne Island, Bostock Island, Leavitts Island, Reaper Island, Wostock Island or Wostok Island. The island was first sighted in 1820 by the Russian explorer

Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen (russian: Фадде́й Фадде́евич Беллинсга́узен, translit=Faddéy Faddéevich Bellinsgáuzen; – ) was a Russian naval officer, cartographer and explorer, who ultimatel ...

, who named the island for his ship '' Vostok.''

Geography, flora and fauna

Vostok covers a land area of . Its nearest neighbors are

Flint Island Flint Island is an uninhabited coral island in the central Pacific Ocean, part of the Southern Line Islands under the jurisdiction of Kiribati. In 2014 the Kiribati government established a exclusion zone around each of the southern Line ...

, south-southeast;

Caroline Atoll Caroline Island (also known as Caroline Atoll or Millennium Island) is the easternmost of several uninhabited coral atolls comprising the southern Line Islands in the central Pacific Ocean nation of Kiribati. The atoll was first sighted by Eu ...

, to the east; and

Penrhyn Penryn is a Cornish word meaning 'headland' that may refer to: *Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, a town of about 7,000 on the Penryn River **Penryn railway station, a station on the Maritime Line between Truro and Falmouth Docks, and serves the t ...

, to the west. It is in length, and is triangular-shaped. Beaches on the island range between wide, composed of coral sand and rubble. There is no lagoon or fresh water on the island, and no known freshwater lens. Vostok's major portion is covered with a pure stand of '' Pisonia'' trees rooted in moist peat soil one meter thick. These trees, with heights of up to , grow so densely that no other plants can grow beneath them. The herbs ''

Boerhavia ''Boerhavia'' is a genus of over 100 species in the Nyctaginaceae family. The genus was named for Herman Boerhaave, a Dutch botanist, and the genus name is frequently misspelled "''Boerhaavia''". Common names include spiderlings and hogweeds. T ...

repens'' and ''

Sesuvium portulacastrum ''Sesuvium portulacastrum'' is a sprawling perennial herb that grows in coastal areas throughout much of the world. It is commonly known as shoreline purslane or (ambiguously) "sea purslane," in English, ''dampalit'' in Tagalog and 海马齿sl in ...

'' round out the known vegetation. Coconut seedlings were planted on Vostok in 1922 and failed, although on the nearby islands of Caroline and Flint there are existing coconut palms. Noteworthy fauna includes several species of seabirds, including the

red-footed booby The red-footed booby (''Sula sula'') is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. Adults always have red feet, but the colour of the plumage varies. They are powerful and agile fliers, but they are clumsy in takeoffs and landings. They are ...

(''Sula sula''),

great frigatebird The great frigatebird (''Fregata minor'') is a large seabird in the frigatebird family. There are major nesting populations in the tropical Pacific (including the Galapagos Islands) and Indian Oceans, as well as a tiny population in the South A ...

(''Fregata minor''), lesser frigatebird (''F. ariel''),

black noddy The black noddy or white-capped noddy (''Anous minutus'') is a seabird from the family Laridae. It is a medium-sized species of tern with black plumage and a white cap. It closely resembles the lesser noddy (''Anous tenuirostris'') with which i ...

(''Anous minutus''),

white tern The white tern or common white tern (''Gygis alba'') is a small seabird found across the tropical oceans of the world. It is sometimes known as the fairy tern, although this name is potentially confusing as it is also the common name of '' Sternu ...

(''Gygis alba''), masked booby (''Sula dactylatra''),

brown booby The brown booby (''Sula leucogaster'') is a large seabird of the booby family Sulidae, of which it is perhaps the most common and widespread species. It has a pantropical range, which overlaps with that of other booby species. The gregarious bro ...

(''S. leucogaster'') and

brown noddy The brown noddy or common noddy (''Anous stolidus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related black noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The b ...

(''Anous stolidus''). The

Polynesian rat The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), known to the Māori as ''kiore'', is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. The Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, a ...

and the azure-tailed

skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. ...

(''Emoia cyanura''), together with

coconut crab The coconut crab (''Birgus latro'') is a species of terrestrial hermit crab, also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world, with a weight of up to . It can grow to up to in width from the tip ...

s and

green turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...

s, completes the known land fauna.

History

The island was first sighted in 1820 by the Russian explorer

, who named the island for his ship '' Vostok'' (the name means "East" in Russian). Vostok was claimed by the United States under the

Guano Act of 1856 The Guano Islands Act (, enacted August 18, 1856, codified at §§ 1411-1419) is a United States federal law passed by the U.S. Congress that enables citizens of the United States to take possession, in the name of the United States, of unclaim ...

, but was never mined for

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

. It is unknown whether the island has ever been inhabited, although the presence of rats suggests that ancient

Polynesians Polynesians form an ethnolinguistic group of closely related people who are native to Polynesia (islands in the Polynesian Triangle), an expansive region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sou ...

might have at least visited. No evidence of permanent settlement has ever been found. Vostok formed part of the British

Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976. The history of the colony w ...

, until becoming a part of newly independent Kiribati in 1979. American claims on the island were vacated in the

Treaty of Tarawa On September 20, 1979, representatives of the newly independent Republic of Kiribati and of the United States met in Tarawa to sign a treaty of friendship between the two nations, known as the Treaty of Tarawa. More formally, the treaty is entit ...

in the same year. Vostok Island is designated as the ''Vostok Island Wildlife Sanctuary''. In 2014 the Kiribati government announced the establishment of a 12-nautical-mile fishing exclusion zone around each of the southern Line Islands (Caroline (commonly called Millennium), Flint, Vostok, Malden, and Starbuck). Its isolated nature means it is rarely visited, save by the occasional scientist or yachter. Passengers aboard the '' Golden Princess'' see it on the ship's route from

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = "Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of French ...

to Hawaii. Landing is said to be difficult, and no harbor or anchorage exists. The dense foliage of its trees looks dark from when viewed above. This gives the island the appearance of a mysterious black hole when seen on

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

which generated speculation in 2021, leading to many to believe that the island is being censored from public view on the application.

Photo gallery

File:Vostok AKK wind-shorn Pisonia.jpg, Wind-shorn Pisonia trees on Vostok Island File:Vostok AKK Pisonia.jpg, Virgin forest of Pisonia trees covering Vostok Island File:Vostok AKK Coast.jpg, Western coastline of Vostok Island

References

Notes

References

External links

National Geographic - Southern Line Islands Expedition, 2014

- includes a sketch map

- includes photo and sketch map * - satellite photograph {{Authority control Coral islands Uninhabited islands of Kiribati Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act Line Islands Islands of Kiribati Former disputed islands Line Islands (Kiribati)

Geography, flora and fauna

History

Photo gallery

See also

References

Notes

References

External links