Volcano Islands uninhabited. The first recorded sighting by Europeans was in October 1543 by Spanish navigator Bernardo de la Torre on board of carrack "San Juan de Letrán" when trying to return from Sarangani to New Spain. Iwo Jima was charted as Sufre, the old Spanish term for sulphur. The islands were uninhabited until 1889, when the two northern islands were settled by Japanese settlers from the Izu Islands. They were annexed by Japan in 1891. The population was about 1,100 in 1939, distributed among five settlements: Higashi, Minami, Nishi, Kita and Motoyama (meaning "East", "South", "West", "North" and "Mountain of Origin",
McDonald Islands (volcano) of satellite imagery noted that an eruption took place on 12 July 2005 on the northwest shore of the island. The eruption may have added a small portion to the area of the island. In 2002 the Heard Island and McDonald Islands were declared a marine reserve; this was expanded in 2014. The islands are also recognised as a World Heritage Site. McDonald Islands (volcano) The McDonald Islands () are the peaks of a volcano in the southern Indian Ocean in the vicinity of Heard Island (). The islands are Australian external territory. Prior to 1992, the volcano had not