Clipperton Island (Île de Clipperton) is an uninhabited coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Central America. Clipperton has had no permanent inhabitants since 1945. It is visited on occasion by fishermen, French Navy patrols, scientific researchers, film crews, and shipwreck survivors. It has become a popular site for transmissions by ham radio operators.
The island was discovered by Alvaro Saavedra Cedrón on 15 November 1528. The expedition was commissioned by Hernán Cortés, the Spanish Conquistador in Mexico, to find a route to the Philippines. The island was rediscovered on Good Friday, 3 April 1711 by Frenchmen Martin de Chassiron and Michel Du Bocage. It was given the name Île de la Passion (Passion Island); the date of rediscovery fell within Passiontide. The first scientific expedition took place in 1725 under Frenchman M. Bocage, who lived on the island for several months. In 1858, France formally laid claim.
The current name comes from John Clipperton, an English pirate and privateer who fought the Spanish during the early 18th century, and who is said to have passed by the island. Some sources claim that he used it as a base for his raids on shipping.
Other claimants included the United States, whose American Guano Mining Company claimed it under the Guano Islands Act of 1856; Mexico also claimed it due to activities undertaken there as early as 1848–1849. On 17 November 1858 Emperor Napoleon III annexed it as part of the French colony of Tahiti. This did not settle the ownership question. Mexico reasserted its claim late in the 19th century, and on 13 December 1897 sent the gunboat La Demócrata to occupy and annex it. A colony was established, and a series of military governors was posted.
France insisted on its ownership, and a lengthy diplomatic correspondence between Mexico and France led to the conclusion of a treaty on March 2, 1909, to seek binding international arbitration by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, with each nation promising to abide by his determination.
In 1931, King Victor Emmanuel III issued his arbitral decision in the Clipperton Island Case, declaring Clipperton to be a French possession. The French rebuilt the lighthouse and settled a military outpost, which remained for seven years before being abandoned. The island was again abandoned by the end of World War II after being briefly occupied by the US from 1944–1945.
In 1981, the Academy of Sciences for Overseas Territories recommended that the island have its own economic infrastructure, with an airstrip and a fishing port in the lagoon. For this purpose, an agreement was signed with the French government, represented by the High Commissioner for French Polynesia, whereby the island became French state property.
On 21 February 2007, administration was transferred from the High Commissioner of the Republic in French Polynesia to the Minister of Overseas France.
Articles
- France & French Colony Stamps
- French Colonies Stamp Group
- French Stamps – Timbres Français
- Stamps of the French Colonies
- Stamp Thing – France and Colonies
Websites
- Carriers and Locals Society
- France and Colonies Philatelic Society (UK)
- Pacific Islands Study Circle
