Christmas Island/Geography

Location: Southeastern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of Indonesia

Geographic coordinates: 10 30 S, 105 40 E

Map references: Southeast Asia

Area:
total: 135 sq km
land: 135 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative: about 0.7 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 138.9 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 12 nm
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 3 nm

Climate: tropical; heat and humidity moderated by trade winds

Terrain: steep cliffs along coast rise abruptly to central plateau

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Murray Hill 361 m

Natural resources: phosphate

Land use:
arable land: NA%
permanent crops: NA%
permanent pastures: NA%
forests and woodland: NA%
other: NA%
note: mainly tropical rainforest of which 60%-70% is in a national park

Irrigated land: NA sq km

Natural hazards: the narrow fringing reef surrounding the island can be a maritime hazard

Environment - current issues: NA

Geography - note: Located along major sea lanes of Indian Ocean.

This island is a quadrilateral with hollowed sides, about 12 miles in greatest length and 9 in extreme breadth. The island is in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, and is probably the only tropical island that had never been inhabited by man. The island is the flat summit of a submarine mountain nore than 15000 feet high, the depth of the platform from which it rises being about 14000 feet and its height above the sea being upwards of 1000 feet.