Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Updated: Oct 2, 2022
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Country Name
Cocos (Keeling) Islands, The Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
The territory's dual name reflects that the islands have historically been known as either Cocos Islands or the Keeling Islands.
Location
Cocos Islands is an Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean, containing a small archipelago approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka and relatively close to the Indonesian island of Sumatra).
Cocos Islands are part of Southeast Asia and are in the Southern Hemisphere.
The territory consists of two atolls made up of 27 coral islands, of which only two West Island and Home Island are inhabited.
Capital
West Island.
Name Meaning
The islands have been called Cocos Islands (from 1622), the Keeling Islands (from 1703), the Cocos–Keeling Islands (since James Horsburgh in 1805), and the Keeling–Cocos Islands (19th century).
Cocos refers to the plentiful coconut trees, while Keeling is William Keeling, who discovered the islands in 1609.
Flag
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands flag was adopted on 6 April 2004.
It was designed by territory resident Mohammed Minkom, who won a design contest as a teenager.
The flag consists of a green field, with a palm tree on a gold disc in the canton, a gold crescent moon in the center of the flag, and a gold southern cross on the right side.
The palm tree represents the islands' tropical flora, the crescent represents Islam, the religion of the Cocos Malays who make up a majority of the islands' population; and the Southern Cross is a symbol of Australia and the Southern Hemisphere.
Language
The two official languages in Cocos (Keeling) Islands are Australian English and Cocos Malay. The spoken & written languages are Malay & English.
The dialect spoken by the Cocos Malay people today is an oral language. It contains words that reflect their diverse origins and their history of irregular contact with outsiders. The modern version is given in Bahasa Indonesia/Malay with some adaptation to local usage.
Religion
The majority religion in Cocos (Keeling) Islands is Islam accounts for 75% of the population. The large Muslim population is due to the migration of laborers brought to Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island of ethnic Malay and Indonesian origin.
The remaining population considers themselves non-religious about 13.4% with small Christian including Anglican (3.5%) and Catholic (1.5%).
Currency
Australian dollar (AUD).
