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Continent | North America |
Subregion | Caribbean |
Geographic coordinates | 18°15′N63°10′W / 18.250°N 63.167°W |
Area - Total - Water | Ranked 227th 91 km² 0 km |
Coastline | 61 km |
Land boundaries | 0 km |
Highest point | Crocus Hill, 73 m |
Lowest point | Caribbean Sea, 0 m |
Largest inland body of water | Road Bay Pond |
Land Use - Arable land - Permanent crops - Other | 0 % 0 % 100 % (2012 est.) |
Climate : | tropical; moderated by northeast trade winds |
Terrain : | flat and low-lying island of coral and limestone |
Natural resources | salt, fish, lobster |
Natural hazards | hurricanes, tropical storms (June to November) |
Environmental issues | low water supplies |
Anguilla is an island in the Leeward Islands. It has numerous bays, including Barnes, Little, Rendezvous, Shoal, and Road Bays.
Location: Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, east of Puerto Rico
Geographic coordinates: 18°15′ N, 63°10′ W
Map references: Central America and the Caribbean
Area:
Area – comparative: about half the size of Washington, D.C.
Coastline: 61 km
Maritime claims:
Climate: tropical moderated by northeast trade winds
Terrain: flat and low-lying island of coral and limestone
Elevation extremes:
Natural resources: salt, fish, lobster
Land use:
Natural hazards: frequent hurricanes and other tropical storms (July to October)
Environment – current issues: supplies of potable water sometimes cannot meet increasing demand largely because of poor distribution system.
The territory of Anguilla consists of the island of Anguilla itself (by far the largest), as well as numerous other islands and cays, most of which are very small and uninhabited. These include:
Anguilla is divided into fourteen districts:
District | Population (2011) [1] |
---|---|
Blowing Point | 870 |
East End | 671 |
George Hill | 879 |
Island Harbour | 988 |
North Hill | 464 |
North Side | 1980 |
Sandy Ground | 230 |
Sandy Hill | 636 |
South Hill | 1722 |
Stoney Ground | 1549 |
The Farrington | 624 |
The Quarter | 959 |
The Valley | 1067 |
West End | 813 |
Anguilla features a tropical wet and dry climate under the Köppen climate classification. The island has a rather dry climate, moderated by northeast trade winds. Temperatures vary little throughout the year. Average daily maxima range from about 27 °C (80.6 °F) in December to 30 °C (86 °F) in July. With no mountains to slow or trap clouds, rainfall is erratic, averaging about 900 mm (35.4 in) per year, the wettest months being September and October, and the driest February and March. Anguilla is vulnerable to hurricanes from June to November, peak season August to mid-October. The island suffered damage from Hurricane Luis in 1995, severe flooding of 1.5 to 6 metres (5 to 19.5 feet) from Hurricane Lenny in 1999 and severe damage from Hurricane Irma in 2017, which remains the most powerful hurricane to hit the island.
Climate data for The Valley - capital of Anguilla | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 28 (82) | 28 (82) | 28 (82) | 28 (82) | 30 (86) | 31 (88) | 31 (88) | 31 (88) | 31 (88) | 30 (86) | 29 (84) | 28 (82) | 30 (86) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 26 (79) | 26 (79) | 26 (79) | 27 (81) | 27 (81) | 28 (82) | 29 (84) | 29 (84) | 29 (84) | 28 (82) | 27 (81) | 26 (79) | 27 (81) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 23 (73) | 23 (73) | 23 (73) | 25 (77) | 25 (77) | 26 (79) | 26 (79) | 26 (79) | 26 (79) | 26 (79) | 25 (77) | 24 (75) | 23 (73) |
Average precipitation cm (inches) | 7 (2.8) | 4 (1.6) | 4 (1.6) | 7 (2.8) | 9 (3.5) | 7 (2.8) | 8 (3.1) | 11 (4.3) | 11 (4.3) | 9 (3.5) | 11 (4.3) | 9 (3.5) | 102 (40) |
Source: Weatherbase [2] |
Anguilla's coral and limestone terrain provide no subsistence possibilities for forests, woodland, pastures, crops, or arable lands. Its dry climate and thin soil hamper commercial agricultural development.
