United States Minor Outlying Islands
Nine uninhabited territories from 1850s guano claims to Cold War bases now hosting albatross colonies; Pacific strategic competition may revive dormant military infrastructure.
The United States Minor Outlying Islands exist as a statistical convenience—nine scattered territories with no permanent residents, no economic activity beyond research and wildlife management, and strategic significance that waxes and wanes with great-power competition in the Pacific.
The islands share no geographic or cultural connection beyond American sovereignty. Baker, Howland, and Jarvis lie near the equator in the central Pacific—coral atolls claimed in the 1850s under the Guano Islands Act, which allowed American citizens to claim any unclaimed island containing guano (bird droppings used as fertilizer). Johnston Atoll sits 750 miles southwest of Hawaii. Kingman Reef barely rises above sea level. Palmyra Atoll, the only incorporated territory, hosts a research station. Midway Atoll, famous for the 1942 battle, became a wildlife refuge after the naval base closed in 1993. Wake Island, largest at 5.3 square miles, served as a trans-Pacific aviation stopover before jets made it obsolete.
The Cold War gave some islands renewed purpose. Johnston Atoll hosted a chemical weapons disposal facility that processed nerve agents and mustard gas until 2003, when the last stockpiles were destroyed and the facility closed. Midway operated as a naval air station until 1993. Wake Island maintained military communications infrastructure.
Today, the primary value is ecological and potential. Midway hosts one of the world's largest Laysan albatross colonies—over a million breeding pairs. Marine protected areas surrounding the islands preserve pelagic ecosystems. The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, established in 2009 and expanded in 2014, now covers roughly 490,000 square miles.
The strategic dimension returns as Pacific competition intensifies. Wake Island's airfield has received periodic military investment since the late 2010s. The vast exclusive economic zones surrounding each island hold potential resources—deep-sea minerals, fisheries—that gain value as technology advances and demand grows.
By 2026, these forgotten dots on maps may matter for reasons their 19th-century guano miners never anticipated. Climate change affects atoll stability. Chinese naval expansion raises questions about Pacific positioning. The infrastructure that the Cold War built, dormant for decades, could become relevant again. For now, the islands belong to birds, biologists, and military contingency planners—not to any resident population making economic claims.