This is the
talk page for discussing improvements to the
Kiritimati article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
Article policies
|
Find sources: Google ( books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
This
level-5 vital article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the On this day section on December 24, 2004, December 24, 2005, December 24, 2006, December 24, 2007, December 24, 2008, December 24, 2009, December 24, 2011, and December 24, 2014. |
Lorna Arnold's book Britain and the H-Bomb describes the island in 1956 (page 104) "Despite its sunshine, beaches, tropical warmth and palrge plantations of coconut palms, it was hardly an island of paradise - unlike the idyllic Penhyn. There was no fresh water (but torrential rain at times) and no source of food except migrant birds, fish, and coconuts; it was infested with evil smelling land-crabs and hosts of flies. Though not excessively hot, the humidity was very high. Most of island did not rise above 15 feet and the highest point was only 40 feet above sea level", etc. Is this accurate, I think the main page would be enhanced by this sort of detail.
I have added the link to Operation Grapple-- ManInStone 12:50, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
88.111.88.48 21:16, 18 February 2007 (UTC)==Google Maps Error?== I tried to see this island on google maps but google maps insist on calling it "Kiribati" with a b instead of m. Typo at Google?
I can't see half the text on this page. Somebody edit it who has experience!
I do not think so. I have lived on Christmas Island recently, and no one says Christmas Atoll for naming it. Of course, it is an atoll (and the biggest and oldest in the world). It is also bigger than the other Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) and many more people live there. The official name, put in the Kiribati constitution (12th July 1979) is Christmas Island (or Kiritimati). For the Gilbertese these two names are the same. For the same reason, Fanning and Washington are called islands and not atolls. And most of the people there, even when they speak in Gilbertese, call them Fanning Island or Washington Island (the Gilbertese names are not very comon, even official with English names). There are two Christmas Islands in the world and that is not a problem for Wikipedia. --Enzino 10:19, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I disagree. They are islands, but a type of island called an atoll. But if you want to not pass on anything of geography and just use "island" not much more I can say. Obviously if you think the English name is used more than the Kiribati name, then change that too. I'm no longer interested in trying to take Wikipedia anywhere. - Marshman 16:58, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I have not the power of changing names. And I totally agree with you : these are atoll islands, not simply islands. But nowhere you will see, as a name, Christmas Atoll. Its name is Christmas Island, or Kiritimati (rare). As written in the constitution. I cannot change a constitution. --
Enzino 18:39, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC).
poor abbreviation: what the heck is a 'ha'? ("Other islands are Motu Upua (> 19 ha), Ngaontetaake (27 ha), and Motu Tabu (3.5 ha)")
Please read and translate if you please the talk on the wikipedia in french about :
the fact that Kiritimati is often spelled KIRIMATI, even in official documents
the fact that Kiritimati is the largest atoll
the fact that Kiritimati is the oldest atoll
Some people dont want to use the name island for an atoll because they assume that most atoll are formed by many islands (not the case of Kiritimati) but I think they should use the term "motu" (a geographical term from polynesian languages meaning island) for the islets. So Christmas island is correct but Christmas atoll is correct too.
I am used to find the coordinates of the islands in the english page but for Kiritimati, they are lacking !
motunono
On the other hand, I just confirm that this atoll is the biggest and (probably) the oldest in the world (personal communication at the Société des Océanistes). Enzino 18:06, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
The Selected anniversaries (24 December) listing calls it the 'oldest atoll' and nowhere in the articles ( Kiritimati or atoll) is there an explanation of what that means. Does that mean oldest discovery by Europeans or oldest by formation? Kember 23:16, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
In my first letter, I should not have used the word "fact" (due to my weak english)when pointing to the debate in french wiki about Kirimati beeing the largest and oldest atoll in the world because I dont backup those assertions. the first one depends on the way you mesure an atoll. for the second one, as I explain in the french discussion, I think it comes from the first belief, assuming that tallness means age, an idea that come from predarwinian conceptions of the atolls. MOTUNONO (stephane.jourdan@informatique.gov.pf tahiti)
From the article as it stands at the time of writing:
Previously (ended on April 26, 2004) a charter flight by Air Kiribati (done by Aloha Airlines) connected Christmas to Honolulu every week with a Boeing 737. Provisional jets shortly replaced it. Since October 2005, Fijian Air Pacific makes a weekly stop between Honolulu and Nadi in Fiji. A large and modern jetty, handling some cargo, was built by the Japanese.
