Editing Spratly Islands (section)

===Early records and cartography===
In the [[Song Dynasty]] work ''[[Zhu fan zhi]]'' by [[Zhao Rugua]], the name "Thousand [[Li (unit)|Li]] Stretch of Sands" (''Qianli Changsha'', {{lang|zh-hant|千里長沙}}) and the "Ten-Thousand [[Li (unit)|Li]] of Stone Pools/Beds" (''Wanli Shitang'' {{lang|zh-hant|萬里石塘}}, or ''Wanli Shichuang'' {{lang|zh|{{linktext|萬里|石|床}}}}) were given, interpreted by some to refer to [[Paracel Islands|Paracel]] and Spratly respectively.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DKXRRfWtkw8C&pg=PA157 |title=Security Flashpoints: Oil, Islands, Sea Access and Military Confrontation |author=Jianming Shen |editor=Myron H. Nordquist |editor2=John Norton Moore |pages=156–159 |publisher=Brill |year=1998 |isbn=978-90-411-1056-5 |access-date=27 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016023230/https://books.google.com/books?id=DKXRRfWtkw8C&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>  ''Wanli Shitang'' is also recorded in the ''[[History of Yuan]]'' to have been explored by the Chinese during the Mongol-led [[Yuan dynasty]] and may have been considered by them to have been within their national boundaries.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Jianming Shen |editor1-last=Nordquist |editor1-first=Myron H. |editor2-last=Moore |editor2-first=John Norton |chapter=Territorial Aspects of the South China Sea Island Disputes |date=1998 |title=Security Flashpoints: Oil, Islands, Sea Access and Military Confrontation |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |isbn=978-90-411-1056-5 |pages=165–166 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DKXRRfWtkw8C&q=%22wang+dayuan%22+spratly&pg=PA163}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Historical Evidence To Support China's Sovereignty over Nansha Islands |date=2000-11-17 |publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China |url=http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/topics/3754/t19231.htm |access-date=2 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220023649/http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/topics/3754/t19231.htm |archive-date=20 December 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Yuan Dynasty Territorial Map">[[History of Yuan]] geographical records: ''Yuan Dynasty Territorial Map'' (元代疆域图叙)</ref> However, the Yuan also ruled over [[Korea]], [[Mongolia|Outer Mongolia]], and parts of modern [[Russia]]. They are also referenced, sometimes with different names, in the Ming dynasty.<ref name="Hainan Commandery Comprehensive Public Memorial Records">{{Citation|script-title=zh:《海南卫指挥佥事柴公墓志铬》|trans-title=[[Hainan]] [[Commandery (China)|Commandery]] Comprehensive Public Memorial Records}}</ref><ref name="miscrec">''Miscellaneous Records of the South Sea Defensive Command'' 《海南卫指挥佥事柴公墓志》</ref> For example, in the [[Mao Kun map]] dating from [[Zheng He]]'s voyage of the early 15th century, ''Shixing Shitang'' ({{lang|zh|石星石塘}}) is taken by some to mean Spratly,<ref name="security">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DKXRRfWtkw8C&pg=PA168 |title=Security Flashpoints: Oil, Islands, Sea Access and Military Confrontation |author=Jianming Shen |editor1=Myron H. Nordquist |editor2=John Norton Moore |pages=168–169 |publisher=Brill |year=1998 |isbn=978-90-411-1056-5 |access-date=19 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510102428/https://books.google.com/books?id=DKXRRfWtkw8C&pg=PA168&lpg=PA168 |archive-date=10 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> however different authors interpret the identities of these islands differently.<ref name="mills" /> Another Ming text, ''Haiyu'' (海語, On the Sea), uses ''Wanli Changsha'' ({{lang|zh|萬里長沙}}) for Spratly and noted that it is located southeast of ''Wanli Shitang'' (Paracels).<ref name="security" /> When the Ming Dynasty collapsed, the [[Qing dynasty]] continued to include the territory in maps compiled in 1724,<ref>''Qing dynasty provincial map from [[tianxia]] world map'' 《清直省分图》之《天下总舆图》</ref> 1755,<ref>''Qing dynasty circuit and province map from Tianxia world map'' 《皇清各直省分图》之《天下总舆图》</ref> 1767,<ref>''Great Qing of 10,000-years Tianxia map'' 《大清万年一统天下全图》</ref> 1810,<ref>'' Great Qing of 10,000-years general map of all territory'' 《大清万年一统地量全图》</ref> and 1817,<ref name="Great Qing tianxia overview map">''Great Qing tianxia overview map'' 《大清一统天下全图》</ref> but did not officially claim jurisdiction over these islands. 

