Access to THE WORLD FACTBOOK 1993 provided courtesy of 
The Libraries of the University of Missouri-St. Louis
 
 Match 22   DB Rec# - 55,769  Dataset-WOFACT
 
Program       :WORLD FACTBOOK 
Program key   :CI WOFACT 
Update sched. :Annually         
ID number     :CI WOFACT 021              
Title         :BAKER ISLAND 
Data type     :TEXT 
End year      :1994
Date of record:02/16/1994
Keywords 3    : 
| BAKER ISLAND 
Text          : 
BAKER ISLAND 
Affiliation: (territory of the US) 
 
GEOGRAPHY 
Location: in the North Pacific Ocean, just north of the Equator, 2,575 km 
southwest of Honolulu, about halfway between Hawaii and Australia 
 
Map references: Oceania 
 
Area: 
 
total area: 1.4 km2 
 
land area: 1.4 km2 
 
comparative area: about 2.3 times the size of the Mall in Washington, DC 
 
Land boundaries: 0 km 
 
Coastline: 4.8 km 
 
contiguous zone: 12 nm 
 
continental shelf: 200 m or depth of exploitation 
 
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm 
 
territorial sea: 12 nm 
 
International disputes: none 
 
Climate: equatorial; scant rainfall, constant wind, burning sun 
 
Terrain: low, nearly level coral island surrounded by a narrow fringing 
reef 
 
Natural resources: guano (deposits worked until 1891) 
 
Land use: 
 
arable land: 0% 
 
permanent crops: 0% 
 
meadows and pastures: 0% 
 
forest and woodland: 0% 
 
Irrigated land: 0 km2 
 
Environment: treeless, sparse, and scattered vegetation consisting of 
grasses, prostrate vines, and low growing shrubs; lacks fresh water; primarily 
a nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for seabirds, shorebirds, and marine 
wildlife 
 
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; 
a cemetery and cemetery ruinsare located near the middle of the west coast 
 
GOVERNMENT 
Names: 
 
conventional long form: none 
 
conventional short form: Baker Island 
 
Digraph: FQ 
 
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 
 
Capital: none; administered from Washington, DC 
 
ECONOMY 
Overview: no economic activity 
 
COMMUNICATIONS 
Ports: none; offshore anchorage only, one boat landing area along the 
middle of the west coast 
 
Airports: 1 abandoned World War II runway of 1,665 m 
 
Note: there is a day beacon near the middle of the west coast 
 
Defense forces 
Note: defense is the responsibility of the US; visited annually by the US 
Coast Guard 
 
 
 
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This section of THE WORLD FACTBOOK 1993 produced by the United States
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was derived from the US Dept. of Commerce
Economics and Statistics Division's NATIONAL TRADE DATA BANK CD-ROM,
July, 1994, SuDoc No. C 1.88:994/7/v.1-2 / R. Muns, UM-St. Louis Libraries 
Local Filename: WF940021.TXT