Honoring Our U.S. Protectorates: Navassa Island...

Navassa Island is a smaller U.S. territory in the Caribbean Sea that is uninhabited. Three square kilometers of land, this island is made of a coral and limestone plateau with vertical white cliffs that are about 15 yards high. There are enough grass lands for goat herds to feed off of, and the island is filled with fig-like trees and cactus plants. Only a very small portion of the island consists of meadows or pastures, and there are no ports of entry. You have to be able to anchor offshore in order to get to it. It is closed to the public and is currently part of the Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex (NWR).

History tells us that Navassa Island was most likely first visited by a group of Christopher Columbus' men in 1504 on their trip to Hispaniola. These men arrived, named the island "Navaza", realized that no fresh water could be found there, and then continued on their way. For over 300 years the island remained untouched. From 1801 - 1867 Haiti claimed sovereignty over Navassa Island. In their 1801 constitution, Haiti claimed "other adjacent islands" and in 1874, explicitly named "la Navase" as one of their territories. A captain named Peter Duncan supposedly gave the island to the US for guano mining under the Guano Islands Act of 1856. On September 19, 1857, American guano miners arrived to extract these resources from the land. Haiti protested this annexation, but the US fought back. On July 7, 1858, President James Buchanan of the US issued an Executive Order to have the military enforce the American claim of this island. The US Supreme Court found that it had to be considered a US island by the Guano Islands Act. However, Haiti's 1987 constitution continues to claim the island as their own.

In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, ships were struggling to deliver supplies to the island. Workers at the Phosphate Company were ordered to evacuate and take their equipment and supplies off of the island. A group of Haitians occupied the island and seized the company's assets. Because they were unable to operate the machinery, the Phosphate Company went bankrupt. In 1913, the US Congress appropriated $125,000 to build a lighthouse on Navassa. In 1917, a 162 foot Lighthouse was built, and at the same time, a wireless telegraphy station was established. The US Navy set up an observation post during World War II, and no one had lived there since then. Mostly the fishermen from Haiti would come to fish the ocean waters around the island. The Smithsonian naturalists stopped at Navassa to write about the birds and terrestrial and marine wildlife. Then from 1917 - 1996, the US Coast Guard took it over and dismantled the lighthouse. The Department of the Interior placed the island under its Office of Insular Affairs for civilians to administer. It was grouped with the US Miscellaneous Caribbean Islands that claimed the island for the US under the Guano Islands Act. The Department of State said that Navassa is unavailable to be claimed under the Guano Islands Act. In September of 1999, the US Fish and Wildlife Service established the Navassa Island National Wildlife Refuge. Navassa was transferred from the Office of Insular Affairs to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. They protect coral reef ecosystems, native wildlife, and plants for scientific research. It is closed to the general public due to hazardous conditions and to preserve certain species. After WWII, amateur radio operators visited occasionally, but as soon as it became a National Wildlife Refuge, they were denied entry. It remains a private refuge for wildlife to this day.