Clipperton Island

An uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean, 1,300 miles (2,090 kilometers) southwest of Mexico, Clipperton Island is a coral atoll (2 square miles [5 square kilometers]). Discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, it was named after the English pirate John Clipperton in 1705. In 1858 the French explorer Victor le Coat de Kervéguen annexed the island to France, though he could not land on it. In 1897 the Mexican ruler Porfirio Díaz sent a military expedition to occupy the island. There was a Mexican garrison on it between 1897 and 1917. After a long legal dispute between Mexico and France, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy in 1931 arbitrated the conflicting claims in favor of France. In 1979 France assumed direct administration of the dependency.

See alsoDíaz, Porfirio; Magellan, Ferdinand.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

González Avelar, Miguel. Clipperton, isla mexicana. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1992.

Granados Barba, A. "El atolón de Clipperton: Aspectos históricos y ecológicos." Ciencia y desarrollo 25, no. 149 (November-December 1999): 16-23.

Juet, Hubert. Clipperton, l'île passion. Paris: Editions Thélès, 2004.

Labarraque-Reyssac, Claude. Les oubliés de Clipperton. Paris: André Bonne, 1970.

Niaussat, Pierre-Marie. Le Lagon et l'atoll de Clipperton. Paris: Académie des sciences d'outre-mer, 1978.

Ongay Méndez, Alfredo Fernando. "El arbitraje de la isla Clipperton. Modos de adquirir y enajenar en derecho internacional público." PhD diss., Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), 1945.

Orozco, Ricardo. La pasión es México!: La terrible tragedia de la Isla de Clipperton. Mexico, D.F.: Centro de Estudios Históricos del Porfiriato, 1998.

Sachet, Marie Hélène. "Monographie physique et biologique de l'île Clipperton." Annales de l'Institut Océanographique 40, no. 1 (1962): 1-108.

Skaggs, Jimmy M. Clipperton: A History of the Island the World Forgot. New York: Walker, 1989.

                     Reynaldo Yunuen Ortega Ortiz