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 Some Marshallese and Koreans reported of maltreatment by the Japanese authorities, and there was at least one case of revolt by both groups at Jelbon on Mili Atoll in which a hundred Japanese civilians and soldiers were killed. When American troops attacked the Marshall Islands between January and April 1944, Japanese troops evacuated many Japanese settlers and Korean labourers from the atolls. A few were reportedly killed in the ensuing air raids, while others who remained behind were captured as Prisoners of war after the Americans captured the atolls, together with some Japanese soldiers. After the Japanese surrender, the Japanese