Howland Island National Wildlife Refuge

Howland Island National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1974 and includes 410,999 acres, of which 648 acres are terrestrial and 410,351 acres are submerged. A shallow fringing coral reef surrounds the island, but most of the submerged area is deep coral and other unexplored habitats. On January 6, 2009, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was established to include Howland Island National Wildlife Refuge within its boundaries. First written records of visitation at Howland Island occurred in the 1800s during the whaling era, however artifacts found on the island suggest that voyaging Polynesians visited before then. The island was claimed for the United States under the Guano Act of 1856 by Alfred G. Benson and Charles H. Judd in 1857, after which a total of 85,000 to 100,000 tons of guano was removed from Howland. Visitation was minimal after guano mining ended until 1935 when the government sent individuals from the military and young Native Hawaiian men to colonize Howland as well as Baker, and Jarvis Islands. The colonization project continued until January 1942 after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and several American territories, including Howland, Baker, and Jarvis. On December 8, 1941, Howland was bombed and two colonists, Joseph Keliʻihananni and Richard “Dickey” Whaley, were killed. Attacks also took place on December 10 and then on January 5 and 24. Colonists on Howland and Baker Islands were not rescued until January 31, 1942 and the last colonists were not evacuated from Jarvis until February 9, 1942. The project and the group of young men that were assigned to these expeditions became known as the Hui Panalāʻau. In 1937, a runway and refueling station were built and prepped on Howland Island for Amelia Earhart who was attempting to become the first pilot to circumnavigate the globe. Earhart and navigator Fred J. Noonan were last seen on July 1, 1937, when they departed New Guinea for Howland Island.

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