nPostednon December 25, 2014
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Forncenturies, this island in the South Pacific had very littleninterference from people.
Forncenturies, this island in the South Pacific had very littleninterference from people.n
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nThenEnglish man who named it didn’t mess with it. He didn’t even land onnit! He sailed right on by on this date in 1643. Guess why he named itnChristmas Island?
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nThenEnglish and Dutch navigators had it on their navigational charts fromnthen on, but the small island, which is about the size of a city,ndidn’t make it onto maps until 1666. Finally, in 1688, anothernEnglish navigator landed on the island. He found it uninhabited.
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nStill,nno one moved there, no one explored the island or exploited itsnresources, until the mid-1800s. By the late 1800s, Great Britainnannexed the island (grabbed control of it from absolutely nobody, fornpractically no reason except “because we can!”), and a smallnsettlement was created there to collect timber and supplies for thenbusinesses springing up on an entirely different island!
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Thenone resource…
Thenone resource…n
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nInguess we can assume, from this lack of interest in the island, thatnthere were not golden nuggets and sparkling diamonds lying around.nInstead, what WAS lying around was a lot of bird poop.
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nBirdnpoop is generally called guano, along with bats and seals and othernsea creatures. Guano is a great source for phosphates and othernminerals that are important to growing plants. People began to minenthe guano on Christmas Island, to be used mostly in fertilizer, innthe 1890s.
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nAndnthe winners are…
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Allnthat NOT being messed with for all those centuries means that therenis a lot of endemism on the island. That means that there are annunusual number of unique plant and animal species not seen anywherenelse in the world!
Allnthat NOT being messed with for all those centuries means that therenis a lot of endemism on the island. That means that there are annunusual number of unique plant and animal species not seen anywherenelse in the world!n
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nSo,nobviously, those particular species benefitted from the centuries ofnisolation. But also, many biologists and nature lovers are interested in the thenlifeforms found on the island.
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nBy the way, Christmas Island is now a territory of Australia.
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nOne of the best, most Christmas-y critters on Christmas Island:
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| During Red Crab migration, some roads are closed to protect the crabs. |
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| Can you see why they closed this road? |
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nAlso on this date:
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Christmas
Christmasn
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nMorenChristmas
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nnStillnChristmas
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nAndneven more Christmas!
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nAnniversary of the Eggnog Riot
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nCoronationnDay
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nNon“L” Day
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nChristmasnbirthdays
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest pages on:
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- Historicaln anniversaries in December
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nJanuaryn birthdays
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