Midway Islands

Two low-lying coral islands in the Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian Islands chain, 1,800 km/1,120 mi northwest of Honolulu; area 6.2 sq km/2 sq mi. They used to be a naval base and had no indigenous population. The islands are individually known as Eastern and Sand; they were annexed by the USA in 1867, and are now administered by the US Department of the Interior (DOI). The naval Battle of Midway (3-6 June 1942), between the USA and Japan, was a turning point in the Pacific in World War II; the US victory marked the end of Japanese expansion in the region.

The Midway Islands were named for their location near the geographic centre of the Pacific. They were discovered by an American captain in 1859, who claimed them for the USA. In 1903, when a trans-Pacific cable station was built on Sand Island, they became a US reservation, and a naval and communications base was subsequently created here. Between 1935 and 1947 they served as a refuelling stop for Pacific flights. The naval station closed in 1993 and the islands became a wildlife refuge, open to the public and run by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the DOI.