5 Facts of Christmas Island

The capital of Christmas Island is Flying Fish Cove

 

Christmas Island is an isolated island that is part of the territory of Australia. It is located in the Indian Ocean close to Indonesia and is about 2,600 kilometers from the city of Perth, the capital of Western Australia State. It lies just about 360 km to the south of Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. Much of this island has for years had little or no interaction with human activity and has been largely untouched. Many scientists are especially interested in this region as it is very diverse in its flora and fauna.

5 Facts You Might Not Know

1

Did you know that Christmas Island was discovered by Captain William Mynors on Christmas Day in 1643' He was sailing past the Island aboard the Royal Mary, a sea vessel that belonged to the British East India Company. Back in 1688, British Voyager visited the island and found it uninhabited.

2

This island has huge deposits of phosphates. This island is famous for these phosphate deposits. The transfer of ownership of the island was made by the British Government after a request by the Australian Government. The Australian Government paid the Government of Singapore 2,9 million pounds for the transfer of sovereignty. Current inhabitants are mainly Chinese, Malay and European nationals.

3

Christmas Island has a wide and diverse flora and fauna. It is especially exciting and amazing because the Island was uninhabited until late 19th century. This fact allowed flora and fauna species to diversify naturally without interference from human activity. The island has dense rain forests with fertile soils that support immense varieties of herbs, shrubs, trees, plants and flowers. There's 135 species of plants with 18 of them found nowhere else in the world.

4

A few of the island's native species of animals are now extinct. They include the Bulldog rat, the endemic shrew and the Pipistrelle. However, there's plenty of wildlife for everyone to enjoy. There's the annual mass red crab migration from land to sea with over 100 million crabs marching to the ocean.

5

There's plenty of birds, crabs and sea life to enjoy. Transport is readily available as well as communication provided by Australia's Telstra company.