MANIHIKI (MANAHIKI, MONAHIKI)  , a scattered archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, between 40 and 11° S., and 15o° and 162° W., seldom visited, and producing only a little copra and guano . It may be taken to include the Caroline or Thornton Islands, Vostok and Flint to the east; Suvarov, Manihiki or Humphrey, and Tongareva or Penrhyn to the west, and Starbuck and Malden to the north, the whole thus roughly forming the three corners of a triangle . There are pearl and pearl-shell fisheries at Tongareva and Suvarov . The natives (about r000) are Polynesians and nominally Christian . There are ancient stone buildings of former in-habitants on Malden Island . The islands were mostly discovered early in the 19th century, and were annexed by Great Britain mainly in 1888-1889 .