The or are a group of three Japanese-governed islands in

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...

. They lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and belong to the municipality of Ogasawara, Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The islands are all active

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

es lying atop the Izu–Bonin–Mariana Arc that stretches south to the

Marianas The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly Volcano#Dormant and reactivated, dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean ...

. They have an area of , and a population of 380. The island 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 ...

in the Volcano Islands lies about southeast of Miyazaki.

Geography

The Volcano Islands are: *, , (Sakaki-ga-mine) *, , (Suribachi-yama) * , Farther north but in the same volcanic arc is: *, , There is a

Japan Self-Defense Forces The are the military forces of Japan. Established in 1954, the JSDF comprises the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. They are controlled by the Ministry of Defense ...

air base on Iwo Jima with a staff of 380. It is located in the village of Minami. Other than that, the islands are uninhabited. File:Kazan-retto.jpg, Satellite photo of the Volcano Islands (2004) * Fukutoku-Okanoba Generally submerged volcano eruptions sometimes bring it above the surface.

History

The first recorded sighting by Europeans was in October 1543 by Spanish navigator Bernardo de la Torre on board of carrack ''San Juan de Letrán'' when trying to return from

Sarangani Sarangani, officially the Province of Sarangani (; ; Maguindanao language, Maguindanaon: ''Dairat nu Sarangani'', Jawi Alphabet, Jawi: دايرت نو سرڠان; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the ...

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 ...

. Iwo Jima was charted as Sufre, the old Spanish term for sulphur. The islands were uninhabited in 1889 when Japanese settlers settled the two northern islands from the

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 were annexed by Japan in 1891. However, archeological evidence has revealed that islands of the greater Bonin archipelago were prehistorically inhabited by an unknown Micronesian people.小笠原・火山(硫黄)列島の歴史
/ref> The population was about 1,100 in 1939, distributed among five settlements: Higashi, Minami, Nishi, Kita, and Motoyama (meaning "East", "South", "West", "North", and "Mountain of Origin", or central mountain) on Iwo Jima; and two settlements on Kita Iwo Jima: Ishino-mura ("Ishino village"; Ishino is a surname) and Nishi-mura ("West village"). The municipal administration office was located in Higashi until 1940 when the municipality was integrated into the administration of

Ogasawara, Tokyo is a village in Ogasawara Subprefecture, Tokyo Metropolis, 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 Jap ...

. Iwo Jima was the site of the

Battle of Iwo Jima The was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and United States Navy (USN) landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II. The American invasion, desi ...

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 ...

, and the island group came under the United States administration. The Volcano Islands were returned to Japanese rule in 1968.

Ecology

The Volcano Islands have a subtropical climate. They are part of the Ogasawara subtropical moist forests ecoregion and are home to unique and diverse plants and animals, including many

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

species. They have been recognised as forming an

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) 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 ...

because they support populations of red-tailed tropicbirds, Japanese wood pigeons and Matsudaira's storm petrels.

References

External links

* {{authority control Bonin Islands Volcano_Islands Archipelagoes of Japan Islands of Tokyo Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean 1889 establishments 1891 establishments in Japan Seabird colonies Important Bird Areas of the Nanpo Islands

Geography

History

Ecology

See also

References

External links