Map - Malden Island (Malden)

Malden Island, sometimes called Independence Island in the 19th century, is a low, arid, uninhabited atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, about 39 km2 in area. It is one of the Line Islands belonging to the Republic of Kiribati. The lagoon is entirely enclosed by land, though it is connected to the sea by underground channels, and is quite salty.

The island is chiefly notable for its ancient stone architecture, its once-extensive deposits of phosphatic guano (exploited by Australian interests from c. 1860–1927), its former use as the site of the first British H-bomb tests (Operation Grapple, 1957), and its current importance as a protected area for breeding seabirds.

The island is designated as the Malden Island Wildlife Sanctuary. In 2014 the Kiribati government established a 12 nmi fishing exclusion zone around each of the southern Line Islands (Caroline (commonly called Millennium), Flint, Vostok, Malden, and Starbuck).

Malden Island is located 242 nmi south of the equator, 1530 nmi south of Honolulu, Hawaii, and more than 4000 nmi west of the coast of South America. 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. Other nearby islands (all uninhabited) include Jarvis Island, 373 nmi to the northwest, Vostok Island, 385 nmi to the south-southeast, and Caroline (Millennium) Island, 460 nmi to the southeast.

The island has roughly the shape of an equilateral triangle, with 8 km 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 7 km, and adding shorter west and south coasts about 1 to 2 km (½–1 mi) in length. A large, mostly shallow, irregularly shaped lagoon, containing a number of small islets, fills the east central part of the island. The lagoon is entirely enclosed by land, but only by relatively narrow strips along its north and east sides. 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 the lagoon. The total area of the island is about 39.3 km2.

The island is very low, no more than 10 m above sea level at its highest point. The highest elevations are found along a rim that closely follows the coastline. The interior forms a depression that is only a few metres above sea level in the western part and is below sea level (filled by the lagoon) in the east central part. Because of this topography, the ocean cannot be seen from much of Malden's interior.

There is no standing fresh water on Malden Island, though a fresh water lens may exist.

A continuous heavy surf falls all along the coast, forming a narrow white to gray sandy beach. Except on the west coast, where the white sandy beach is more extensive than elsewhere, a strip of dark gray coral rubble, forming a series of low ridges parallel to the coast, lies within the narrow beach, extending inward to the island rim.