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The Territory of Christmas Island is a small, non self-governing Territory of Australia located in the Indian Ocean, 2,360 km (1,466 miles) northwest of Perth in Western Australia and 500 km (310 miles) south of Jakarta, Indonesia. It maintains about 1,600 residents who live in a number of towns on the northern tip of the island: Flying Fish Cove (The Settlement), Silver City, Kampong, Poon Saan, and Drumsite. It has a unique natural topography and is of immense interest to scientists and naturalists due to the number of species of endemic flora and fauna which have evolved in isolation and undisturbed by human habitation. While there has been mining activity on the island for many years, 65 percent of its 135 square kilometres (52.1 sq. mi) are now National Park and there are large areas of pristine and ancient rainforest. HistoryFor centuries, Christmas Island's isolation and rugged coasts provided natural barriers to settlement. British and Dutch navigators first included the island on their charts from the early seventeenth century, and Captain William Mynors of the East India Ship Company vessel, the Royal Mary, named the island when he arrived on Christmas Day, 25th December, 1643. The island first appears on a map produced by Pieter Goos and published in 1666. Goos had labelled the island Moni. The earliest recorded visit was in March 1688 by William Dampier of the British ship Cygnet, who found it uninhabited. An account of the visit can be found in Dampier's Voyages, which describes how, when trying to reach Cocos from New Holland, his ship was pulled off course in an easterly direction and after 28 days arrived at Christmas Island. Dampier landed at the Dales (on the West Coast) and two of his crewmen were the first recorded people to set foot on Christmas Island. The next visit was by Daniel Beekman, who described it in his 1718 book, A Voyage to and from the Island of Borneo, in the East Indies. In 1771, the Indian vessel, the Pigot, attempted to find an anchorage but was unsuccessful; the crew reported seeing wild pigs and coconut palms. However, pigs have never been introduced to the island, so the Pigot may have found a different island. The first attempt at exploring the island was in 1857 by the crew of the Amethyst. They tried to reach the summit of the island, but found the cliffs impassable.
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