Jarvis Island is an uninhabited 4.5 square kilometer island located at 0°22′S 160°03′W in the South Pacific Ocean, about one-half of the way from Hawaii to the Cook Islands. It is one of the Line Islands, in the central part of the group. It is an unincorporated territory of the United States, administered from Washington, D.C. by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States Department of the Interior as part of the National Wildlife Refuge system. Jarvis Island as well as ► Baker Island, ► Howland Island, ► Johnston Atoll, ► Kingman Reef, ► Midway Atoll, ► Wake Island and ► Palmyra Atoll lie in the Pacific Ocean, south of Hawaii.
This section holds a short summary of the history of the area of present-day Jarvis Island, illustrated with maps, including historical maps of former countries and empires that included present-day Jarvis Island. Jarvis Island was discovered by Britain in 1821, annexed by the United States in 1858, annexed by Britain in 1889 and reclaimed by the United States in 1935. The island has no self-government.
Notes and references
General remarks:
The WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Atlas of the World is an organized and commented collection of geographical, political and historical maps available at Wikimedia Commons. The main page is therefore the portal to maps and cartography on Wikimedia. That page contains links to entries by country, continent and by topic as well as general notes and references.
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The status of various entities is disputed. See the content for the entities concerned.
The maps of former countries that are more or less continued by a present-day country or had a territory included in only one or two countries are included in the atlas of the present-day country. For example the Ottoman Empire can be found in the Atlas of Turkey.