An early European map, ''A correct chart of the China Seas'' of 1758 by William Herbert, left the Spratly Islands region (known then as the Dangerous Ground) as largely blank, indicating that region has yet to be properly surveyed, although some islands and shoals at its western edge were marked (one appears at the same place as [[Thitu Island]]).<ref name="hancox">{{cite journal |journal=Maritime Briefing |volume=1 |issue=6 |pages=31–32 |author=David Hancox and Victor Prescott|year=1995 |title=A Geographical Description of the Spratly Islands and an Account of Hydrographic Surveys Amongst Those Islands}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Herbert |first=William |year=1758 |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232145983/view |title=A correct chart of the China Seas: containing the coasts of Tsiompa Cochin China, The Gulf of Tonquin, Part of the coast of China and the Philippine Islands |via=Trove, National Library of Australia |access-date=19 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140019/http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232145983/view |archive-date=12 June 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> A number of maps of the South China Sea were later produced, but the first map that gives a reasonably accurate delineation of the Spratly Islands region (titled ''[South] China Sea, Sheet 1'') was only published in 1821 by the hydrographer of the East India Company James Horsburgh after a survey by Captain Daniel Ross. A later 1859 edition of the map named the Spratly Island as Storm Island.<ref name="hancox" /> The islands were sporadically visited throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries by mariners from different European powers (including [[Richard Spratly]], after whom the island group derives its most recognisable English name, who visited the group in the 1840s in his [[whaler]] [[Cyrus (1800 whaler)|''Cyrus'']]).<ref>MARITIME BRIEFING, Volume I, Number 6: A Geographical Description of the Spratly Island and an Account of Hydrographic Surveys Amongst Those Islands, 1995 by David Hancox and Victor Prescott. Pages 14–15</ref> However, these nations showed little interest in the islands.  In 1883, German boats surveyed the Spratly and the Paracel Islands but eventually withdrew the survey, after receiving protests from the [[Guangdong]] government representing the [[Qing dynasty]].  China sent naval forces on inspection tours in 1902 and 1907 and placed flags and markers on the islands.<ref name="Severino2011">{{cite book |title=Where in the World is the Philippines?: Debating Its National Territory |first=Rodolfo |last=Severino |edition=illustrated |year=2011 |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=83BIxG7Ig2cC&pg=PA76 |isbn=978-981-4311-71-7 |pages=74, 76 |access-date=29 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101102529/https://books.google.com/books?id=83BIxG7Ig2cC&pg=PA76 |archive-date=1 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

A Vietnamese map from 1834 also combines the Spratly and Paracel Islands into one region known as "Vạn Lý Trường Sa", a feature commonly incorporated into maps of the era ({{script|Hani|萬里長沙}}) ‒ that is, the same as the aforementioned Chinese island name ''Wanli Changsha''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nansha.org.cn/maps/7/da_nan_yi_tong_quan_tu.html|title=大南一统全图|work=nansha.org.cn|access-date=7 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303074856/http://www.nansha.org.cn/maps/7/da_nan_yi_tong_quan_tu.html|archive-date=3 March 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[Hanoi]], Vietnamese maps record Bãi Cát Vàng (''Golden Sandbanks'', referring to both the Spratly and Paracel Islands), which lay near the coast of the central Vietnam, as early as 1838.<ref name="KING" /> In ''Phủ Biên Tạp Lục'' (''The Frontier Chronicles'') by scholar [[Lê Quý Đôn]], both [[Hoàng Sa]] and [[Trường Sa]] were defined as belonging to the Quảng Ngãi District. He described it as where sea products and shipwrecked cargoes were available to be collected. Vietnamese text written in the 17th century referenced government-sponsored economic activities during the [[Lê dynasty]], 200&nbsp;years earlier. The Vietnamese government conducted several geographical surveys of the islands in the 18th century.<ref name="KING" /> Despite the fact that China and Vietnam both made a claim to these territories simultaneously, at the time, neither side was aware that its neighbour had already charted and made claims to the same stretch of islands.<ref name="KING">{{wikicite|reference=King C. Chen, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vY4tBfqGvZ4C China's War with Vietnam] (1979) [https://books.google.com/books?id=vY4tBfqGvZ4C&pg=PA42 ''Dispute over the Paracels and Spratlys'', pp. 42–48].|ref={{harvid|King|1979}}}}</ref>

