Editing Clipperton Island (section)

===19th century===

====Mexican claim 1821–1858====
After its [[Declaration of Independence (Mexico)|declaration of independence]] in 1821, Mexico took possession of the lands that had once belonged to Spain. As Spanish records noted the existence of the island as early as 1528, the territory was incorporated into Mexico.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vargas |first=Jorge A. |editor-last1=Lowe |editor-first1=Vaughan |editor-last2=Churchill |editor-first2=Robin |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/754793865 |page=470 |title=Mexico and the Law of the Sea: Contributions and Compromises |date=2011 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |isbn=978-90-04-20621-2 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |oclc=754793865 |access-date=5 April 2023 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410154019/https://www.worldcat.org/title/754793865 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Constitution of Mexico|Mexican constitution of 1917]] explicitly includes the island, using the Spanish name {{lang|es|La Pasión}}, as Mexican territory. This would be amended on January 18, 1934, after the sovereignty dispute over the island was settled in favor of France.<ref>{{Cite book |editor1-last=Kraska |editor1-first=James |editor2-last=Yang |editor2-first=Hee-Cheol |date=2023 |title=Peaceful management of maritime disputes |isbn=978-1-003-37721-4 |location=[[Abingdon-on-Thames]] |publisher=Routledge |oclc=1357019799 |access-date=5 April 2023 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/1357019799 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410153944/https://www.worldcat.org/title/1357019799 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:$1 stamp of Clipperton Island.jpg|thumb|1895 $1 stamp of Clipperton Island, issued by W. Frese & Co. as an agent of the Oceanic Phosphate Company. The [[local post|local post stamps]] were used for mail travelling between Clipperton and San Francisco.<ref name="CIstamps">{{cite magazine |title=The Stamps of Clipperton Island |last=Baldus |first=Wolfgang |author-link=Wolfgang Baldus |journal=The Postal Gazette |volume=IV |issue=5 |date=October 2009 |page=42 |url=http://www.thepostalgazette.com/issues/26/Clipperton_Stamps.pdf |access-date=5 April 2023 |archive-date=6 June 2019 |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20190606083740/http://www.thepostalgazette.com/issues/26/Clipperton_Stamps.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>]]{{Text and translation
| El territorio nacional comprende el de las partes integrantes de la Federación y además el de las islas adyacentes en ambos mares. Comprende, asimismo, la isla de Guadalupe, las de Revillagigedo y la de la Pasión, situadas en el océano Pacífico.
| The national territory includes that of the integral parts of the Federation and also that of the adjacent islands in both seas. It also includes the island of Guadalupe, Revillagigedo and La Pasión, located in the Pacific Ocean.
| Mexican Constitution of 1917<ref>{{Cite journal |date=March 1917 |title=Mexican Constitution of 1917 Compared With Constitution of 1857 |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716217071001S03 |journal=[[The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science]]|volume=71 |issue=1 |pages=1–116 |doi=10.1177/0002716217071001S03 |hdl=2027/hvd.32044058928805 |s2cid=152529340 |issn=0002-7162 |access-date=5 April 2023 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405212724/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716217071001S03 |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}

====French claim (1858)====
In April 1858, French minister [[Eugène Rouher]] reached an agreement with a Mr. Lockhard of Le Havre to claim oceanic islands in the Pacific for the exploitation of guano deposits.<ref name="Tchékémian2021"/> On 17&nbsp;November 1858, [[Emperor of the French|Emperor]] [[Napoleon III]] formally annexed Clipperton as part of the French protectorate of [[Kingdom of Tahiti|Tahiti]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jost |first=Christian |date=2005-12-01 |title=Bibliographie de l'île de Clipperton – Île de La Passion (1711–2005) |url=http://journals.openedition.org/jso/481 |journal=[[Société des Océanistes|Journal de la société des océanistes]] |issue=120–121 |pages=181–197 |doi=10.4000/jso.481 |issn=0300-953X |access-date=5 April 2023 |archive-date=2 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202185735/https://journals.openedition.org/jso/481 |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}</ref> Sailing aboard Lockhart's ship ''Amiral'', Ship-of-the-line Lieutenant Victor Le Coat de Kervéguen published a notice of this annexation in Hawaiian newspapers to further cement France's claim to the island.