The Phoenix Islands, or Rawaki, are a group of eight atolls and two submerged coral reefs that lie east of the Gilbert Islands and west of the Line Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, north of Samoa. They are part of the Republic of Kiribati. Their combined land area is 28 square kilometres (11 sq mi). The only island of any commercial importance is Canton Island (also called Abariringa). The other islands are Enderbury, Rawaki (formerly Phoenix), Manra (formerly Sydney), Birnie, McKean, Nikumaroro (formerly Gardner), and Orona (formerly Hull).

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area, established in 2008, is one of the world's largest protected areas, and is home to about 120 species of coral and more than 500 species of fish. All of the Phoenix Islands are uninhabited, except for a few families who live on Kanton Island.

At various times in history, the Phoenix Islands have been considered to be part of the Gilberts island group (which itself was sometimes known as the Kingsmill island group).

Geographically, Baker Island and Howland Island, two unincorporated territories of the United States that lie to the north of the Phoenix Islands, could be considered part of the same island group as the Phoenix islands. However, politically, and for statistical compilation purposes, Howland and Baker are considered part of the group known as the United States Minor Outlying Islands.

At one time, the United States laid claim to all the Phoenix Islands under the 1856 Guano Islands Act. However, when Kiribati became an independent republic in 1979, the United States and Kiribati signed the Treaty of Tarawa, under which the United States released all claims to the Phoenix Islands (except for Baker and Howland), which thenceforth became recognized as part of Kiribati.

The Phoenix Islands began to be known by that name sometime around the 1840s, as a generalization from one of the islands in the group, which had been named Phoenix Island earlier in the century (probably because Phoenix was a common name for the whaling ships that frequented the nearby waters at the time).

During the late 1930s, the Phoenix Islands were the site of the last colonial expansion attempted by the British Empire (through the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme).

Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati (Gilbertese: [Ribaberiki] Kiribati), is an independent island nation in the central Pacific Ocean. The permanent population is over 119,000 (2020), more than half of whom live on Tarawa atoll. The state comprises 32 atolls and one raised coral island, Banaba. There is a total land area of 811 square kilometres (313 square miles) dispersed over 3.5 million km2 (1.4 million sq mi) of ocean.

Their spread straddles the equator and the 180th meridian, although the International Date Line goes around Kiribati and swings far to the east, almost reaching the 150° W meridian. This brings Kiribati's easternmost islands, the southern Line Islands south of Hawaii, into the same day as the Gilbert Islands and places them in the most advanced time zone on Earth: UTC+14. Kiribati is the only country in the world to be situated in all four cardinal hemispheres.Kiribati gained its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming a sovereign state in 1979. The capital, South Tarawa, now the most populated area, consists of a number of islets, connected by a series of causeways. These comprise about half the area of Tarawa atoll. Prior to its independence, the country had exported phosphate; however, those mines are no longer viable with fisheries and export of copra driving much of the economy. Kiribati is one of the least developed countries in the world and is highly dependent on international aid for its economy.

Kiribati is a member of the Pacific Community (SPC), Commonwealth of Nations, the IMF, the World Bank, the OACPS and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999 and also a member of the Pacific Islands Forum. As an island nation, the islands are very vulnerable to climate change and addressing climate change has been a central part of its international policy, as a member of the Alliance of Small Island States.