Islands Of The Pacific Codexery

Bonin Islands

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Bonin Islands

via Wikipedia: Bonin Islands · see source

Only two islands, Chichijima and Hahajima, are permanently inhabited.[1]

Geography and history

Volcanic activity created the islands around 48 million years ago, and they are mostly composed of an andesitic volcanic rock called boninite.[2] Prehistoric tools and carved stones discovered on North Iwo Jima and Chichijima show that an unknown Micronesian people once lived there.[3] Spanish explorer Bernardo de la Torre was the first European to sight the islands on 2 October 1543, finding them uninhabited.[4][5] Commodore Matthew Perry bought property on Chichijima in 1853 and created the US "Colony of Peel Island," appointing Savory governor.[6]

Japan formally annexed the islands in 1876, banned foreign settlement, and clear-cut forests for sugar cane production.[5][7] Japanese explorers first sighted the islands in 1670 (Kanbun 10), and a shogunate expedition in 1675 (Enpō 3), led by Shimaya Ichizaemon, cataloged various tree and bird species but resulted in no permanent settlement.[8][9] In 1827, Captain F. W. Beechey claimed the island chain for the British crown and designated Chichijima as "Peel" in honor of Sir Robert Peel, the British Home Secretary.[10][7] The initial permanent settlement was founded in 1830 by a group that included Nathaniel Savory (from Massachusetts), Richard Millichamp (from England), Matteo Mazzaro (from Ragusa/Dubrovnik), Alden B. Chapin, Carl Johnsen, and seven unnamed men along with 13 women from the Kingdom of Hawaii.[11]

What the cited sources add

Coppock's account notes that the Bonins' name comes from the Japanese for "uninhabited" and that the 30 islands comprise about 32 square miles of land.[5] The same source states that Spanish sea captain Bernardo de la Torre was the first European to arrive in 1543.[5] The "Experience the distinctive cuisine of Ogasawara" source explains that the islands are located about a thousand kilometers south of central Tokyo.[12] That source also notes that Japanese coffee cultivation began on the Ogasawara islands and was revived about twenty years ago.[12]

The NASA Earth Observatory report states that volcanic activity in late November 2013 gave rise to a tiny island that grew to 2.45 square kilometers in area.[13] Japan formally annexed the Bonin Islands in December 1876, and by 1882 all American residents had become naturalized Japanese citizens.[5]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Bonin Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Yoshida, "Ogasawara Islands: Remote witnesses on the front lines of Japanese history", The Japan Times Online, 2018-07-12; Coppock, "American Outpost at Japan's Front Door", HistoryNet LLC, 21 January 2021 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Bonin Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: coral reefs (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Bonin Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "小笠原・火山(硫黄)列島の歴史" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Bonin Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Welsch 2004 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Coppock, "American Outpost at Japan's Front Door", HistoryNet LLC, 21 January 2021. facts only, no text reused. historynet.com
  6. Wikipedia, "Bonin Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rüegg, "The Kuroshio Frontier: Empire and Environment in the Making of Japan's Pacific", Cambridge University Press, 2025 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Bonin Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Coppock, "American Outpost at Japan's Front Door", HistoryNet LLC, 21 January 2021 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Bonin Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tanaka, Hiroyuki (1993). "Edo Jidai ni okeru Nihonjin no Mujin Tou (Ogasawara Tou) ni tai-suru Ninshiki" ("The Ogasawara Islands in Tokugawa Japan"). Kaiji Shi (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Bonin Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rüegg 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Bonin Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Beechey 1831, p. [https://archive.org/details/narrativeavoyag02beecgoog/page/n263 237–240] (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Bonin Islands" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chapman 2016, p. 27; Notes on the Bonin Islands, Michael Quin, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Vol. 26, (1856), pp. 232–235, Blackwell Publishing on behalf of T (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Experience the distinctive cuisine of Ogasawara, born from its uncommon island environment. facts only, no text reused. world-natural-heritage.jp
  13. "Nishinoshima Continues to Grow", Earth Observatory, 24 June 2015. facts only, no text reused. earthobservatory.nasa.gov

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Bonin Islands (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Also in the Codexery

Bonin Islands · World Heritage Sites in Japan

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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