OUR MAP OF THE PACIFIC 



WE ARE sure the readers of 

 The Geographic will welcome 

 with special favor the beautiful 

 and timely map showing the "Sovereignty 

 and Mandate Boundary Lines of the 

 Islands of the Pacific," which is issued 

 as a supplement to this number of the 

 Magazine. 



This is the fourth of an invaluable 

 series of maps which have been compiled 

 by the National Geographic Society and 

 issued as supplements to its Magazine 

 during 192 1, a Map of New Europe hav- 

 ing been issued in February, a New Map 

 of Asia in May, and a New Map of South 

 America in October.* 



All of these maps have been printed in 

 colors, on a generous scale, and represent 

 the highest achievements in the art of 

 cartography, the cost of compiling, en- 

 graving, and printing approximating 

 $150,000.00. 



During 1922 The Society will continue 

 its map program, issuing a New Map of 

 the Countries of the Caribbean in Feb- 

 ruary, to be followed by new maps of 

 Africa and of the World later in the 

 year. 



changes of sovereignty in the pacific 



The ownership of the islands of the 

 Pacific affords one of the most striking 

 examples known to history of the erratic 

 course of sovereignty. 



Anxious to achieve some spectacular 

 discovery in order to appease his sover- 

 eign, Ferdinand of Spain, whose dis- 

 pleasure he had incurred, Vasco Nunez 

 de Balboa, reckless adventurer and coura- 

 geous governor of the Spanish colony of 

 Darien, learned from his Indian friends 

 of a vast sea lying to the west. He crossed 

 the Isthmus of Panama and on Septem- 

 ber 25, 1 5 13, was the first European to 

 behold the ocean to which he gave the 

 name, Great South Sea. 



It was Magellan, the Portuguese, who 

 in 1520 first gave the sea the name "Pa- 

 cific" (El Mar Pacifico), after sailing for 

 many weeks over its calm waters from 

 the Straits of Magellan to one of the 

 Tuamotu group. 



^Additional copies of any o* these four 

 maps may be obtained from the headquarters 

 of the National Geographic Society in Wash- 

 ington. Cloth edition, $1.50; paper, $1.00 each. 



With these claims to discovery and early 

 navigation, Spain and Portugal were for 

 many years the only rivals in the Pacific. 

 Today Spain owns not a single palm tree 

 nor coral rock in the great ocean, and 

 Portugal's interests are confined solely 

 to the eastern portion of the island of 

 Timor, in the Malay Archipelago. 



YAP ATONE A SUBJECT OP CONTROVERSY 



About few of the thousands of coral 

 and volcanic islands is there any contro- 

 versy as to ownership, and of these the 

 status of Yap alone is occasioning diplo- 

 matic discussion, due mainly to its im- 

 portance as a cable station. 



In the wide expanse of ocean south of 

 the Hawaiian Islands are several isolated 

 "specks" which are claimed both by the 

 United States and Great Britain. Wash- 

 ington (or New York) and Christmas 

 Islands were occupied by American guano 

 companies about the middle of the last 

 century, but were subsequently deserted; 

 and, while the United States has never 

 formally renounced claim to them, their 

 guano deposits are being worked now by 

 British companies, and the islands them- 

 selves are included in official British pub- 

 lications as units of the "Gilbert and 

 Ellice Islands Colony." The proclama- 

 tion annexing Christmas Island to this 

 colony was issued as recently as Novem- 

 ber, 1919. 



In like manner, the international status 

 of Howland and Baker is in question. 

 Palmyra is claimed both by the United 

 States and Great Britain, but here it is 

 the United States which has the "eleven 

 points in the law" — possession. It was in- 

 cluded in the Hawaiian Archipelago, and 

 its one and a half square miles of coral 

 rock, inhabited by three people, is now 

 under active American administration. 



OTHER ISLANDS MAY REMAIN TO BE 

 DISCOVERED 



In the vast Pacific are scattered thou- 

 sands of islands, ranging from the world's 

 smallest continent (Australia) and sec- 

 ond largest island (New Guinea) to the 

 tiniest solitary pinnacle of coral rock and 

 tip of volcanic peak. 



Some of its smaller islands are be- 

 lieved to be as yet undiscovered, especially 

 in regions far removed from the lanes of 



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