Compare Saint Barthelemy (2008) - Indian Ocean (2006)

Compare Saint Barthelemy (2008) z Indian Ocean (2006)

	Saint Barthelemy (2008)	Indian Ocean (2006)

Airports	1	-
Airports - with paved runways	total: 1 under 914 m: 1	-
Area	21 sq km	total: 68.556 million sq km note: includes Andaman Sea, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Flores Sea, Great Australian Bight, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Java Sea, Mozambique Channel, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Savu Sea, Strait of Malacca, Timor Sea, and other tributary water bodies
Area - comparative	less than an eighth of the size of Washington, DC	about 5.5 times the size of the US
Background	Discovered in 1493 by Christopher COLUMBUS who named it for his brother Bartolomeo, St. Barthelemy was first settled by the French in 1648. In 1784, the French sold the island to Sweden, who renamed the largest town Gustavia, after the Swedish King GUSTAV III, and made it a free port; the island prospered as a trade and supply center during the colonial wars of the 18th century. France repurchased the island in 1878 and placed it under the administration of Guadeloupe. St. Barthelemy retained its free port status along with various Swedish appelations such as Swedish street and town names, and the three-crown symbol on the coat of arms. In 2003, the populace of the island voted to secede from Guadeloupe and in 2007, the island became a French overseas collectivity.	The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, but larger than the Southern Ocean and Arctic Ocean). Four critically important access waterways are the Suez Canal (Egypt), Bab el Mandeb (Djibouti-Yemen), Strait of Hormuz (Iran-Oman), and Strait of Malacca (Indonesia-Malaysia). The decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth ocean, the Southern Ocean, removed the portion of the Indian Ocean south of 60 degrees south latitude.
Capital	name: Gustavia geographic coordinates: 17 53 N, 62 51 W time difference: UTC-4 (1 hour behind Washington, DC, during Standard Time) daylight savings: +1 hour, starts 20 March and ends 17 October	-
Climate	tropical, with practically no variation in temperature; has two seasons (dry and humid)	northeast monsoon (December to April), southwest monsoon (June to October); tropical cyclones occur during May/June and October/November in the northern Indian Ocean and January/February in the southern Indian Ocean
Coastline	-	66,526 km
Constitution	4 October 1958 (French Constitution)	-
Country name	conventional long form: Overseas Collectivity of Saint Barthelemy conventional short form: Saint Barthelemy local long form: Collectivite d'outre mer de Saint-Barthelemy local short form: Saint-Barthelemy	-
Dependency status	overseas collectivity of France	-
Diplomatic representation from the US	none (overseas collectivity of France)	-
Diplomatic representation in the US	none (overseas collectivity of France)	-
Disputes - international	-	some maritime disputes (see littoral states)
Economy - overview	The economy of Saint Barthelemy is based upon high-end tourism and duty-free luxury commerce, serving visitors primarily from North America. The luxury hotels and villas host 70,000 visitors each year with another 130,000 arriving by boat. The relative isolation and high cost of living inhibits mass tourism. The construction and public sectors also enjoy significant investment in support of tourism. With limited fresh water resources, all food must be imported, as must all energy resources and most manufactured goods. Employment is strong and attracts labor from Brazil and Portugal.	The Indian Ocean provides major sea routes connecting the Middle East, Africa, and East Asia with Europe and the Americas. It carries a particularly heavy traffic of petroleum and petroleum products from the oilfields of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia. Its fish are of great and growing importance to the bordering countries for domestic consumption and export. Fishing fleets from Russia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan also exploit the Indian Ocean, mainly for shrimp and tuna. Large reserves of hydrocarbons are being tapped in the offshore areas of Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, and western Australia. An estimated 40% of the world's offshore oil production comes from the Indian Ocean. Beach sands rich in heavy minerals and offshore placer deposits are actively exploited by bordering countries, particularly India, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Caribbean Ocean 0 m highest point: Morne du Vitet 286 m	lowest point: Java Trench -7,258 m highest point: sea level 0 m
