Due to extensive phosphate mining operations in the early 20th century, and decades of use as a bombing and gunnery range by the United States Navy, the island has very little topsoil and no trees.

It was later sighted by a Manila galleon on 28 July 1587, commanded by Pedro de Unamuno who charted the Daitōs as the Islas sin Provecho (Useless Islands).

Another Manila galleon, the Nuestra Señora de la Consolación commanded by Felipe Tompson, reported its sighting in 1773 and charted it as Isla Dolores.

[1] Its sighting was also reported by the British in 1788 and named "Grampus Island", but the recorded coordinates were not correct[citation needed].

The island was surveyed in 1908 by Tsuneto Noritaka, a professor with the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, who recommended that its guano resources be exploited for fertilizer.

The inhabitants were evacuated to mainland Okinawa in 1945 due to the increasing threat of attack during World War II.