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=15 Jan 1859 |title=Empire of France! |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/127171891/ |work=The Pacific Commercial Advertiser |location=Honolulu, Hawaii |access-date=26 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627051449/https://www.newspapers.com/article/127171891/ |archive-date=27 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pardon |first=Daniel |date=2020-05-15 |title=1858 : Napoléon III déclenche la guerre des drapeaux à Clipperton |language=fr |trans-title=1858: Napoleon III launches the War of the Flags at Clipperton |work=Tahiti Infos |url=https://www.tahiti-infos.com/1858-Napoleon-III-declenche-la-guerre-des-drapeaux-a-Clipperton_a191124.html |access-date=2023-06-01 |archive-date=1 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601190654/https://www.tahiti-infos.com/1858-Napoleon-III-declenche-la-guerre-des-drapeaux-a-Clipperton_a191124.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Guano mining claims (1892–1905)====
In 1892, a claim on the island was filed with the U.S. State Department under the U.S. [[Guano Islands Act]] by Frederick W. Permien of San Francisco on behalf of the Stonington Phosphate Company.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 15, 1898 |title=Cannot Claim Island: State Department Says Clipperton Island No Part of U.S.|volume=33 |page=2 |work=The Hawaiian Gazette |issue=13 |location=Honolulu, Hawaiʻi |editor-last=Armstrong |editor-first=W. N. |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025121/1898-02-15/ed-1/seq-2 |access-date=2023-04-23 |issn=2157-1392 |lccn=sn83025121 |oclc=9249554 |via=Library of Congress |archive-date=27 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427220734/https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025121/1898-02-15/ed-1/seq-2/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1893, Permien transferred those rights to a new company, the Oceanic Phosphate Company.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Wrighton |first=Scot |date=December 1983 |title=The Pacific Guano Rush |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/12622086-21e7-4f95-b3c8-6eb8cc03156d/content |type=MA |publisher=University of Hawaii |docket= |access-date=2023-04-04 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405013946/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/12622086-21e7-4f95-b3c8-6eb8cc03156d/content |url-status=live }}</ref> In response to the application, the State Department rejected the claim, noting France's prior claim on the island and that the claim was not bonded as was required by law.<ref>{{cite report|title=The Sovereignty of Guano Islands in the Pacific Ocean|last=Rogers|first=E.S.|date=1933-01-09|publisher=Department of State, Office of the Legal Advisor|location=Washington, D.C.|url=https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b3266546-ba11-41ea-b0ad-df1b40106580/content|pages=268–271|access-date=30 March 2023|archive-date=10 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310150255/https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b3266546-ba11-41ea-b0ad-df1b40106580/content|url-status=live}}</ref> Additionally during this time there were concerns in Mexico that the British or Americans would lay claim to the island.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores de México |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/11968605 |title=Isla de la Pasión llamada de Clipperton. Publicación oficial. |publisher=Imp. de A. García Cubas Sucesores Hermanos |year=1909 |location=Mexico City, Mexico |pages=5–7 |language=es-mx |trans-title=Passion Island called Clipperton |oclc=11968605}}</ref>