Environment - current issues	with no natural rivers or streams, fresh water is in short supply, especially in summer, and provided by desalinization of sea water, collection of rain water, or imported via water tanker	endangered marine species include the dugong, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea
Ethnic groups	white, Creole (mulatto), black, Guadeloupe Mestizo (French-East Asia)	-
Exchange rates	euros per US dollar - NA (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003)	-
Executive branch	chief of state: President Nicolas SARKOZY (since 16 May 2007), represented by Prefect Dominique LACROIX (since 21 March 2007) head of government: President of the Territorial Council Bruno MAGRAS (since 16 July 2007) cabinet: Executive Council; note - there is also an advisory, economic, social, and cultural council elections: French president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; prefect appointed by the French president on the advice of the French Ministry of Interior; president of the Territorial Council is elected by the members of the Council for a five-year term election results: Bruno MAGRAS unanimously elected president by the Territorial Council on 16 July 2007	-
Flag description	the flag of France is used	-
Geographic coordinates	17 90 N, 62 85 W	20 00 S, 80 00 E
Geography - note	-	major chokepoints include Bab el Mandeb, Strait of Hormuz, Strait of Malacca, southern access to the Suez Canal, and the Lombok Strait
Independence	none (overseas collectivity of France)	-
International organization participation	UPU	-
Land boundaries	0 km	-
Languages	French (primary), English	-
Legal system	the laws of France, where applicable, apply	-
Legislative branch	unicameral Territorial Council (19 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) elections: last held 1 and 8 July 2007 (next to be held July 2012) election results: percent of vote by party - SBA 72.2%, Action-Equilibre-Transparence 9.9%, Ensemble pour Saint-Barthelemy 7.9%, Tous Unis pour Saint-Barthelemy 9.9%; seats by party - SBA 16, Action-Equilibre-Transparence 1, Ensemble pour Saint-Barthelemy 1, Tous Unis pour Saint-Barthelemy 1	-
Location	located approximately 125 miles northwest of Guadeloupe	body of water between Africa, the Southern Ocean, Asia, and Australia
Map references	Central America and the Caribbean	Political Map of the World
Military - note	defense is the responsibility of France	-
National holiday	Bastille Day, 14 July (1789); note - local holiday is St. Barthelemy Day, 24 August	-
Natural hazards	-	occasional icebergs pose navigational hazard in southern reaches
Natural resources	has few natural resouces, its beaches being the most important	oil and gas fields, fish, shrimp, sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules
Political parties and leaders	Action-Equilibre-Transparence [Maxime DESOUCHES]; Ensemble pour Saint-Barthelemy [Benoit CHAUVIN]; Saint-Barth d'Abord! or SBA [Bruno MAGRAS]; Tous Unis pour Saint-Barthelemy [Karine MIOT-RICHARD]	-
Population	6,852 (1999 March census)	-
Religions	Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jehovah's Witness	-
Suffrage	18 years of age, universal	-
Telephone system	general assessment: fully integrated access domestic: direct dial capability with both fixed and wireless systems international: country code - 590; undersea fiber-optic cable provides voice and data connectivity to Puerto Rico and Guadeloupe	-
Terrain	hilly, almost completely surrounded by shallow-water reefs, with 20 beaches	surface dominated by counterclockwise gyre (broad, circular system of currents) in the southern Indian Ocean; unique reversal of surface currents in the northern Indian Ocean; low atmospheric pressure over southwest Asia from hot, rising, summer air results in the southwest monsoon and southwest-to-northeast winds and currents, while high pressure over northern Asia from cold, falling, winter air results in the northeast monsoon and northeast-to-southwest winds and currents; ocean floor is dominated by the Mid-Indian Ocean Ridge and subdivided by the Southeast Indian Ocean Ridge, Southwest Indian Ocean Ridge, and Ninetyeast Ridge
Transportation - note	nearest airport for international flights is Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) located in Sint Maarten (Netherlands Antilles)	-

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