LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Christmas Island: Settlement
built 640 days ago
For centuries, Christmas Island's isolation and rugged coasts provided natural barriers to settlement. British and Dutch navigators first included the island on their charts from the early seventeenth century, and Captain William Mynors of the British East India Company vessel, the Royal Mary, named the island when he arrived on Christmas Day, 25 December 1643. The island first appears on a map produced by Pieter Goos and published in 1666. Goos had labelled the island Moni.
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[I]n summary he states that Christmas Island has not yet yielded definite evidence of settlement by Polynesians. The few traces of native stone work and the artefacts found belong to different periods and come from different directions, suggesting chance Polynesian visitors or castaways.
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The island has never had an indigenous population, but British settlement began in the late 1800s, and it was annexed by the United Kingdom in 1888. Under British rule, the island became a major region for phosphate mining, a mineral byproduct of volcanic eruptions.
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Seven possibilities for accommodation exist on the island, five of which are in the main settlement. Of the other two, one is located next to the islands waterfall whilst the other is further out in an area called Poon Saan.
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