There is an island in the Indian Ocean that is part of Australia's outer territory. Christmas Island has this name due to the fact that it was discovered by the British navigator William Dampier in 1643 on Christmas Day. This island has been the site of phosphate mining for a hundred years. Roads are sometimes closed here due to the migration of red crab. And this island is also the top of a huge underwater volcano.
Since the phosphate mining stopped here in 1987, Christmas Island has become a center for ecological tourism; more than half of its territory is a national park. The island has a capital city, a railway and even a civil airport. The total area of the island is 135 square kilometers, and the population is about two thousand people. True, the number of local residents is decreasing due to the lack of jobs. Christmas Island itself is the flat top of a volcano hidden under the waters of the Indian Ocean.
The island was discovered by British sailors who, on the instructions of their company, were exploring the eastern part of the Indian Ocean. However, due to the fact that there is an impassable reef strip in front of the island, the survey of the territory was postponed for as long as two hundred years. And only after this time was it possible to find a suitable bay and organize an expedition. British explorers immediately assembled a collection of local minerals. Among these exhibits, the purest phosphate was discovered. And a year later, England declared Christmas Island its own.
The development of phosphates on the island was carried out by workers imported from China. After the outbreak of World War II, the Japanese rushed to occupy Christmas Island, wishing to take the extraction of phosphates into their own hands. However, the workers began to sabotage, disable mining equipment and machinery. Therefore, the development of valuable strategic raw materials stopped before the expulsion of the Japanese from the island.
In 1958, the island was handed over to the Australian authorities, since then local government is carried out by a representative of the Australian government. Phosphate mining began in 1895 and ended in 1987. The population appeared here exclusively due to mining activities. After the deposits were depleted, the number of local residents began to decline significantly. Due to job cuts, people were forced to move to Australia.
Apart from unemployment, another problem of the island is the migration of residents from the countries of Southeast Asia. Illegals are transported here in small boats, which is why they are also called “boatmen”. But the boats hit the sharp reefs several times, people died. Therefore, the Australian authorities have excluded Christmas Island from the country's migration zone. Now illegal immigrants have no legal right to stay in Australia. However, there are immigration quarantine islands, and their construction and maintenance is a branch of the local economy.
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Now of the total number of inhabitants of Christmas Island, Australian citizens make up only part, 70% are Chinese, 20% are white and 10% are Malays. But even despite the fact that the inhabitants of the island profess different religions, they peacefully get along and celebrate Christian Christmas, the Chinese New Year, and the Muslim Eid al-Adha. And also - by joint efforts they are restoring the forests of the island, which have suffered from the extraction of phosphates.
Christmas Island is popular with tourists who sail here on luxury ocean liners. Here you can lie on the white sandy beach, walk in the rainforest and dive with a mask.
And if tourists are lucky enough to get to Christmas Island during the red crab migration season, they will surely meet a sign on the road: “The road is closed. Migration of the red crab”. After this sign, the passage of any type of transport is prohibited.