Page last updated on October 25, 2013
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. 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, 35 miles west of Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti
Central America and the Caribbean
total: 5.4 sq km
country comparison to the world: 246
land: 5.4 sq km
water: 0 sq km
about nine times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
raised coral and limestone plateau, flat to undulating; ringed by vertical white cliffs (9 to 15 m high)
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: unnamed elevation on southwest side 77 m
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
other: 100% (2011)
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
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
