Serrana Bank
Serrana Bank | ||
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Serrana Bank as seen from the ISS | ||
Waters | Caribbean Sea | |
Geographical location | 14 ° 24 ′ N , 80 ° 16 ′ W | |
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Number of islands | 6th | |
Main island | Southwest Cay | |
length | 37 km | |
width | 13 km | |
Land area | 10 ha | |
total area | 500 km² | |
Residents | (few) | |
South Cay , one of the Serrana Bank cays |
Serrana Bank ( Spanish Banco Serrana ) is an isolated atoll in the southwestern Caribbean Sea . It is about halfway between Jamaica and Costa Rica , 360 km east of the coast of Nicaragua . The largely submerged coral bank is about 37 km long, up to 13 km wide and covers an area of about 500 km². It consists of six small cays , of which Southwest Cay is the largest and most famous. There is a lighthouse on Southwest Cay and Narrow Cay , and a small, permanently inhabited fishing village on North Cay .
The six cays, from south to north:
- Southwest Cay (500 by 200 meters)
- South Cay (150 by 25 meters)
- Little Cay (less than 100 meters in diameter)
- Narrow Cay
- East Cay
- North Cay
history
The Serrana Bank appeared for the first time under this name on a Dutch map in 1545, it is named after the Spanish navigator Pedro Serrano , who was probably exposed on an island of this coral bank . For a long time under controversial US sovereignty, an agreement was reached on September 8, 1972 to hand over the Serrana Bank and other islands and coral banks to Colombia . However, the agreement was not ratified by the US Senate until 1981 , so that on September 17, 1981, the islands came under Colombian sovereignty and were assigned to the province of San Andrés y Providencia . However, Nicaragua also claims Serrana Bank. On September 3, 2007, Category 5 Hurricane Felix passed Serrana Bank.
See also
Web links
- Serrana Bank on Oceandots ( Memento from December 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- Information about the Serrana Bank (English)