This list of islands in Spain incapsulates
the country's islands both within its
territorial borders and its overseas possessions. The total number of islands is 179.
List
Spanish Micronesia
Spain owned several Pacific islands as part of the
Spanish East Indies
The Spanish East Indies ( es , Indias orientales españolas ; fil, Silangang Indiyas ng Espanya) were the overseas territories of the Spanish Empire in Asia and Oceania from 1565 to 1898, governed for the Spanish Crown from Mexico City and Madri ...
. After its defeat in the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cloc ...
of 1898, it lost the Philippines. The
German–Spanish Treaty (1899) sold the Carolinas, Marianas and Palau to the German Empire. In 1948, Emilio Pastor Santos of the
Spanish National Research Council
The Spanish National Research Council ( es, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote res ...
found that the charts and maps up to 1899 had shown that
Kapingamarangi
Kapingamarangi is an atoll and a municipality in the state of Pohnpei of the Federated States of Micronesia. It is by far the most southerly atoll or island of the country and of the Caroline Islands, south of the next southerly atoll, Nukuoro, ...
and a few other islands had never been considered part of the
Caroline Islands
The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the ce ...
, were not included in the description of the territory transferred to Germany and were never
ceded
The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdictio ...
by Spain; therefore, Spain would retain
sovereignty
Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
.
[Weaver, Zay ''Territories under Spanish Sovereignty in Oceania'' (partial translation of Pastor y Santos, Emilio ''Territorios de Soberanía española en Oceanía''), Palau Museum, Koror, 1967] In 2014, the Spanish government closed any speculation on the issue of its possession in the Pacific with an answer in the Congress to the deputy
Jon Iñarritu. According to its interpretation, Spain yielded in 1899 every remaining possession in the Pacific.
References
{{Authority control
Spain, List of islands of
Islands
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
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