Vostok Island
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vostok Island also known as Staver Island, is an uninhabited coral island in the central Pacific Ocean, part of the Line Islands belonging to Kiribati. Other names for the island were Anne Island, Bostock Island, Leavitts Island, Reaper Island, Staver Island, Vostock Island, Wostock Island or Wostok Island.
First sighted in 1820 by the Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, who named the island for his ship ("Vostok" means "East" in Russian). Only 1.5 kilometers in length (0.24 km²) and approximately triangular in shape, it rises to a height of about 5 meters above sea level, with a dense thicket of Pisonia trees covering the central portion of the island. Vostok was claimed under the Guano Act of 1856, but was never mined for phosphate.
Vostok Island is conserved as the 'Vostok Island Wildlife Sanctuary', protecting important seabird breeding colonies such as the Red-footed Booby (Sula sula), Great Frigatebird (Fregata minor), Lesser Frigatebird (F. ariel), Black Noddy (Anous minutus) and White Tern (Gygis alba).
Vostok Island is also used as a level in the Wipeout 2097 game for the Playstation.
[edit] External links
- Article at Jane's Oceania Home Page - includes a sketch map
- Article at Looking For Nemo Expedition's site - includes photo and sketch map
- Oceandots - Vostok Island - satellite photograph
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