North Iwo Jima (, ''Kita Iwōjima'', "North Sulfur Island"), now officially North or Kita Iōtō (written with the same characters) and previously known as Santo or San Alessandro, Hooge Meeuwen Island (, "High

Seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

Island"), and North Sulfur Island, is the northernmost member of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Volcano Islands The or are a group of three Japanese-governed islands in Micronesia. They lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and belong to the municipality of Ogasawara, Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The islands are all active volcanoes lying ato ...

. Together with the

Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , is a list of islands of Japan, Japanese archipelago of over 30 subtropical and Island#Tropical islands, tropical islands located around SSE of Tokyo and northwest of Guam. The group as a whole has a total ...

, the Volcanos form the Ogasawara Archipelago and

Subprefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Counties of Albania, Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several Districts of Albania, district ...

. Together with the Bonins and

Izu Islands The are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshū, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages; all part of Tokyo Prefecture. The largest is Izu Ōshima, usually called simply Ōsh ...

, they form the Nanpo Islands, all formally organized as part of the

Tokyo Metropolitan Government The is the government of the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis. One of the 47 Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Japan, the government consists of a popularly elected governor and assembly. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, headquarters build ...

. North Iwo Jima is located north of

Iwo Jima is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands, which lie south of the Bonin Islands and together with them make up the Ogasawara Subprefecture, Ogasawara Archipelago. Together with the Izu Islands, they make up Japan's Nanpō Islands. Although sout ...

, SSW of

Chichijima is the largest and most populous islands of Japan, island in the Japanese archipelago of Bonin Islands, Bonin or Ogasawara Islands. Chichijima is about north of Iwo Jima. in size, the island is home to about 2,120 people (2021). Connected to ...

in the Bonins, and south of

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

. Previously inhabited by two Japanese villages from 1898 to 1944, it is currently a

desert island An uninhabited island, desert island, or deserted island, is an island, islet or atoll which lacks permanent human population. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotypes ...

Geography

The island consists of the heavily eroded peak of an active

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

, which rises above sea level ( according to other sources). Having a volume of , it is the largest volcano in Japan by volume. The peak is called , with another peak at . It has an area of , and it has a shore length of . It is an uninhabited part of the municipality of Ogasawara. Its Japanese name was changed to Kita-Iōtō on 18 June 2007. The island forms part of the Kazan-retto islands

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA), designated by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

History

Micronesian altars, graves, tools, and pottery were discovered on North Iwo Jima by a Tokyo research group in 1991. They are believed to date from sometime between the 8th and 16th century. Commanding the

carrack A carrack (; ; ) is a three- or four- masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal and Spain. Evolving from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for Europea ...

, the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

Bernardo de la Torre Bernardo de la Torre or della Torres (died 1545) was a Spanish explorer during the Age of Discovery. He participated in Ruy López de Villalobos's failed expedition to establish a greater Spanish presence in the East Indies. Stuck for months on th ...

almost certainly sighted the

at some point between 25 September and 2 October 1543 while making another failed attempt to sail east across the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

from the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

. (No attempt would be successful until 1565.) Attempting to secure reinforcements for

Ruy López de Villalobos Ruy López de Villalobos (; – 23 April 1546) was a Spanish explorer who led a failed attempt to colonize the Philippines in 1544, attempting to assert Spanish control there under the terms of the treaties of Tordesillas and Zaragoza. U ...

when Filipino resistance proved unexpectedly strong, De la Torre apparently passed the islands during an

eruption A volcanic eruption occurs when material is expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure. Several types of volcanic eruptions have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often named after famous volcanoes where that type of behavior has ...

on South Iwo Jima, realized his supply of water would be insufficient for completing his mission, and returned south to rendezvous with López de Villalobos in the

Moluccas The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West Melanesi ...

.. Over the next century, other Spanish sailors passed the islandsparticularly once Alonso de Arellano found a safe northeastern route back to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

from the Philippineswithout settling or formally claiming them. It was similarly ignored by the Dutch,

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

, and Japanese until a relatively late date. The Japanese eventually colonized the island, with

fisherman A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million Commercial fishing, commercial and Artisan fishing, subsistence fishers and Fish farming, fi ...

from the Bonins settling in 1898. They lived in two villages, Ishino or Ishinomura on the east and Nishi or Nishimura on the west, which were unincorporated until they were formally added to Iōtō in 1940. The population was around 103 people when all civilians were forcibly evacuated to

in 1944 near the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Following the Japanese surrender, the

US military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...

occupied North Iwo Jima along with the other Nanpo Islands and the Ryukyus. North Iwo Jima was returned to Japan with the Bonins in 1968. The island is notionally organized as part of

's Ogasawara Village and

but remains unpopulated. Four

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

aviators An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they are ...

Scott Zellem, Patrick Myrick, James Pupplo, and Joshua Showalterfrom the ''John C. Stennis'' died when their S-3B Viking crashed into North Iwo Jima on 10 August 2004 during a

naval exercise A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations ...

. The Japanese pronunciation of the characters in the name was officially reverted to ''Kita-Iōtō'' in 2007.

2009 total solar eclipse

During the solar eclipse of 22 July 2009, the island had nearly six and a half minutes of totality, longer than any other land mass.Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC - map of Iwo Jima region
/ref>

Gallery

File:FA-18E Super Hornet of VFA-115 in flight off Kita Iwo Jima in May 2016.JPG File:Kita-Ioto NW 20120309.jpg, Kita-Ioto Island seen from the NW File:Kita-Ioto South 20120309.jpg, Kita-Ioto Island seen from the south File:Kita-Ioto SSE 20120309.jpg, Kita-Ioto Island seen from the SSE File:Kita-Ioto SW 20120309.jpg, Kita-Ioto Island seen from the SW File:Kita-ioto.jpg, NW side of Kita-Iwojima File:Kita Iwo Jima Island Aerial photograph.jpg, Top down view of Kita-Ioto Island

References

External links

*
N. Iwo Jima page
{{Authority control Volcano Islands Volcanoes of Tokyo Uninhabited islands of Japan Former populated places in Oceania Former populated places in Japan Islands of Tokyo Important Bird Areas of the Nanpo Islands Seabird colonies