Gilbert and Ellice Islands the latitude of 5° to 10° south and longitude of 176° to 180°, west of the International Date Line. The Ellice Islands are midway between Hawaii and Australia. The Ellice Islands are recognised as part of the Polynesia subregion of Oceania. In 1606 Pedro Fernandes de Queirós sighted Butaritari and Makin, which he named the Buen Viaje (‘good trip’ in Spanish) Islands. The Gilbert Islands were named in 1820 by a Russian Admiral, Baron Johann von Krusenstern, after a British captain, Thomas Gilbert, who encountered the archipelago in 1788 while exploring an Outer Passage route from Port Jackson to Canton.
United States Army Air Forces in the Central Pacific Area HAWAII ISLAND KAUAI ISLAND MOLOKAI ISLAND OAHU ISLAND JOHNSTON ATOLL LINE ISLANDS MARIANA ISLANDS GUAM ISLAND SAIPAN ISLAND TINIAN ISLAND MARSHALL ISLANDS MIDWAY ISLANDS .* Detachments deployed for use in Battle of Midway PHOENIX ISLANDS RYUKYU ISLANDS VOLCANO ISLANDS 1, United States Army Air Forces in the Central Pacific Area During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces engaged in combat against the Empire of Japan in the Central Pacific Area. As defined by the War Department, this consisted of most of the Pacific Ocean and its islands, excluding the Philippines, Australia, the Netherlands East Indies, the Territory