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) are one of three political divisions of the Virgin Islands archipelago located in the Lesser Antilles, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. The BVI are the easternmost part of the island chain. The land area totals and comprises 16 inhabited and more than 20 uninhabited islands. The islands of Tortola, Anegada, Virgin Gorda and Jost van Dyke are the largest. Maritime claims include 12 nmi territorial sea and a 200 nmi exclusive fishing zone. In terms of land use, it is 20% arable land, 6.67% permanent crops and 73.33% other as of a 2005 figure. It has strong ties to nearby U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
Cape Verde is a group of arid Atlantic islands which are home to distinct communities of plants, birds, and reptiles. The islands constitute the unique Cape Verde Islands dry forests ecoregion, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
The Cayman Islands are a British dependency and island country. It is a three-island archipelago in the Caribbean Sea, consisting of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman. Georgetown, the capital of the Cayman Islands is 438 km (272 mi) south of Havana, Cuba, and 504 km (313 mi) northwest of Kingston, Jamaica, northeast of Costa Rica, north of Panama and are between Cuba and Central America. Georgetown's geographic coordinates are 19.300° north, 81.383° west.
The Cook Islands can be divided into two groups: the Southern Cook Islands and the Northern Cook Islands. The country is located in Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand.
The Dominican Republic is a country in the West Indies that occupies the eastern five-eighths of Hispaniola. It has an area of 48,670 km2, including offshore islands. The land border shared with Haiti, which occupies the western three-eighths of the island, is 376 km long. The maximum length, east to west, is 390 km from Punta de Agua to Las Lajas, on the border with Haiti. The maximum width, north to south, is 265 km from Cape Isabela to Cape Beata. The capital, Santo Domingo, is located on the south coast.
The Republic of Haiti comprises the western three-eighths of the island of Hispaniola, west of the Dominican Republic. Haiti is positioned east of the neighboring island of Cuba, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean.
Honduras is a country in Central America. Honduras borders the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. Guatemala lies to the west, Nicaragua south east and El Salvador to the south west. Honduras is the second largest Central American republic, with a total area of 112,890 square kilometres (43,590 sq mi).
Macau is a Special Administrative Region on the southern coast of China. It is located at the south of Guangdong Province, on the tip of the peninsula formed by the Zhujiang estuary on the east and the Xijiang on the west. Macau is situated 60 km (37 mi) west of Hong Kong, and 145 km (90 mi) southwest of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province. It is situated immediately east and south of Zhuhai.
The Netherlands Antilles was a constituent country in the Caribbean Sea. It consisted of two island groups, the ABC islands Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba just north of Venezuela, and the SSS islands east of the Virgin Islands.
Solomon Islands is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, that lies east of Papua New Guinea.
Located in Oceania, Tonga is a small archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, directly south of Samoa and about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand. It has 169 islands, 36 of them inhabited, which are in three main groups – Vavaʻu, Haʻapai, and Tongatapu – and cover an 800-kilometre (500-mile)-long north–south line. The total size is just 747 km2 (288 sq mi). Due to the spread out islands it has the 40th largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 659,558 km2 (254,657 sq mi).
Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic republic in the southern Caribbean between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Venezuela. They are southeasterly islands of the Lesser Antilles, Monos, Huevos, Gaspar Grande, Little Tobago, and St. Giles Island. Trinidad is 11 km (6.8 mi) off the northeast coast of Venezuela and 130 km (81 mi) south of the Grenadines. The island measures 4,768 km2 (1,841 sq mi) in area with an average length of 80 km (50 mi) and an average width of 59 km (37 mi). The island appears rectangular in shape with three projecting peninsular corners. Tobago is 30 km (19 mi) northeast of Trinidad and measures about 298 km2 (115 sq mi) in area, or 5.8% of the country's area, 41 km (25.5 mi) in length and 12 km (7.5 mi) at its greatest width. The island is cigar-shaped in appearance, with a northeast–southwest alignment.
The United States Virgin Islands are a group of several dozen islands and cays located in the Caribbean, about 1,100 miles (1,770 km) southeast of Florida, 600 miles (966 km) north of Venezuela, 40 miles (64 km) east of Puerto Rico, and immediately west and south of the British Virgin Islands.
