Wake Island

Wake Island, atoll with three islets (Wake, Wilkes, and Peale), 3 sq mi (7.8 sq km), central Pacific, between Hawaii and Guam. It is a U.S. military base and scientific research center under the jurisdiction of the Dept. of the Interior and the U.S. Air Force. There is no indigenous population. Wake Island was discovered by the Spanish in 1568, visited by the British in 1796 and named after Capt. William Wake, and annexed by the United States in 1898. The island became (1935) a commercial air base on the route to Asia and later served as a U.S. military base. In Dec., 1941, Wake Island was seized by the Japanese. U.S. forces bombed the island from 1942 until Japan's surrender in 1945. The atoll is also claimed by the Marshall Islands.

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Wake Island

Atoll, central Pacific Ocean. An unincorporated territory of the U.S., Wake Island comprises three low-lying coral islets (Wilkes, Peale, and Wake) that surround a lagoon and occupy a total land area of 2.5 sq mi (6.5 sq km). The atoll was claimed by the U.S. in 1899. In 1935 it became a stopover for transpacific commercial flights. The U.S. Navy began construction of an air and submarine base in 1939, which was half-completed when Wake was attacked and occupied by Japanese forces in December 1941. After the Japanese surrendered (1945), Wake was administered by the U.S. Air Force. Commercial flights resumed, but by 1974 Wake was being used as an emergency stopover. It is also the site of weather research stations. There is no indigenous population on the island, but there is a small contingent of civilian workers.

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Wake Island

an atoll in the N central Pacific: claimed by the US in 1899; developed as a civil and naval air station in the late 1930s. Area: 8 sq. km (3 sq. miles)