Canton and Enderbury Islands, Pacific atolls in central Kiribati

Canton and Enderbury Islands are two coral atolls in the central Pacific, forming part of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area. Of the two, only Canton has a small resident population today, while Enderbury remains uninhabited.

The United States and the United Kingdom set up joint administration over the islands in 1939 to resolve competing territorial claims. This arrangement lasted until 1979, when Kiribati became independent and took over sovereignty.

The seven U.S. citizens of the American Equatorial Islands Colonization Project landed on Canton, not Enderbury, on 7 March 1938. Canton's sole village is Tebaronga, and the island's population fell from 61 in 2000 to 41 in 2005 and about 24 in 2010. Enderbury has no inhabitants. Noël Coward's short story Mr and Mrs Edgehill drew on the islands' dual administration, with its main characters loosely based on British Resident Frank Fleming and his wife Lucy, whom Coward met at the American hotel on Canton in 1941; the BBC filmed it in 1985 with Judi Dench and Ian Holm.

Reaching the islands requires advance planning, as permits are needed to enter the marine protected area and access is limited. Anyone considering a visit should be prepared for very few services and a remote environment.

The radio station on Canton was established on 31 August 1937, before the condominium, as Britain attached the islands to its Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. It was a civilian colonial link, not a wartime military hub. In 1941 Noël Coward stayed at the American hotel on Canton and met British Resident Frank Fleming and his wife Lucy, whose dual-administration life inspired his short story Mr and Mrs Edgehill.