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",
Battle of the Treasury Islands the operation, the New Zealand 8th Infantry Brigade Group, commanded by Brigadier Robert Row and part of the New Zealand 3rd Division, was assigned to the United States' III Amphibious Force, which assigned its Southern Force under Rear Admiral George H. Fort for the operation. Consisting of two islands, Mono and Stirling, the Treasuries are located north of Guadalcanal, and from Vella Lavella, and just from the Shortland Islands. At the time of the battle, the islands offered the Allies further opportunities to bypass large groups of Japanese forces as they advanced through the Solomons towards the main Japanese base