Baker Island, formerly known as New Nantucket, is a small, uninhabited atoll located just north of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean, approximately 1,920 miles southwest of Honolulu. Positioned almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia, its closest neighbor is Howland Island, situated 42 mi (68 km) to the north-northwest. Both Baker and Howland Islands have been claimed as territories of the United States since 1857, though the United Kingdom regarded them as part of the British Empire between 1897 and 1936.