Ashmore and Cartier Islands

Uncommon card · No. 193536

The Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands is an uninhabited external territory of Australia consisting of five low-lying islands in two separate reefs (Ashmore and Cartier), as well as the 12-nautical-mile (22 km; 14 mi) territorial sea generated by the islands. The territory is located in the Timor Sea on the edge of the Sahul Shelf, about 320 km (200 mi) off the northwest coast of Australia and 170 km (110 mi) south of the Indonesian island of Rote. The Ashmore and Cartier Islands were discovered by Indonesian fishermen in the early 1700s and were regularly visited for the harvesting of sea cucumbers. Cartier Reef and Ashmore Reef were discovered by Europeans in around 1800 and 1811 respectively, and were mined for guano by American whalers in the late nineteenth century. Britain annexed Ashmore Reef in 1878 and extended its claim to include Cartier Reef in 1909, before transferring the territory to Australia in 1934. The islands were later visited by naval ships and were used as a...

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