Nanpō Islands

The Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of the Japan Coast Guard defines the Nanpō Shotō as follows:[1] The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, a government agency that is responsible for standardization of place names, does not use the term Nanpō Shotō, although it has agreed with the Japan Coast Guard over the names and extents of the subgroups of the Nanpō Shotō.

However, archeological evidence has since revealed that some of the islands were prehistorically inhabited by members of an unknown Micronesian ethnicity.

[2] Neither Japan nor Britain developed the Nanpō Islands, although a small colony of Europeans and Americans was established at Chichi-jima.

Japan began colonizing the islands in 1853, claimed them in 1861, then finally annexed them in 1891 as part of Tokyo Prefecture.

By the mid-1930s the islands were closed to foreigners and a small Imperial Japanese Navy base was established at Chichi-jima.