The Malden Island

The Mysterious Malden Island

 or Is it?

Malden Island, also called The Independence Island in the nineteenth century, is a low, arid, uninhabited place in the central Pacific Ocean. It's area is about 39 km²(15 sq mi). It is one of the Line Islands belonging to the Republic of Kiribati. The lagoon is entirely enclosed by land, however it is connected to the sea by underground channels.

The island is chiefly notable for its "mysterious" prehistoric sites and monuments and also as the site of the first British H-Bomb tests (Operation Grapple, 1957), and its current importance as a protected area for breeding.

The island rediscovered by Lord Byron,
Commander of the British Warship, HMS Blonde. The Island is named after Lt. Charles Malden, navigator of the Blonde who sighted the Island and explored it.

Malden when discovered by the Europeans was unoccupied but the ruins of temples and other structures indicate that it was once occupied.

Archaeologists have come to a conclusion that these structures were built by Polynesian people who lived long ago on the island.

The temple platforms were called Marae.