This paragraph in particular could do with some tidying up of the English, but two things are stopping me from editing it:
Loganberry ( Talk) 23:30, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
Could it be that a provisional jet is one that delivers supplies or provisions? Kember 20:49, 26 December 2005 (UTC)
Don't worry. I do confirm that provisional jets is a mistranslation. Provisional airlines flights is perhaps better. I do confirm that Air Kiribati chartered one weekly flight to Aloha Airlines (very early on sunday morning). When the service of Aloha stopped, it was replaced from time to time by some flights on little jets, before a regular flight was reinstated last October by Air Pacific. On this flight, Air Kiribati charters 24 PAX. Marshman was (a long time ago) there: I also confirm that Air Kiribati not only charters for passengers but also for freight (and a lot of food). It is very expensive for the Government, but as most Shops and Utilities are governmental, and so few ships available, air freight is made (from HNL to Xmas) mainly by freight in provisions (and of pet fish from Xmas to HNL). And I have just been there to confirm all that (not in the seventies... Enzino 18:24, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
I'm a little uncomfortable with the recent change by Pattersonc declaring an official name change in 1981 from Christmas Island/Atoll to Kiritimati. The name change is one between languages, so there is nothing official here about Kiribati deciding or declaring to call the Island Kiritimati instead of Christmas. I assume English speakers have alweays used Christmas and Gilbertese speakers have always used Kiritimati. Do not get me wrong, I favor using Kiritimati. But I require that if someone adds a "fact" about something "official" they need to cite a source. After all, the Mexican government or the CIA could each have their own "official" name for the place and even a date when it became officially whatever, but those are not necessarily facts we need to include in an English Wikipedia. The previous statement, that the atoll has more than one name is closer to the truth, so I'm reverting the addition, until a source can be provided and judged. I seem to recall that someone with knowledge here said that both names are "official" in the Kiribati constitution. If that is no longer or not true, lets correct that fact. - Marshman 02:04, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
Not aware? Actually I spoke Gilbertese (not real fluently) when I lived there in the 1980s. But Kiribati is the accepted name of the country. The Gilberts is the old English name of a specific island archipelago and no longer much used. - Marshman 05:13, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
Given that nuclear detonations were done on the island, why is it even inhabited? Shouldn't everything be poisoned due to the radioactive fallout? I find this a bit curious since the article didn't address this point.
I believe that Kiritimati may be an example of the fact that widely-held beliefs on the effects of long-term nuclear fallout have been greatly exaggerated. I hope that someone will do an article on this aspect of the Pacific nuclear testing in the future.
Can someone put an IPA guide to pronouncing Kiritimati? ArchonMeld ( talk) 21:59, 24 December 2007 (UTC)
I just {{ fact}}ed the statement that Gilbertese is the only language spoken on Kiritimati. Really? Not just the main language? According to the article on Kiribati, English is also a recognised official language. I can reasonably well imagine there being a source backing up, for example, Gilbertese as the only native language on the island. But does the island exclude visitors? It all seems to be a bit of a bizarre statement for an atoll two of whose populated villages are named after European places. BigBlueFish ( talk) 23:06, 24 December 2007 (UTC)
What's in the Bay of Wrecks? Map says dangerous. Is it open for wreck diving or exploration? -- Virgil H. Soule ( talk) 18:18, 23 October 2009 (UTC)
Is there a reliable source for this name? Kenilworth Terrace ( talk) 20:13, 15 February 2010 (UTC)
As already stated, Kiritimati (pronounced K'rismas) is the Gilbertese version of the English Christmas. Most of the Kiribati people pronounces K'reesmass, with a short 'ee'. But this rendition is "official" only since 1979. There is no sense to use Kiritimati in historical conditions (Cook and after). Even now, from Hawaii or Fiji, the use is to write and spell "Christmas Island" (at the airport i.e.). The use of the Gilbertese name is rare even on the island: most people use the English spelling and writing. So, I will replace Kiritimati by Christmas Island where most in use.-- Enzino ( talk) 08:07, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
The article notes the occurrence of a population explosion, doubling in a couple of decades. An explanation of the cause of the explosion would be nice. Rwflammang ( talk) 04:38, 5 January 2011 (UTC)
An image used in this article,
File:OperationGrappleXmasIslandHbomb.jpg, has been nominated for deletion at
Wikimedia Commons in the following category: Deletion requests October 2011
Don't panic; a discussion will now take place over on Commons about whether to remove the file. This gives you an opportunity to contest the deletion, although please review Commons guidelines before doing so.
