Kiribati was the Pacific island country first associated with entering the year 2000 at its Caroline Island celebration.
Caroline Island, also called Millennium Island, lies in the central Pacific and belongs to Kiribati. Kiribati moved the International Date Line eastward through its territory in 1995, placing its eastern islands on the side of the line that sees a new calendar day first. That change made Caroline Island a prominent location for millennium celebrations.
The island was promoted as one of the first places on Earth to welcome January 1, 2000. A small cultural ceremony was organized there, attracting international attention even though the island is remote and uninhabited. The country’s name was therefore widely featured in coverage of the millennium countdown.
This fact concerns the calendar date, not the first sunrise or the first populated city in every possible definition. Time-zone boundaries, the International Date Line, and whether an island is inhabited all affect how “first” is described. Kiribati includes several island groups spread across a wide area of the Pacific.