Despite the lack of U.S. approval of its claim, the Oceanic Phosphate Company began mining guano on the island in 1895.{{sfnp|Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores de México|1909|pp=3–4}} Although the company had plans for as many as 200 workers on the island, at its peak only 25 men were stationed there.<ref name="CIstamps"/> The company shipped its guano to Honolulu and San Francisco where it sold for between US$10 and US$20 per ton.<ref name="NYT18980311">{{Cite news |date=1898-03-11 |title=Mexicans Ask Indemnity; Attempt to Enforce Their Claim on Clipperton Island.|volume=XLVII |issue=15028 |pages=5 |work=The New York Times |url=https://nyti.ms/3UgSQrZ |access-date=2023-04-06 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410153939/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1898/03/11/102087378.html?zoom=14.700000000000001 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1897, the Oceanic Phosphate Company began negotiations with the British [[John T. Arundel#Pacific Islands Company Ltd|Pacific Islands Company]] to transfer its interest in Clipperton; this drew the attention of both French and Mexican officials.<ref name="SGQ1980">{{Cite journal |last1=Van Dyke |first1=Jon |last2=Brooks |first2=Robert A. |date=Fall 1980 |title=Uninhabited Islands: Their Impact on Ownership of the Ocean's Resources |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TvwjAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA23-PA19 |access-date=2023-04-06 |journal=Sea Grant Quarterly |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=19  |archive-date=6 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406144819/https://books.google.com/books?id=TvwjAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA23-PA19 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 24&nbsp;November 1897, French naval authorities arrived on the ''[[French cruiser Duguay-Trouin (1877)|Duguay Trouin]]'' and found three Americans working on the island. The French ordered the [[American flag]] to be lowered.<ref name="SGQ1980"/> At that time, U.S. authorities assured the French that they did not intend to assert American sovereignty over the island.<ref name="Dickinson1933" /><ref name="AJIL26">{{Cite journal |author=[[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy|Victor Emmanuel III]] |year=1932 |url=https://www.ilsa.org/Jessup/Jessup10/basicmats/clipperton.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.ilsa.org/Jessup/Jessup10/basicmats/clipperton.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Arbitral award on the subject of the difference relative to the sovereignty over Clipperton Island |journal=[[The American Journal of International Law]] |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=390–394 |jstor=2189369 |doi=10.2307/2189369 |s2cid=246005364}}</ref> A few weeks later, on 13&nbsp;December 1897, Mexico sent the gunboat ''La Demócrata'' and a group of marines to assert its claim on the island, evicting the Americans, raising the Mexican flag,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Arias Díaz |first=Mateo |date=2024-09-17 |title=El pleito por la Isla de Clipperton visto a través de los periódicos mexicanos y franceses durante el Porfiriato |url=http://letrashistoricas.cucsh.udg.mx/index.php/LH/article/view/7420 |journal=Letras Históricas |language=es |issue=30 |pages=28 pp.–28 pp |doi=10.31836/lh.30.7420 |access-date=2024-09-20|doi-access=free }}</ref> and drawing a protest from France.{{sfnp|Rogers|1933|pp=278–279}}<ref>{{Citation |last1=Kirchner |first1=Stefan |title=Clipperton Island |date=2023 |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-68846-6_733-1 |encyclopedia=Global Encyclopedia of Territorial Rights |pages=1–5 |editor-last=Gray |editor-first=Kevin W. |access-date=2023-12-23 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-68846-6_733-1 |isbn=978-3-319-68846-6 |last2=Ulatowski |first2=Laura}}</ref> From 1898 to 1905, the Pacific Islands Company worked the Clipperton guano deposits under a concession agreement with Mexico.<ref name="SGQ1980"/><ref>{{cite thesis |last=Ongay Mendez |first=Alfredo Fernando |date=1945 |title=El Arbitra de la Isla Clipperton Modos de Adquirir y Enajenar en Derecho International Publico |trans-title=The Clipperton Island Arbitration Modes of Acquisition and Disposal in Public International Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v9gPPwAACAAJ |publisher=Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico |language=es-mx |docket= |access-date=2023-04-05 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410153938/https://books.google.com/books?id=v9gPPwAACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1898, Mexico made a US$1.5 million claim against the Oceanic Phosphate Company for the guano shipped from the island from 1895 to 1897.<ref name="NYT18980311"/>