OkidaitÅjima
Oki Daitō (Japanese冲 大 东 岛, -jima/-shima, literally " remote Daitō Island ", formerly Rasa ,ラサ 島, Rasa -tō ) is the southernmost island of the Japanese Daitō Islands in the Philippine Sea. Administratively, the island belongs to the municipality Kitadaito of Okinawa Prefecture.
Geography
The uninhabited island is relatively isolated some 150 km south of Minami- Daitō, the largest island of the archipelago and 160 km south of Kita- Daitō, is managed by the from them. From Naha on Okinawa, the seat of the prefecture, it is 408 kilometers away. Like all Daitō Islands is also Oki Daitō an upscale atoll with a steep cliff coast of limestone - the former fringing reef of the atoll - as well as a deeper level - the former lagoon - the interior of the island. Oki Daitō is approximately triangular in shape with a circumference of about 4.5 kilometers and has an area of 1.15 km ². The island is surrounded by a coral reef on the coast reaches a height of up to 33 meters above the sea.
History
Maybe the island was discovered on May 8, 1643 by the Dutch Maarten Gerritszoon Vries and Hendrik Corneliszoon Schaep as part of an expedition and baptized Breskens Eylant. Despite the wrong coordinates a sighting of the British Captain John Meares of 5 April 1788 who baptized the islands Grampus Isles, as secured applies. 1815, the island of seafarers of the Spanish frigate San Fernando de Magallanes was rediscovered. She was christened Isla Rasa and their position has been correctly determined. 1900 brought first Japan 's claim to the island and had intensive guano from the Rasa -tō Rinko KK founded specifically to (ラサ 島燐 礦株 式 會社today: Rasa Kōgyō KK) break down. During this period, 1911-1945, Oki Daitō was inhabited by up to 2000 people; a settlement was located in the west of the island. After the 2nd World War, the island of the United States Navy was used as a shooting range.