Christmas Island, island in the Eastern Indian Ocean; 135 km2, 2,200 residents(2017). It is located 360 km southwest of Java and 1 290 km northwest of Australia and constitutes an external Australian territory. Christmas Island consists of a volcano (Murry Hill), which reaches 361 meters above sea level. The coast, which is protected by coral reefs, is sometimes high and steep, with cliffs that rise more than 200 m above sea level, but there are also flat sandy beaches. The climate is tropical with abundant rainfall (2,670 mm / year), and the island is covered by dense forests.
There is no original population. The inhabitants, of which only 1/3 are women, are of Chinese and Malay descent. The formerly significant phosphate quarrying ceased in 1987, and nowadays the tourism industry is the dominant industry.