Country:  Howland Island
(territory of the US)
- Geography
Total area: 1.6 km2; land area: 1.6 km2
 
Comparative area: about 2.7 times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC
 
Land boundaries: none
 
Coastline: 6.4 km
 
Maritime claims:
 
Contiguous zone: 12 nm;
 
Continental shelf: 200 m;
 
Extended economic zone: 200 nm;
 
Territorial sea: 12 nm
 
Climate: equatorial; scant rainfall, constant wind, burning sun
 
Terrain: low-lying, nearly level, sandy, coral island surrounded by
a narrow fringing reef; depressed central area
 
Natural resources: guano (deposits worked until late 1800s)
 
Land use: 0% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 0% meadows and
pastures; 5% forest and woodland; 95% other
 
Environment: almost totally covered with grasses, prostrate vines, and
low-growing shrubs; small area of trees in the center; lacks fresh water;
primarily a nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for seabirds, shorebirds,
and marine wildlife; feral cats
 
Note: remote location 2,575 km southwest of Honolulu in the North Pacific
Ocean, just north of the Equator, about halfway between Hawaii and Australia
 
- People
Population: uninhabited
 
Note: American civilians evacuated in 1942 after Japanese air and naval
attacks during World War II; occupied by US military during World War II, but
abandoned after the war; public entry is by special-use permit only and
generally restricted to scientists and educators
 
- Government
Long-form name: none
 
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
Airports: airstrip constructed in 1937 for scheduled refueling stop on
the round-the-world flight of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan--they left Lae,
New Guinea, for Howland Island, but were never seen again; the airstrip is no
longer serviceable
 
Ports: none; offshore anchorage only, one boat landing area along the
middle of the west coast
 
Note: Earhart Light is a day beacon near the middle of the west coast
that was partially destroyed during World War II, but has since been rebuilt in
memory of famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart
 
- Defense Forces
Note: defense is the responsibility of the US; visited annually
by the US Coast Guard