Fiji is a group of volcanic islands in the South Pacific, lying about 4,450 kilometres (2,765 mi) southwest of Honolulu and 1,770 km (1,100 mi) north of New Zealand. Of the 332 islands and 522 smaller islets making up the archipelago, about 106 are permanently inhabited. The total land size is 18,272 km2 (7,055 sq mi). It has the 26th largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,282,978 km2 (495,361 sq mi).
Seychelles is a small island country east of the African continent located in the Sea of Zanj due north of Madagascar, with Antsiranana as its nearest foreign city. Seychelles lies between approximately 4ºS and 10ºS and 46ºE and 54ºE. The nation is an archipelago of 155 tropical islands, some granite and some coral. the majority of which are small and uninhabited. The landmass is only 452 km2 (175 sq mi), but the islands are spread wide over an exclusive economic zone of 1,336,559 km2 (516,048 sq mi). About 90 percent of the population of 100,000 live on Mahé, 9 percent on Praslin and La Digue. Around a third of the land area is the island of Mahé and a further third the atoll of Aldabra.
The Bahamas are a group of about 700 islands and cays in the western Atlantic Ocean, of which only between 30 and 40 are inhabited. The largest of the islands is Andros Island, located north of Cuba and 200 kilometres southeast of Florida. The Bimini islands are to its northwest. To the North is the island of Grand Bahama, home to the second-largest city in the country, Freeport. The island of Great Abaco is to its east. In the far south is the island of Great Inagua, the second-largest island in the country. Other notable islands include Eleuthera, Cat Island, San Salvador Island, Acklins, Crooked Island, and Mayaguana. Nassau is the capital and largest city, located on New Providence. The islands have a tropical savannah climate, moderated by the Gulf Stream. The total size is 13,878 km2 (5,358 sq mi). Due to the many widespread islands it has the 41st largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 654,715 km2 (252,787 sq mi).
The Kingdom of Bahrain consists of Bahrain Island and 33 of the 37 Bahrain Islands, lying in the Persian Gulf's Gulf of Bahrain off the north shore of West Asia's Arabian Peninsula. Bahrain's capital city is Manama. The islands are about 24 kilometers (15 mi) off the east coast of Saudi Arabia and 28 kilometers (17 mi) from Qatar. The total area of the country is about 694 square kilometers (268 sq mi), about four times the size of the District of Columbia.
Barbados is a continental island in the North Atlantic Ocean and is located at 13°10' north of the equator, and 59°32' west of the Prime Meridian. As the easternmost isle of the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies, Barbados lies 160 kilometres (100 mi) east of the Windward Islands and Caribbean Sea. The maritime claim for Barbados is a territorial sea of 12 nmi, with an exclusive economic zone of 200 nmi which gives Barbados a total maritime area of 186,898 km2 (72,162 sq mi). Of the total EEZ area, 70,000 km2 is set aside for offshore oil exploration. A pending application to UNCLOS has placed for consideration a continental shelf 200 nmi to the east and south. To the west, most of Barbados' maritime boundaries consist of median lines with neighbours. These neighbours include: Martinique, and Saint Lucia to the northwest, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the west, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela to the southwest, and Guyana to the southeast.
Belize is a small Central American nation, located at 17°15' north of the equator and 88°45' west of the Prime Meridian on the Yucatán Peninsula. It borders the Caribbean Sea to the east, with 386 km of coastline. It has a total of 542 km of land borders—Mexico to the north-northwest (272 km) and Guatemala to the south-southwest (266 km). Belize's total size is 22,966 km2 (8,867 sq mi), of which 22,806 km2 (8,805 sq mi) is land and 160 km2 (62 sq mi) is water.
Antigua and Barbuda lie in the eastern arc of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, separating the Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean Sea. Antigua is 650 km (400 mi) southeast of Puerto Rico; Barbuda lies 48 km (30 mi) due north of Antigua, and the uninhabited island of Redonda is 56 km (35 mi) southwest of Antigua.
This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook. CIA.