Kanton, Kiribati · UTC+13
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Kanton (also written Canton) is a small coral atoll in the Phoenix Islands group of Kiribati, in the central Pacific. It runs on UTC+13, one of the furthest-ahead timezone offsets on Earth.
This extreme offset is a political choice. Kanton and the Phoenix Islands were historically on the UTC-12 or UTC-11 side of the International Date Line. In 1995, Kiribati shifted the Phoenix and Line Islands to UTC+13 and UTC+14 to create a single calendar day across the entire country. This allowed business and administrative coordination without the confusion of some islands being a full day ahead of others.
Jumping the date line
The 1995 Kiribati decision was geographically and cartographically significant. UTC+14, used by the Line Islands to the east (including Kiritimati/Christmas Island), is the furthest offset in the world. UTC+13 for Kanton was the secondary adjustment.
Before this change, Kanton was on the eastern (American) side of the date line. After, it moved to the western (Asian/Oceanian) side. The people on the island woke up on one date and found themselves on a different date the following morning.
A largely uninhabited atoll
Kanton has a small population, primarily Kiribati administrative staff and workers. The atoll was used as a stopover point for early trans-Pacific aviation and was contested by the US and UK in the late colonial period.
Convert 9am Kanton time to other cities.
Sources
- IANA Time Zone Database
- Kiribati National Statistics Office
- Kaplan, Robert D. “The Coming Anarchy.” The Atlantic, February 1994.
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Questions about time in Kanton
- What timezone is Kanton in?
- Kanton uses the IANA timezone
Pacific/Kanton. The UTC offset is always UTC+13 - this timezone does not observe daylight saving time. - Does Kanton observe daylight saving time?
- No. Kanton does not observe daylight saving time. The UTC offset remains UTC+13 all year round.
- What is the current UTC offset for Kanton?
- Kanton is currently at UTC+13.
- What is the time difference between Kanton and New York?
- Kanton is currently 17 hours ahead of New York.
- What is the time difference between Kanton and London?
- Kanton is currently 12 hours ahead of London.
- What is the time difference between Kanton and Los Angeles?
- Kanton is currently 20 hours ahead of Los Angeles.
- What is the time difference between Kanton and Tokyo?
- Kanton is currently 4 hours ahead of Tokyo.
- What is the IANA timezone name for Kanton?
- The IANA timezone database identifier for Kanton is
Pacific/Kanton. Use this string in programming languages and APIs: JavaScript (`new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', { timeZone: 'Pacific/Kanton' })`), Python (`pytz.timezone('Pacific/Kanton')`), or any IANA-compatible library.