:Jarvis Island Geography

Total area:
    4.5 km2
Land area:
    4.5 km2
Comparative area:
    about 7.5 times the size of the Mall in Washington, DC
Land boundaries:
    none
Coastline:
    8 km
Maritime claims:
  Contiguous zone:
    12 nm
  Continental shelf:
    200 m (depth)
  Exclusive economic zone:
    200 nm
  Territorial sea:
    12 nm
Disputes:
    none
Climate:
    tropical; scant rainfall, constant wind, burning sun
Terrain:
    sandy, coral island surrounded by a narrow fringing reef
Natural resources:
    guano (deposits worked until late 1800s)
Land use:
    arable land 0%; permanent crops 0%; meadows and pastures 0%; forest and
    woodland 0%; other 100%
Environment:
    sparse bunch grass, prostrate vines, and low-growing shrubs; lacks fresh
    water; primarily a nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for seabirds,
    shorebirds, and marine wildlife; feral cats
Note:
    2,090 km south of Honolulu in the South Pacific Ocean, just south of the
    Equator, about halfway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands

:Jarvis Island People

Population:
    uninhabited
Population:
  note:
    Millersville settlement on western side of island occasionally used as a
    weather station from 1935 until World War II, when it was abandoned;
    reoccupied in 1957 during the International Geophysical Year by scientists
    who left in 1958; public entry is by special-use permit only and generally
    restricted to scientists and educators

:Jarvis Island Government

Long-form name:
    none (territory of the US)
Type:
    unincorporated territory of the US administered by the Fish and Wildlife
    Service of the US Department of the Interior as part of the National
    Wildlife Refuge System
Capital:
    none; administered from Washington, DC

:Jarvis Island Economy

Overview:
    no economic activity

:Jarvis Island Communications

Ports:
    none; offshore anchorage only - one boat landing area in the middle of the
    west coast and another near the southwest corner of the island
Note:
    there is a day beacon near the middle of the west coast

:Jarvis Island Defense Forces

Note:
    defense is the responsibility of the US; visited annually by the US Coast
    Guard