The first recorded sighting of Erikub Atoll by Europeans was on 29 June 1566 by the Spanish galleon San Jerónimo then commanded by pilot Lope Martín.

However, it is likely that it had already been previously sighted by the Spanish expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos between December 1542 and January 1543.

Lope Martín, who had been pilot of the patache San Lucas on its voyage from New Spain to the Philippines the previous year, had on this occasion mutinied with a gang of twenty six sailors and soldiers and murdered the San Jerónimo's captain, Pero Sánchez Pericón.

[4] After World War I, the island came under the South Seas Mandate of the Empire of Japan.

Following the end of World War II, Erikub came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.