[1] Small, arid, without fresh water and not easily accessible, the islands had no interest for Britain or France during their colonisation of the Pacific in the course of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The first recorded European sighting of the island was by Captain Thomas Fearn from his trading ship Hunter in 1798.

About 0.6 square kilometres (0.23 sq mi) in area, the island has a domed shape, and some sources suggest a height of its highest peak, Mont Favard, of 242 metres (794 ft),[3] but others are higher.

[5] There has been volcanic activity since 1856 and before 1982 French aviation photographic studies were interpreted to give an approximate height of 260 m (850 ft).

[5] The island has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding population of red-tailed tropicbirds, with some 100–200 pairs estimated in 2007.

East Matthew is the older part of the island, formed from basalt with a half-destroyed, 142 m (466 ft) high composite volcanic cone that is thought to be composed of three lava flows.

It is a roughly circular, 177 m (581 ft) high cone with a serrated peak and is composed almost entirely of lava flows and slag.

After a highly seismically active period in the 1940s, construction of West Matthew began as submarine eruptions built up a new island.

The island has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports breeding populations of brown boobies and blue noddies.

[14]: 3  The various processes have resulted in unusually complex volcanic composition of the island's recent eruptives, as well as the continued seismicity assigned to the area as the south western part of the Hunter fracture zone.