Guano Islands Act - Claims

Claims

More than 100 islands have been claimed for the U.S. under the Guano Islands Act. Most are no longer considered United States territory; those remaining under U.S. claim are:

• Baker Island
• French Frigate Shoals (part of Hawaii)
• Howland Island
• Jarvis Island
• Johnston Atoll
• Kingman Reef/Danger Rock
• Midway Atoll
• Navassa Island (claimed by Haiti)
• Palmyra Atoll
• Bajo Nuevo Bank (disputed with Colombia)
• Serranilla Bank (disputed with Colombia)
• Swains Island (part of American Samoa; no evidence that guano was mined)

Unlike some of the other Islands claimed under the Guano Act of 1856, but whose ownership was also disputed, a series of events cemented Navassa Island becoming part of the United States. Because of the actions of Haiti due to its own claim to Navassa Island, President James Buchanan issued Executive Orders establishing United States territorial jurisdiction beyond just the Guano Act. The United States Supreme Court in 1890 ruled the Guano Act of 1856 constitutional; and, citing the actions of the Executive Branch, amongst other points in Law, determined Navassa Island as pertaining to the United States. See: “Jones v. United States, 137 U. S. 202 (1890)” Control of Navassa Island was transferred by the Department of the Interior to the Director of the Office of Insular Affairs under Order No. 3205 on January 16, 1997, both the Department of the Interior, and Insular Affairs, would later grant administration responsibilities to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service under Order No. 3210 on December 3, 1999. Order No 3210 also established a 12 nautical mile territorial sea boundary for the United States around Navassa Island.

There are complicated case deals with Serranilla Bank and the Bajo Nuevo Bank, where multiple countries claim ownership. In 1899, a claim was even made on Fox Island, Quebec.

In 1964, Leicester Hemingway, brother of author Ernest Hemingway, attempted to establish a country (or more appropriately, a micronation) dubbed the Republic of New Atlantis, on an 8 x 30 foot bamboo raft anchored with an engine block outside the territorial waters of Jamaica, using the Guano Islands Act as part of a claim to sovereignty. His apparent intention was to use the new country as the headquarters for his own International Marine Research Society, with which he planned to further marine research, as well as to protect Jamaican fishing. His claim was never recognized by either the USA or Jamaica, and the raft was destroyed in a storm in 1966.

In 1971, the U.S. and Honduras signed a treaty recognizing Honduran sovereignty over the Swan Islands.