Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Home> Countries> Australia/Oceania> Cocos (Keeling) Islands

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 a