Spanish East Indies together with the Spanish West Indies, were administered through the Viceroyalty of New Spain based in Mexico City. After Mexican independence, they were ruled directly from Madrid. As a result of the Spanish–American War in 1898, the Philippines and Guam were occupied by the United States while about 6,000 of the remaining smaller islands were sold to Germany in the German–Spanish Treaty of 1899. The few remaining islands were ceded to the United States when the Treaty of Washington was ratified in 1901. Spanish contact began on , when a Spanish expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan reached the Mariana Islands.
East Cracroft Island . The island is separated from the mainland on its northwest by Chatham Channel, which leads from Knight Inlet to the entrance to Call Inlet which is to the east. Havannah Passage leads from the opening of Call Inlet south then west along the south side of the Cracroft Islands to Johnstone Strait. Hull Island is off East Cracroft's southeast in the Havannah Channel. On the island's north, separating it from Minstrel Island, is a narrows called The Blow Hole. East Cracroft Island East Cracroft Island is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast region of