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Updates: 

Tom Gaylord points out that, by a legal fluke, Palmyra Atoll is an incorporated territory. See this Department of the Interior  page for a full explanation.

The HASC codes were omitted from the main table below. I have now added them.

Country overview: 

Short name	UNITED STATES MINOR OUTLYING ISLANDS
ISO code	UM
FIPS code	UM
Language	English (en)
Time zone	(see table)
Capital	none

 

These islands were acquired haphazardly by the United States, and because of their isolation, they were administered separately from the states. Some of them were occupied by the Japanese during World War II.

Other names of country: 

1. French: Îles fp Mineures éloignées des États-Unis mp
2. German: Amerikanisch-Ozeanien n, Amerikanische kleinere abgelegene Inseln fp im Pazifik m
3. Turkish: Minor Outlying Adaları Birleşik Devletleri

Origin of name: 

descriptive

Primary subdivisions: 

United States Minor Outlying Islands is divided into eight unincorporated territories and one incorporated territory.

Territory	HASC	ISO	FIPS	FIPS#	Tz	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)
Baker Island	UM.FQ	81	FQ	050	-12	0	3	1
Howland Island	UM.HQ	84	HQ	100	-12	0	3	1
Jarvis Island	UM.DQ	86	DQ	150	-10	0	4	2
Johnston Atoll	UM.JQ	67	JQ	200	-10	1,325	3	1
Kingman Reef	UM.KQ	89	KQ	250	-11	0	1	0
Midway Islands	UM.MQ	71	MQ	300	-11	453	5	2
Navassa Island	UM.BQ	76	BQ	350	-5	0	5	2
Palmyra Atoll	UM.LQ	95	LQ	400	-11	0	10	4
Wake Island	UM.WQ	79	WQ	450	12	195	8	3
9 territories						1,973	42	16
Territory: Palmyra Atoll is incorporated; the rest are unincorporated. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. They originated in a FIPS Standard. In table 2 of FIPS PUB 5-2, U.S. Minor Outlying Islands is listed as a state-level division of the United States. As such, its State Numeric Code is 74 and its State Alpha Code is UM. In table 3, its nine divisions are listed. They are assigned the codes in this column, under the heading "FIPS State Numeric Code". FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, in which these entities are treated as separate countries. FIPS#: Three-digit county codes from FIPS PUB 55-2, where these entities are treated as counties and United States Minor Outlying Islands is treated as a state or territory. Tz: Offset from GMT to local time in hours. Daylight saving time is not observed. Population: 1990-04-01 census Capitals: These islands, even when inhabited, don't have named cities on them.

Territorial extent: 

1. Johnston Atoll includes Johnston, Sand, Hikina, and Akan islands.
2. Midway Islands includes Sand and Eastern islands.
3. Palmyra Atoll is a cluster of islands, of which Cooper is the largest.
4. Wake Island includes Wake, Peale, and Wilkes atolls.

Origins of names: 

1. Johnston Island: named for Charles James Johnston, who discovered the island in 1807.
2. Kingman Reef: discovered by Captain W. E. Kingman in 1853.
3. Midway Islands: about midway between California and Japan.
4. Wake Island: discovered by Captain William Wake in 1796.

Change history: 

1. 1912: The United States annexed Palmyra Atoll to Hawaii. It had previously been claimed by both Great Britain and Hawaii.
2. 1922: U.S. annexed Kingman Reef.
3. 1935: Baker and Howland Islands, formerly claimed by Great Britain, became U.S. territories. United States laid claim to Jarvis Island.
4. 1959-08-21: Palmyra Atoll split from Hawaii when the latter became a state.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Jarvis Island: Jervis Island (variant)
2. Midway Islands: Îles Midway (French); Ilhas Midway (Portuguese); Islas Midway (Spanish); Midwayinseln (German); Brooks Islands (obsolete)

Population history:

Division	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990
Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands	N/A	10	0	0	0	0	0
Johnston Atoll	N/A	69	46	156	150	327	1,325
Midway Islands	36	437	416	2,356	2,220	453	453
Wake Island	N/A	N/A	349	1,097	1,647	302	195