Aono Raina High Sea

The Aono Raina High Sea surrounds the Line Islands, where narrow coral islands and atolls carry small communities across a huge expanse of ocean. The chain lies south of Hawaii and stretches approximately 2,350 kilometres from northwest to southeast. Kiritimati stands out because it has the largest land area of any atoll in the world, while most of the other islands are much smaller and more isolated. Only Kiritimati, Tabuaeran and Teraina have permanent populations.

The islands had no permanent inhabitants before European colonisation, and their present communities descend from Micronesian Gilbertese people, even though the archipelago lies within the Polynesian Triangle. This origin reflects movements introduced during the colonial era rather than a simple continuity with the archipelago’s older Polynesian traces. The population is therefore small and unevenly distributed, with settlements concentrated on islands capable of supporting reliable subsistence and transport. For people living in the surrounding waters, the atoll chain creates both refuge and risk.

Reefs and lagoons provide fishing grounds, but vast distances separate the islands. Routes were historically followed by explorers, whalers and later shipping and communications. The high seas around the Line Islands are consequently defined less by open-water emptiness than by scattered landfalls, inter-island journeys and the practical knowledge needed to cross a very large oceanic region.