This uninhabited island was claimed by the US in 1857 for its guano. Mining took place between 1865 and 1898. The lighthouse, built in 1917, was shut down in 1996 and administration of Navassa Island transferred from the US Coast Guard to the Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs. A 1998 scientific expedition to the island described it as a "unique preserve of Caribbean biodiversity." The following year it became a National Wildlife Refuge and annual scientific expeditions have continued.
Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, 30 nm west of Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti
18 25 N, 75 02 W
Central America and the Caribbean
total: 5.4 sq km
land: 5.4 sq km
water: 0 sq km
about nine times the size of the National Mall in Washington, DC
0 km
8 km
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
marine, tropical
raised flat to undulating coral and limestone plateau; ringed by vertical white cliffs (9 to 15 m high)
mean elevation: NA
elevation extremes: lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: unnamed elevation on southwest side 77 m
guano
agricultural land: 0%
arable land 0%; permanent crops 0%; permanent pasture 0%
forest: 0%
other: 100% (2011 est.)
hurricanes
NA
strategic location 160 km south of the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; mostly exposed rock with numerous solution holes (limestone sinkholes) but with enough grassland to support goat herds; dense stands of fig trees, scattered cactus
uninhabited
note: transient Haitian fishermen and others camp on the island
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Navassa Island
etymology: the flat island was named "Navaza" by some of Christopher COLUMBUS' sailers in 1504; the name derives from the Spanish term "nava" meaning "flat land, plain, or field"
unorganized, unincorporated territory of the US; administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service, US Department of the Interior from the Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge in Boqueron, Puerto Rico; in September 1996, the Coast Guard ceased operations and maintenance of Navassa Island Light, a 46-meter-tall lighthouse on the southern side of the island; there has also been a private claim advanced against the island
the laws of the US, where applicable, apply
none (territory of the US)
the flag of the US is used
Subsistence fishing and commercial trawling occur within refuge waters.
none; offshore anchorage only
defense is the responsibility of the US
claimed by Haiti, source of subsistence fishing
