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 settlement in the Marshall Islands much more frequent. Japanese songs such as "Masaharu Gunto" were written in the 1930s and reflected of romantic associations between Japanese men and Marshallese women. Ethnic suspicion and hatred by the Marshallese against the Japanese settlers developed during the Second World War, as the Japanese civilian government placed increased emphasis on militarism and forcibly conscripted many Marshallese to menial labour during the Second World War. Shortly before the end of the war, a few Marshallese led independent and isolated attacks against Japanese military personnel wherever possible. Japanese settlement in the Marshall Islands Japanese settlement in the Marshall Islands was spurred