CIA World Fact Book, 2004/Navassa Island


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!| Background:
 * This uninhabited island was claimed by the US in 1857 for its guano. Mining took place between 1865 and 1898. The lighthouse, built in 1917, was shut down in 1996 and administration of Navassa Island transferred from the Coast Guard to the Department of the Interior. A 1998 scientific expedition to the island described it as a unique preserve of Caribbean biodiversity; the following year it became a National Wildlife Refuge and annual scientific expeditions have continued.
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!| Location: !| Geographic coordinates: !| Map references: !| Area: water: 0 sq km land: 5.4 sq km !| Area - comparative: !| Land boundaries: !| Coastline: !| Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: 200 nm !| Climate: !| Terrain: !| Elevation extremes: highest point: unnamed location on southwest side 77 m !| Natural resources: !| Land use: permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (2001) !| Irrigated land: !| Natural hazards: !| Environment - current issues: !| Geography - note:
 * Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, 35 miles west of Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti
 * 18 25 N, 75 02 W
 * Central America and the Caribbean
 * total: 5.4 sq km
 * about nine times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC
 * 0 km
 * 8 km
 * territorial sea: 12 nm
 * marine, tropical
 * raised coral and limestone plateau, flat to undulating; ringed by vertical white cliffs (9 to 15 m high)
 * lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
 * guano
 * arable land: 0%
 * 0 sq km (1998 est.)
 * NA
 * NA
 * strategic location 160 km south of the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; mostly exposed rock but with enough grassland to support goat herds; dense stands of fig-like trees, scattered cactus
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!| Population: note: transient Haitian fishermen and others camp on the island (July 2004 est.)
 * uninhabited
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!| Country name: conventional short form: Navassa Island !| Dependency status: !| Legal system: !| Flag description:
 * conventional long form: none
 * unincorporated territory of the US; administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service, US Department of the Interior, from the Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge in Boqueron, Puerto Rico; in September 1996, the Coast Guard ceased operations and maintenance of Navassa Island Light, a 46-meter-tall lighthouse on the southern side of the island; there has also been a private claim advanced against the island
 * the laws of the US, where applicable, apply
 * the flag of the US is used
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!| Economy - overview:
 * Subsistence fishing and commercial trawling activities within refuge waters.
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!| Ports and harbors:
 * none; offshore anchorage only
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!| Military - note:
 * defense is the responsibility of the US
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