The article is also of interest because it notes Christmas (Kiritmati) Island is the first inhabited place to celebrate 2010. This is true because even though the island is east of the 180th meridian. Kiribati moved the dateline unilaterally in 1995 so that it could celebrate 2000 before anyone else could. While not everyone recognizes this move (including National Geographic and Yahoo), the people on the islands affected by the decree live their lives with the date changed so that is that.
However, Kiribati's claim is not totally rock solid. The government likes to claim Caroline Island is the first land mass to see the New Year's first sunrise. That honor goes to Antarctica.
2 comments:
I'm pretty sure Kiribati is the first nation to see sunrise.
Qu,
Kiribati is the first country, yes. But the first landmass to see sunrise is the stateless continent of Antarctica.
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