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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) | |
_(Southeast_Asia_centered).svg) 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[a] |
| Spoken languages | |
| Ethnic groups (2021) |
|
| 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[5] (not ranked) |
• Density | 10.39/km2 (26.9/sq mi) (not ranked) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2010 estimate |
• Total | $52.1 million[6] |
| Currency | Australian dollar (AU$) (AUD) |
| Time zone | UTC+07:00 (CXT) |
| Driving side | Left |
| Calling code | +61 8 91[c] |
| Postcode | 6798[c] |
| ISO 3166 code | CX |
| Internet TLD | .cx[7] |
| Christmas Island | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 圣诞岛 | ||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 聖誕島 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Territory of Christmas Island | |||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 圣诞岛领地 | ||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 聖誕島領地 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| 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 located approximately 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. With an area of 135 square kilometres (52 sq mi),[8] 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.[9] 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. Captain William Mynors named it on Christmas Day, 25 December 1643. 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. [10] Christmas Island was invaded by the Japanese in 1942 to secure its phosphate deposits, and transferred from Singapore to Australia, where it remains, in 1958.
Christmas Island had a population of 1,692 residents as of 2021[update],[5] with the majority living in settlements on the northern edge of the island. 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 formed the majority of the population.[11][12] Today, around two-thirds of the island's population is estimated to have Straits Chinese origin (though just 22.2% of the population declared a Chinese ancestry in 2021),[5] 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 in Poon Saan Buddhism is common, and Sunni Islam is generally observed in the shoreline water village where the Malays live.[13]
The majority (63%) of the island is made up of Christmas Island National Park, which features several areas of primary monsoonal forest.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ a b "2021 Christmas Island, Census All persons QuickStats". Cultural Diversity. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
- ^ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics (2022), 2021 Census of Population and Housing – General Community Profile: Christmas Island (LGA51710), Commonwealth of Australia
- ^ "Australian Standard Classification of Cultural and Ethnic Groups (ASCCEG), 2019". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 18 December 2019.
- ^ "Ancestry 1st response (ANC1P)". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 15 October 2021.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
Census2021was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Lundy, Kate (2010). "Chapter 3: The economic environment of the Indian Ocean Territories". Inquiry into the changing economic environment in the Indian Ocean Territories (PDF). Parliament House, Canberra: Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-642-79276-1.
- ^ "Christmas Island Domain Administration". cxda.org.cx. Archived from the original on 28 October 2022.
- ^ Shire of Christmas Island
- ^ "Save Christmas Island – Introduction". The Wilderness Society. 19 September 2002. Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
- ^ Luscombe, Stephen (2019). "Christmas Island". The British Empire. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ^ Neville-Hadley, Peter (14 December 2017). "Christmas Island – the next big thing in travel? Home to Chinese, Indians, and Malays, it's a fascinating mix of cultures". www.scmp.com. South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
- ^ "The Christmas Island Story" (PDF). AUFP Platypus. Vol. 36. 1980. pp. 12–13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- ^ Lee, Regina (2 February 2013). "Christmas Island's ethnic groups". The Star. Malaysia. Archived from the original on 28 July 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
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