You’ve probably seen the name pop up in a drop-down menu while filling out a shipping form online. US Minor Outlying Islands. It sounds like a bureaucratic mistake or maybe a place from a Wes Anderson movie. But these places are real. They are scattered across thousands of miles of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are just tiny slivers of coral and sand.
Honestly, nobody lives there. Well, not permanently. There are no towns, no Starbucks, and definitely no Amazon Prime delivery—ironic, considering that’s usually where you see the name listed.
💡 You might also like: Fun Things to Do With Teens in Chicago: What Most People Get Wrong
The US Minor Outlying Islands consist of eight islands or atolls in the Pacific (Baker, Howland, Jarvis, Johnston, Kingman Reef, Midway, Palmyra, and Wake) and one in the Caribbean (Navassa). If you look at a map, they look like accidental drops of ink in a vast blue ocean. But don’t let the "minor" part fool you. These specks of land have been at the center of international bird poop wars, mysterious disappearances, and some of the most brutal battles in human history.
The Guano Islands Act: Why the US Claimed Them
Why does the United States own a bunch of uninhabited rocks? It basically comes down to bird droppings. Back in the mid-19th century, the world was obsessed with guano. It was the premier fertilizer of the era. It was "white gold."
In 1856, Congress passed the Guano Islands Act. This was a pretty wild piece of legislation. It allowed any US citizen to take possession of an unclaimed, uninhabited island as long as it had guano on it. The US government would then protect that citizen while they mined the island.
Most of the US Minor Outlying Islands were claimed this way. Baker Island? Guano. Jarvis? Guano. Howland? You guessed it.
Once the birds did their business and the humans scooped it all up, the islands lost their immediate commercial value. But by then, the US realized that having "unsinkable aircraft carriers" in the middle of the Pacific was a pretty good strategic move.
Navassa: The Lonely Caribbean Outlier
Navassa Island is the odd one out. While the rest are in the Pacific, Navassa sits in the Jamaica Channel, between Haiti and Jamaica. It’s a flat, rocky plateau surrounded by steep white cliffs.
There is a long-standing dispute here. Haiti claims it. The US claims it. Since 1999, it has been managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
If you tried to go there today, you’d probably get arrested or at least very lost. It’s a National Wildlife Refuge. Access is strictly controlled because the ecosystem is incredibly fragile. Scientists love Navassa because it’s a time capsule. It shows what Caribbean biodiversity looks like without constant human interference. It has unique species of lizards and plants that don't exist anywhere else on Earth.
Midway and Wake: The Ghostly Remnants of War
Midway Atoll is probably the most famous of the bunch. If you know your history, you know the Battle of Midway. In June 1942, this tiny atoll was the turning point of the war in the Pacific.
Today, it's a different kind of battlefield. It’s a sanctuary for the Laysan albatross. Roughly 70% of the world's Laysan albatross population nests here.
Wake Island is another heavy hitter. It’s still an active airfield managed by the US Air Force. It’s one of the few US Minor Outlying Islands where people actually "live," though "stationed" is a better word. It’s a mid-Pacific refueling stop. During WWII, the defense of Wake Island became a symbol of American resilience after the Pearl Harbor attacks.
The Mystery of Amelia Earhart and Howland Island
You can't talk about these islands without mentioning Howland. In 1937, a runway was built there specifically for Amelia Earhart. She was supposed to land there to refuel during her flight around the world.
She never made it.
The Coast Guard cutter Itasca was waiting just offshore, but Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan vanished. To this day, Howland Island is a place of pilgrimage for historians and conspiracy theorists alike. It’s a haunting, flat strip of land with a crumbling day beacon named the "Earhart Light" that doesn't actually light up.
The Environmental Reality: Plastic and Protection
Here is the sad truth about the US Minor Outlying Islands. Even though humans aren't there, our trash is.
Because of the way ocean currents (gyres) work, these islands act like giant filters for the Pacific's plastic pollution. On Midway, you can see heartbreaking photos of albatross chicks that have died because their parents accidentally fed them plastic bottle caps and lighters they found floating in the water.
However, there is a silver lining. Most of these islands are now part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
This is one of the largest marine protected areas in the world.
It covers about 490,000 square miles.
Fishing is banned.
Mining is banned.
It’s one of the few places left where the ocean is allowed to be "wild." The coral reefs at Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll are some of the healthiest on the planet because they are so far away from runoff and overfishing.
Can You Actually Visit?
The short answer is: probably not.
Palmyra Atoll is the only one that occasionally sees "tourists," but even then, it’s mostly through The Nature Conservancy. They have a research station there. Sometimes, high-end eco-tours or private yachts can get permits to stop by, but it’s expensive and logistically a nightmare.
For the rest—Baker, Howland, Jarvis, and Johnston—you basically need to be a Ph.D. researcher with a government grant and a very sturdy boat.
What Most People Get Wrong
People often think these islands are "territories" like Guam or Puerto Rico. They aren't. They are "unorganized" and "unincorporated." This is legal speak for: "The US owns them, but the Constitution doesn't fully apply because nobody lives there."
They don't have a capital. They don't have a flag (other than the Stars and Stripes). They don't even have their own time zone in a traditional sense.
Why They Still Matter in 2026
You might wonder why we still care about these dots in an era of satellite communication and long-range drones.
- Biodiversity: As the climate changes, these islands serve as "control groups" for scientists. They help us understand how nature recovers when left alone.
- Geopolitics: In the 21st century, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) around these islands is massive. By owning these specks, the US controls fishing and mineral rights for millions of square miles of ocean.
- Climate Monitoring: Johnston Atoll and others are critical for tracking sea-level rise and ocean acidification.
Practical Steps for the Curious
If you are fascinated by these isolated places, don't book a flight. There are no flights. Instead, take these steps to explore them virtually:
- Check out the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument website. The US Fish and Wildlife Service posts incredible high-res galleries of the wildlife on these islands.
- Use Google Earth. You can actually see the abandoned runways on Johnston Atoll and the "Earhart Light" on Howland. It’s eerie to see these massive man-made structures being slowly reclaimed by sand and birds.
- Read "The Guano Islands" by Gregory T. Cushman. If you want the deep, gritty history of how these islands shaped the modern world’s agriculture and economy, this is the definitive book.
- Support Albatross conservation. Organizations like Ocean Conservancy work specifically on the plastic pollution issues that plague Midway and the surrounding islands.
The US Minor Outlying Islands are a reminder that the world is still a very big, very lonely place in spots. They are monuments to human ambition, war, and eventually, our attempts to let nature take back what was always hers.