Clipperton Island (Isla de la Pasión) is an atoll of the south-east Pacific Ocean, which belongs to France and administratively is part of French Polynesia. Clipperton is 10° north of the equator, at 1,280 km to the west of Mexico coast, the nearest land is the Mexican island of Socorro, being part of the Revillagigedo archipelago, which is located 945 km to the north, the island of Nuku Hiva in Marquesas archipelago, the French nearest land, is 4,000 km to the south-west. The island in the past was a source of phosphates, whose deposits have been exploited between 1898 and 1917, today the island is uninhabited, and has little vegetation, a number of sea birds and crabs.