The nearly barren Howland is famous for being the island renowned American pilot Amelia Earhart intended to land on before she vanished during her round-the-world flight in 1937.

Wake, home to a now extinct flightless bird, was the site of a pitched World War II battle in 1941, and was an essential stopover for aircraft transiting the Pacific in the mid-20th century.

Likewise, Midway Atoll is home to many corals and birds and was also the center of a famous battle of WW2, which helped turn the tide of the Pacific War.

Johnston Atoll was a famous island for its Cold War base, when it was expanded and used to destroy chemical weapon stockpiles; it was also the site of a nuclear accident.

[1][2] The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) introduced the term "United States Minor Outlying Islands" in 1986.

Fish and Wildlife Service personnel, and temporarily stationed scientific and research staff are posted to some islands.

They are neither administered collectively nor share a single cultural or political history beyond being uninhabited islands under the sovereignty of the United States.

[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Airports in the United States Minor Outlying Islands provide critical emergency landing points across the vast Pacific Ocean for all aircraft types, allow for important military presence in key strategic zones, and have limited scheduled commercial services.