Christmas Island
10°29′24″S 105°37′39″E / 10.49000°S 105.62750°E
Christmas Island | |
|---|---|
| Territory of Christmas Island 聖誕島領地 Wilayah Pulau Krismas (Malay) | |
Location of Christmas Island (red circle) and the location of Australia mainland (continent in red) | |
| Sovereign state | Australia |
| British annexation | 6 June 1888 |
| Transferred from Singapore to Australia | 1 October 1958 |
| Named for | Christmas Day, when it was first sighted by Europeans |
| Capital and largest city | Flying Fish Cove ("The Settlement") 10°25′18″S 105°40′41″E / 10.42167°S 105.67806°E |
| Official languages | None |
| Spoken languages | |
| Ethnic groups (2021) |
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| Demonym(s) | Christmas Islander |
| Government | Directly administered dependency |
• Monarch | Charles III |
| Sam Mostyn | |
| Farzian Zainal | |
| Gordon Thomson | |
| Parliament of Australia | |
• Senate | represented by Northern Territory senators |
| included in the Division of Lingiari | |
| Area | |
• Total | 135 km2 (52 sq mi) |
• Water (%) | 0 |
| Highest elevation | 361 m (1,184 ft) |
| Population | |
• 2021 census | 1,692 (not ranked) |
• Density | 10.39/km2 (26.9/sq mi) (not ranked) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2010 estimate |
• Total | $52.1 million |
| Currency | Australian dollar (AU$) (AUD) |
| Time zone | UTC+07:00 (CXT) |
| Driving side | Left |
| Calling code | +61 8 91 |
| Postcode | 6798 |
| ISO 3166 code | CX |
| Internet TLD | .cx |
_(Southeast_Asia_centered).svg){kind=link}
| Christmas Island | |||||||||||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 圣诞岛 | ||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 聖誕島 | ||||||||||||||
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| Territory of Christmas Island | |||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 圣诞岛领地 | ||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 聖誕島領地 | ||||||||||||||
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| Malay name | |||||||||||||||
| Malay | Wilayah Pulau Krismas | ||||||||||||||
Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean comprising the island of the same name. It is about 350 kilometres (190 nautical miles) south of Java and Sumatra and about 1,550 km (840 nmi) north-west of the closest point on the Australian mainland. It has an area of 135 square kilometres (52 sq mi). Christmas Island's geographic isolation and history of minimal human disturbance has led to a high level of endemism among its flora and fauna, which is of interest to scientists and naturalists. The territory derives its name from its discovery on Christmas Day 1643 by Captain William Mynors.
The first European to sight Christmas Island was Richard Rowe of the Thomas in 1615. Mynors gave it its name. It was first settled in the late 19th century, after abundant phosphate deposits were found, originally deposited as guano, leading Britain to annex the island in 1888 and begin commercial mining in 1899. The Japanese invaded the island in 1942 to secure its phosphate deposits, and it transferred from Singapore to Australia, where it remains, in 1958.
Christmas Island had a population of 1,692 as of 2021, with most living in settlements on its northern edge. The main settlement is Flying Fish Cove. Other settlements include Poon Saan, Drumsite, and Silver City. Historically, Asian Australians of Chinese, Malay, and Indian descent were the majority of the population. Today, around two-thirds of the island's population is estimated to have Straits Chinese origin (though just 22.2% of the population declared Chinese ancestry in 2021), with significant numbers of Malays and European Australians and smaller numbers of Straits Indians and Eurasians. Several languages are in use, including English, Malay, and various Chinese dialects.
Religious beliefs vary geographically. The Anglo-Celtic influence in the capital known simply as The Settlement is closely tied to Catholicism, whereas Buddhism is common in Poon Saan, and Sunni Islam is generally observed in the shoreline water village where the Malays live.
The majority (63%) of the island is made up of Christmas Island National Park, which features several areas of primary monsoonal forest.