Dateline: 12/06/99
The answer to this intriguing question is Kiribati.
Kiribati is an island country in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that straddles the equator and lies about 2,000 miles (3,220 km) east of Papua New Guinea. Though most of Kiribati lies east of the 180° line of longitude, the International Date Line now skirts the country to its east, to near 155° West longitude (slightly east of Hawaii).
Since the International Date Line lies directly east of Kiribati, the easternmost islands of Kiribati will experience January 1, 2000 (and as it does for every new day), two full hours earlier than the countries to the immediate west of the International Date Line (such as Tonga, New Zealand, and Tuvalu. Kiribati will actually experience Y2K a full 24 hours earlier than Hawaii.
While Kiribati will be the first to experience Y2K, all eyes are on New Zealand - officials from around the world will be anxiously watching New Zealand (the first large country to experience Y2K), Australia, and East Asian countries to see which, if any, computer problems will soon occur throughout the world.
- Visit my Time & Time Zones collection of links to learn more about what makes the world tick.
- Read About.com Guide Chris Sherman's fantastic Y2K For The Perplexed article on his Web Search site.
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