Navassa Island

Navassa Island
Lanavaz (Haitian Creole);
Île de la Navasse (French)
Map of Navassa Island
Map of Navassa Island
Navassa Island is located in Caribbean
Navassa Island
Navassa Island
Location in the Caribbean
Coordinates: 18°24′10″N 75°0′45″W / 18.40278°N 75.01250°W / 18.40278; -75.01250
Administered by United States
StatusUnorganized unincorporated territory
TerritoryUnited States Minor Outlying Islands
Claimed by Haiti
Claimed by the United StatesSeptember 19, 1857
Claimed by Haiti1697 (implicitly)
1874 (explicitly)
Government
 • BodyCaribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex (under the authority of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
 • Project LeaderSilmarie Padrón
Area
 • Land5 km2 (2.1 sq mi)
Highest elevation
85 m (279 ft)
Lowest elevation
0 m (0 ft)
Population
0
Time zoneUTC-5:00 (Eastern Time Zone)
APO / ZIP Code
96898
ISO 3166 codeUM-76
Navassa Island in 2006 from space.

Navassa Island (/nəˈvæsə/; Haitian Creole: Lanavaz; French: Île de la Navasse, sometimes la Navase) is an uninhabited island in the Windward Passage of the Caribbean Sea. Located east of Jamaica, south of Cuba, and 40 nautical miles (74 km; 46 mi) west of Jérémie on the Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti, it is subject to an ongoing territorial dispute between Haiti and the United States, which administers the island through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.[1]

The U.S. has claimed the island as an appurtenance since 1857, based on the Guano Islands Act of 1856.[2][3] Haiti's claim over Navassa goes back to the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 that recognized French, rather than Spanish, control of the western portion of the island of Hispaniola and other specifically named nearby islands.[4] However, there was no mention of Navassa in the treaty detailing terms.[5] Haiti's 1801 constitution claimed several nearby islands by name, among which Navassa was not listed, but also laid claim to "other adjacent islands", which Haiti maintains included Navassa. The U.S. claim to the island, first made in 1857, asserts that Navassa was not included among the unnamed "other adjacent islands" in the 1801 Haitian Constitution. Since the Haitian Constitution of 1874, Haiti has explicitly named "la Navase" as one of the territories it claims. It maintains that it has continuously been claimed as part of Haiti since 1801.[6][7][8][9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference U.S. Government Printing Office was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Blocher, Joseph; Gulati, Mitu (2022). "Navassa: Property, Sovereignty, and the Law of the Territories". Yale Law Journal. 131 (8): Introduction.
  3. ^ "Navassa Island: The U.S.'s 160-year Forgotten Tragedy | History News Network". historynewsnetwork.org. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  4. ^ Spadi, Fabio. "NAVASSA: LEGAL NIGHTMARES IN A BIOLOGICAL HEAVEN?". IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin, Autumn 2001. p. 116. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  5. ^ "Navassa: America's Forgotten Caribbean Island". The Institute of World Politics. February 10, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference windows on haiti navassa was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Constitution de 1874. Port-au-Prince: Haiti.
  8. ^ An America Territory in Haiti, Posted September 29, 2011, CNN iReport
  9. ^ Serge Bellegarde (October 1998). "Navassa Island: Haiti and the U.S. – A Matter of History and Geography". windowsonhaiti.com. Archived from the original on October 29, 2007. Retrieved February 6, 2008.

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