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| Independence Year : Population : 600 Life Expectancy : 0.0 Capital : 2317 GNP : 0.00 GNP Old : 0.00 Local Name : Cocos (Keeling) Islands Government Form : Territory of Australia Location : Southeastern Asia, group of islands in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Indonesia, about halfway from Australia to Sri Lanka Terrain : flat, low-lying coral atolls Climate : tropical with high humidity, moderated by the southeast trade winds for about nine months of the year Ethnic Group : Europeans, Cocos Malays Religions : Sunni Muslim 80%, other 20% Official Website : www.cocos-tourism.cc | 
Genral Information - Cocos (Keeling) Islands
History
Members of the community recognised the need for a formal body to take on the task of increasing awareness and encouraging preservation of the perhaps unrivalled historical uniqueness of the remote coral atoll. Currently this website is under construction, however it is the ultimate desire of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Historical Society to reach out and show visitors to this site, the many facets of this little known part of Australia's history. Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a mere droplet in the Indian Ocean, yet from the first documented sighting in the early 1600's by Captain William Keeling to its important involvement during both World Wars, right through to the present day, this tiny atoll has laid claim to a wonderful and sometimes chequered history.
GEOLOGY
Almost all isolated oceanic islands sit atop the remains of ancient volcanoes. The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are two coral atolls which have developed on top of old volcanic seamounts, rising from the depth of 5000 metres in the north east Indian Ocean.
The islands' foundations are two of a series of undersea features known as the Vening Meinisz Seamounts. This undersea range of mountains also includes Christmas Island and extends in a north north-easterly direction from a prominent Indian Ocean sea floor feature known as the Ninetyeast Ridge. The Cocos atolls are two peaks in a section of the range known as the Cocos Rise and are connected by a narrow underwater bank at a depth of 700-800 metres.
Atolls are more or less circular coral reefs enclosing a lagoon, but without any land inside. On large atolls, parts of the reef have been built up by wave action and wind to form low island chains connected by the reef. The environmental aspects of atoll islands are unique in some respects. For example there is no rock other than coral limestone composed of calcium carbonate. This means that plants requiring other minerals such as silica, can not be cultivated without the aid of fertilisers or some outside source of rock from a larger island composed of volcanic or other igneous rock. The palm tree is native to atoll islands because it thrives on brackish water and the seed, or nut, is distributed widely by floating from one island to another.
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