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",
Japanese expatriates in the Solomon Islands some of whom were not very fluent in Japanese. Okinawan fishermen used a simplified form of Pijin when communicating with the Solomon Islander fishermen, often incorporating Okinawan loanwords. The modified Pijin that was used by Okinawan fishermen was often criticised by Solomon Islanders, and was occasionally called a "beach language" local, informal contexts. Japanese expatriates in the Solomon Islands A small, resident expatriate community of Japanese nationals was present in Solomon Islands from the 1970s onwards. Japanese nationals in Solomon Islands are usually employees of fishing corporations that had established branch companies in the country. The majority of them are