(The SDF base on Iwo Jima is supported separately, although still notionally part of the subprefecture and village's jurisdiction.)

The subprefecture bears the Japanese name of the Bonin Islands, derived from a false 18th-century account of their discovery by a member of the Ogasawara clan of samurai.

[2] The initial settlement of the Bonins was from the Kingdom of Hawaii under the auspices of the British Empire, who formally claimed them in the 1820s before yielding them to Japan.

With the US–Japanese alliance on firmer footing, arrangements made for continued use of Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, and further nuclear weapons development, the Nanpo Islands were fully returned to Japan in 1968.

Development of an airport is supported by the central, regional, and local levels of government and some islanders, but concerns about its profitability and potential environmental damage have delayed projects indefinitely.

The islands are part of the distinct and biodiverse Ogasawara subtropical moist forests ecoregion, which developed largely in isolation and with minimal human contact until the 19th century.