This notification is provided by a Bot -- CommonsNotificationBot ( talk) 19:24, 25 October 2011 (UTC) |
About the government's status. Who owns it? What's the history behind this? There is brief mention of the USA claiming it for mining ... but do they continue that claim?-- 27.32.168.222 ( talk) 18:10, 24 December 2011 (UTC)
If you go to this Google Maps URL -- http://goo.gl/maps/VuSSt -- you'll see a placed labeled "ologyøya."
Very curious. The first letter isn't capitalized. The letter ø is said to be used "in the Danish, Norwegian, Faroese and Southern Sami languages." What's this all about? 184.99.28.92 ( talk) 07:44, 1 September 2012 (UTC)
Hmmm, you might have to talk to Google about that word! Gilbertese transliterated to English follows the usual Polynesian (and Micronesian) language rules where proper nouns have capital initials and there is a limited alphabet that does not include the letter y and g is not usually used alone (it is coupled with n as in ng).
As an aside, most Pacific Island languages were transliterated by British missionaries, largely from the London Missionary Society.
Oh, BTW, Kiribati is a self-governing republic. It was previously part of the British mandate of the Gilbert and Ellis Islands. Lin ( talk) 00:45, 2 September 2012 (UTC)
I read this sentence: "The name "Kiritimati" is a rather straightforward respelling of the English word "Christmas" in Gilbertese, in which the combination ti is pronounced s, and the name is thus pronounced [kəˈrɪsməs]."
This contradicts another Wikipedia article, namely Gilbertese language. That article doesn't say anything about the /ə/ or the /ɪ/ in Gilbertese. It's more likely to be /i/. The pronunciation is more likely to be [kiˈɾismäs], according to that article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ElMosquitoRápido ( talk • contribs) 19:13, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 163.32.125.77 ( talk) 08:18, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
From the second paragraph of the article:
"Christmas Island comprises over 70% of the total land area of Kiribati,..."
Since Kiribati has 811.98 sq. km. of land area and Kiritimati has 388.39 sq. km. then the percentage should be 47.83% and not 70%.
The fifth paragraph, second sentence states: "During these tests islanders were not evacuated.". I was stationed aboard one of the US Navy ships that took part in the 1962 tests and have different view concerning that statement. While the entire population of the island was not evacuated, many children, not sure if it was all of them, and some women were brought aboard our ship whenever a detonation was scheduled. They were safe in an area where they could not accidentally look at the fireball. I remember them as being smiling and happy, playing and having fun while on board. Seatrain16 ( talk) 03:40, 12 November 2013 (UTC)
Why does it say "(formerly spelt Christmas)" in the infobox header? Is this an official way of referring to Kiritimati in government documents? Because if it isn't used in some standardized fashion outside Wikipedia, I am going to remove it. Duivelwaan ( talk) 02:31, 2 December 2016 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Kiritimati. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018.
After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than
regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors
have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the
RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{
source check}}
(last update: 18 January 2022).
Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot ( Report bug) 15:42, 6 May 2017 (UTC)
Article uses Note 4 to claim Kiritimati is over 70% of land mass of Kiribati as a whole. However the document says Kiritimati is 388.39 sq km, and says Kiribati as a whole is 726.34, which is 53.5%. (See page 4-of-15 of pdf) There's also an ambiguity with the page for Tarawa which says Tarawa is 500 sq km by itself, but that number very likely is not land area, but likely includes the lagoon inside the atoll, which would appear to be over 90% of that 500.