The Anson Archipelago was a designation for a widely scattered group of purported islands in the Western

North Pacific Ocean North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

between

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. The group was supposed to include

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...

and

Marcus Island , also known as Marcus Island, is an isolated Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located some southeast of Tokyo and east of the closest Japanese island, South Iwo Jima of the Ogasawara Islands, and nearly on a straight line ...

, as well as many

phantom islands A phantom island is a purported island which was included on maps for a period of time, but was later found not to exist. They usually originate from the reports of early sailors exploring new regions, and are commonly the result of navigati ...

such as

Los Jardines Los Jardines or Los Buenos Jardines (Spanish for "the good gardens") are phantom islands supposedly located northeast of the Mariana Islands. The islands were reportedly visited by Spanish explorers Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón (who named them ...

Ganges Island Ganges Island, a phantom island known as in Japanese, appeared at on maps of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Reports of its disappearance appeared in 1933.Rica de Oro The Anson Archipelago was a designation for a widely scattered group of purported islands in the Western North Pacific Ocean between Japan and Hawaii. The group was supposed to include Wake Island and Marcus Island, as well as many phantom islands ...

, and

Rica de Plata The Anson Archipelago was a designation for a widely scattered group of purported islands in the Western North Pacific Ocean between Japan and Hawaii. The group was supposed to include Wake Island and Marcus Island, as well as many phantom islands ...

(the latter two sometimes referred to as Roca de Oro and Roca de Plata).James Hingston Tuckey: Maritime Geography and Statistics. Black, Parry & Company, 1815
/ref> The archipelago was named after George Anson, who seized Spanish navigational charts of these waters during his voyage around the world.

References

Phantom islands Islands of the Pacific Ocean Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean Fictional archipelagoes {{oceania-geo-stub

See also

References