JARVIS ISLAND                                                                   
(territory of the US)                                                           
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                                                          
                                                                                
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         
                                                                                
PEOPLE                                                                          
Population: uninhabited                                                         
                                                                                
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                
                                                                                
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                                                 
                                                                                
ECONOMY                                                                         
Overview: no economic activity                                                  
                                                                                
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                   
                                                                                
DEFENSE FORCES                                                                  
Note: defense is the responsibility of the US; visited annually                 
by the US Coast Guard                                                           
                                                                                
