What is Malden Island?
[[Image:NASA-MaldenIsland.jpg|right|thumb|250px|NASA orbital photo of Malden Island (north at bottom)]] '''Malden Island''' is an [[island]] in the [[Pacific Ocean]]. Today, the island belongs to [[Kiribati]]. It is one of the [[Line Islands]]. In the [[19th century]] the island used to be called '''Independence Island''' at times. The island is uninhabited today, it has been made into a [[nature reserve]] for [[breed]]ing [[seabird]]s. ==Geography== [[File:Kiribati-Malden-highlighted.png|thumb|Malden is the island with the red circle around it]] Malden Island is located 242 [[nautical mile]]s (nmi) south of the equator, 1500 nmi south of [[Honolulu, Hawaii]]. The coast of [[South America]] is more than 4,000 nautical miles (5,000 statute miles or 8,000&nbsp;km) <!-- round numbers, intentionally not more precise, is greater than each --> to the east. The nearest land is uninhabited [[Starbuck Island]], 110 nmi to the southwest. The closest inhabited place is [[Tongareva]] (Penrhyn Island),243 nmi to the southwest. The nearest airport is on Kiritimati ([[Christmas Island]]), 365 nmi to the northwest. There are other uninhabited islands nearby. They include [[Jarvis Island]], 373 nmi to the northwest, [[Vostok Island]], 385 nmi to the south-southeast, and [[Caroline Island|Caroline (Millennium) Island]], 460 nmi to the southeast. The island has roughly the [[shape]] of an [[equilateral triangle]], with {{convert|8|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} on a side, aligned with the southwest side running northwest to southeast. The west and south corners are slightly truncated, shortening the north, east and southwest coasts to about {{convert|7|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}, and adding shorter west and south coasts about 1 to 2&nbsp;km ({{frac|1|2}}–1&nbsp;mi) in length. There is a large [[lagoon]] with many small islets in the east-central part of the island. The lagoon is completely sourrounded by land. It is connected to the sea by underground channels, and is quite salty. Most of the land area of the island lies to the south and west of t