Amelia Earhart died when her plane crashed near Gardner Island (Nikumaroro)

Contrary to popular belief, Amelia Earhart did not die crashing near Howland, but crashing near Gardner Island, also known as Nikumaroro. This hypothesis stems from the idea that due to an inability to locate Howland, Earhart and Noonan decided to turn southward toward Gardner Island. Both Earhart and Noonan possessed significant flying experience, so it is unlikely that they would have wasted time and fuel searching for Howland. Instead, there efforts would be turned to finding an additional location to land, likely Gardner Island. Therefore, Earhart could have presumably ran out of fuel near this island and crashed, as opposed to near Howland. Also, this theory is based on Earhart’s last radio transmissions, with the idea that Earhart landed during the confirmed low tide on the island.^[1] However, the tide would have eventually lifted Earhart’s plane, the Elektra, off the reef where it sank or broke up in the surf soon after landing. Either way, it is likely that Earhart and Noonan died on impact near Gardner Island, or very soon after landing.^[2]