![]() ĭespite its proximity to North America, Clipperton is often considered one of the eastern-most points of Oceania due to being part the French Indo-Pacific, and to commonalities between its marine fauna and the marine fauna of Hawaii and Kiribati's Line Islands, with the island sitting along the migration path for animals in the Eastern Tropical Pacific region. The nearest French-owned island is Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. The nearest land is Socorro Island, about 945 km (510 nmi) to the south-east in the Revillagigedo Archipelago. Plans to develop the island for trade and tourism have been considered, but none have been enacted and the island remains mostly uninhabited with periodic visits from the French navy. It has also hosted climate scientists and amateur radio DX-peditions. Since the end of World War II, Clipperton has primarily been the site for scientific expeditions to study the island's wildlife and marine life, including its significant masked and brown booby colonies. France protested and as concerns about Japanese activity in the eastern Pacific waned the U.S. Navy established a weather station on the island to support its war efforts in the Pacific. ![]() Despite the ruling, Clipperton remained largely uninhabited until 1944 when the U.S. The dispute between Mexico and France over Clipperton was taken to binding international arbitration in 1909 with the Italian king, Victor Emmanuel III, deciding in 1931 that the island was French territory. Eleven survivors were rescued in 1917 and Clipperton was abandoned. Mexico established a small military colony on the island in 1905, but 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. 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. Despite this, American guano miners began working the island in the early 1890s. ![]() The only French territory in the North Pacific, Clipperton is 10,675 km (6,633 mi) from Paris, France 5,400 km (2,900 nmi) from Papeete, French Polynesia and 1,280 km (690 nmi) from Acapulco, Mexico.Ĭlipperton was documented by French merchant-explorers in 1711 and formally claimed as part of the French protectorate of Tahiti in 1858. Clipperton Island (French: La Passion–Clipperton Spanish: Isla de la Pasión), also known as Clipperton Atoll and previously as Clipperton's Rock, is an 8.9 km 2 (3.4 sq mi) uninhabited French coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
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