Terrain: sandy, coral island surrounded by a narrow fringing reef
Natural resources: guano (deposits worked until late 1800s)
Land use: 0% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 0% meadows and pastures; 0% forest and woodland; 100% other
Environment: sparse bunch grass, prostrate vines, and low-growing shrubs; lacks fresh water; primarily a nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for seabirds, shorebirds, and marine wildlife; feral cats
Note: 2,090 km south of Honolulu in the South Pacific Ocean, just south of the Equator, about halfway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands
- People
Population: uninhabited
Note: Millersville settlement on western side of island occasionally used as a weather station from 1935 until World War II, when it was abandoned; reoccupied in 1957 during the International Geophysical Year by scientists who left in 1958; public entry is by special-use permit only and generally restricted to scientists and educators
- Government
Long-form name: none (territory of the US)
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
- Economy
Overview: no economic activity