1938: Canton Island

An atoll of coral formation, 50 to 600 yards wide, surrounding a lagoon about 9 miles long, and located in the Phoenix group of is lands in the Pacific. It is approximately in Latitude 2 degrees 40 minutes South and Longitude 171 degrees 43 minutes West of Greenwich, and is about 1,850 miles south of Hawaii. Assertion of sovereignty by the United States for Canton and the nearby Enderbury Island was made through an executive order of President Roosevelt on March 3, 1938. American claims, according to Government releases, rest presumably upon discovery (by American whaling captains in the nineteenth century) and upon failure of any other nation to occupy the islands. Great Britain, nevertheless, had laid claim to the Phoenix group and on March 9, 1938, in a note to the State Department of the United States, reserved her rights. On Aug. 10, both nations simultaneously announced an agreement which put off the question of sovereignty for future determination, but provided for the joint use of the islands for commercial aviation and communication.

The significance of the claims advanced lies in the fact that the Canton lagoon is probably the best seaplane base in the Pacific and is thus an important air base on the route to both Manila and Australia. It is also important for the maintenance of naval communications along the United States new line of naval defense extending from Hawaii to Samoa and in providing a protective screen between the Japanese mandated islands and American Samoa.

To substantiate its claim, the United States sent colonists to the islands, immediately following the Presidential order. The Coast Guard, acting under the Department of The Interior (Division of Territories and Island Possessions) within whose jurisdiction the Executive order had placed the islands, selected five Hawaiians to be landed on Canton, and four to be placed on Enderbury. The islands are unproductive, and food and other supplies are brought from Hawaii. In the past, parties have landed only to work the abundant guano deposits, except in 1937 when expeditions from the United States and New Zealand went there to observe the total eclipse of the sun. (See also INTERNATIONAL LAW.)