The Territory of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, also called Cocos Islands , is a territory of Australia, located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Christmas Island and approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka.
The territory consists of two atolls and 27 coral islands, of which two, West Island and Home Island, are inhabited with a total population of approximately 600.In 1609, Captain William Keeling was the first European to see the islands, while serving in the East India Company,but they remained uninhabited until the 19th century.
In 1814, a Scottish merchant seaman named Captain John Clunies-Ross stopped briefly at the islands on a trip to India, nailing up a Union Jack and planning to return and settle on the islands with his family in the future.
However, a wealthy Englishman named Alexan
