Miangas means "exposed to piracy", because pirates from Mindanao used to visit the island.

To justify their sovereignty over Miangas, the Dutch argued that the island had been under the domination of the princes of Sangir.

[4] In October 1526, Garcia Jofre de Loaísa, Spanish sailor and researcher, was the first European to visit the island.

[10] In 1895, E. J. Jellesma, Oud-resident of Manado, visited Miangas to praise the residents and kapiten laut for rejecting the Spanish flag.

On 21 January 1906, General Leonard Wood, Governor of Moro Province, officially visited the island for the first time.

[14] When Wood returned to Zamboanga, he reported it to the United States Military Secretary, on 26 January.

The United States government referred the matter to the Netherlands through their embassy in The Hague on 31 March.

On 17 October the Netherlands Foreign Ministry responded with reasons why the island was included in the Dutch East Indies.

[13][16] On 4 April 1928 Huber decided that the island "forms in its entirety a part of Netherlands territory", in favour of the Dutch argument that it exercised sovereignty from 1677, or possibly from 1648, out of conventions entered into with native princes on Sangi.

[21] In 2009, Indonesia said the Philippine Tourism Authority published a map which included Miangas into the Philippines' territory, but suggested the map was drawn by a private company that was not aware of official borders, as both countries signed an extradition treaty in 1976 which recognized Miangas as Indonesia's territory.

The highest point, called Gunung Batu, is 111 metres high, located in the northeast part of the island.