Clipperton Island

Clipperton Island (French: La Passion–Clipperton [la pasj klipœtn]; Spanish: Isla de la Pasión), also known as Clipperton Atoll and previously as Clipperton's Rock, is an 8.9 km2 (3.4 sq mi) uninhabited coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The only French territory in the North Pacific, Clipperton is 10,675 km (5,764 nmi) from Paris, France; 5,400 km (2,900 nmi) from Papeete, French Polynesia; and 1,280 km (690 nmi) from Acapulco, Guerrero. Clipperton was documented by French merchant-explorers in 1711 and formally claimed as part of the French protectorate of Tahiti in 1858. Despite this, American guano miners began working the island in the early 1890s. As interest in the island grew, Mexico asserted a claim to the island based upon Spanish records from the 1520s that may have identified the island. Mexico established a small military colony on the island in 1905. During the Mexican Revolution, contact with the mainland became infrequent, most of the colonists died, and lighthouse keeper Victoriano Álvarez instituted a short, brutal reign as "king" of the island. Eleven survivors were rescued in 1917 and Clipperton was abandoned. The dispute between Mexico and France over Clipperton was taken to binding international arbitration in 1909. Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, was chosen as arbitrator and decided in 1931 that the island was French territory. Despite the

Data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).