In 1888 the Central Borneo Company were granted a lease to work guano "on Sprattly island and Amboyna Cay".<ref>{{Cite web |title=FO 881/5741 |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3652759 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220012213/https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3652759 |archive-date=20 February 2020 |access-date=20 February 2020}}</ref> During the [[Second World War]] troops from [[French Indochina]] and [[Imperial Japanese Navy|Japan]] were in occupation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Timeline |url=http://www.spratlys.org/history/spratly-islands-history-timeline.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140321055855/http://www.spratlys.org/history/spratly-islands-history-timeline.htm |archive-date=21 March 2014 |access-date=21 March 2014 |work=History of the Spratlys}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Chemillier-Gendreau |first=Monique |title=Sovereignty Over the Paracel and Spratly Islands |publisher=Kluwer Law International |year=2000 |isbn=978-90-411-1381-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.ukho.gov.uk/PRODUCTSANDSERVICES/PAPERPUBLICATIONS/Pages/NauticalPubs.aspx |title=China Sea pilot |publisher=UKHO – United Kingdom Hydrographic Office |year=2010 |edition=8th |volume=1 |location=Taunton |access-date=21 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140321094148/https://www.ukho.gov.uk/PRODUCTSANDSERVICES/PAPERPUBLICATIONS/Pages/NauticalPubs.aspx |archive-date=21 March 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1956 Filipino adventurer [[Tomás Cloma|Tomás Cloma Sr.]] decided to "claim" a part of Spratly islands as his own, naming it the "[[Free Territory of Freedomland]]".<ref>{{cite news |date=13 January 2014 |title=China and Philippines: The reasons why a battle for Zhongye (Pag-asa) Island seems unavoidable |url=http://chinadailymail.com/2014/01/13/the-reasons-why-a-battle-for-zhongye-pag-asa-island-seems-unavoidable/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302121950/http://chinadailymail.com/2014/01/13/the-reasons-why-a-battle-for-zhongye-pag-asa-island-seems-unavoidable/ |archive-date=2 March 2014 |access-date=21 March 2014 |newspaper=China Daily Mail}}</ref>

In the 1950s, a group of individuals claimed sovereignty over the islands in the name of Morton F. Meads, supposedly an American descendant of a British naval captain who gave his name to Meads Island (Itu Aba) in the 1870s. In an affidavit made in 1971, the group claimed to represent the Kingdom of Humanity/[[Republic of Morac-Songhrati-Meads]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Samuels|first1=Marwyn|title=Contest for the South China Sea|date=1982|publisher=Methuen|location=UK|isbn=978-0-416-33140-0|page=81|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Qz8AQAAQBAJ|access-date=30 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101132938/https://books.google.com/books?id=8Qz8AQAAQBAJ|archive-date=1 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> which they asserted was in turn the successor entity for a supposed Kingdom of Humanity established between the two world wars on Meads Island, allegedly by the son of the British captain. This claim to this would-be [[micronation]] fell dormant after 1972, when several members of the group drowned in a typhoon.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Samuels|first1=Marwyn|title=Contest for the South China Sea|date=1982|publisher=Methuen|location=UK|isbn=978-0-416-33140-0|pages=168–172}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The United States in Asia: A Historical Dictionary|last=Shavit|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWdZTaJdc6UC&pg=PA285|page=285|year=1990|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-26788-8}}</ref><ref name="fowler">{{cite book |last1=Fowler |first1=Michael |last2=Bunck |first2=Julie Marie |title=Law, Power, and the Sovereign State |pages=54–55 |year=1995 |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |isbn=978-0-271-01470-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oAp_97VvpMIC&q=%22James+George+Meads%22&pg=PA54}}</ref><ref name="latimes">{{cite news|last=Whiting|first=Kenneth|title=Asian Nations Squabble Over Obscure String of Islands|work=Los Angeles Times|page=A2|date=2 February 1992}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:MAO KUN MAP-19.jpg|In the [[Mao Kun map]], Spratly Islands are suggested to be the islands at the bottom right ({{zh|labels=no |c=石星石塘 |p=shíxīng shítáng}}).<ref name="security" /> Others however believe they referred to the [[Paracel Islands]] or [[Macclesfield Bank]].<ref name="mills">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DjQ9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA272|title=Ying-Yai Sheng-Lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores |author=J.V. Mills |pages=Appendix 1 and 2|publisher=White Lotus Press |isbn=978-974-8496-78-8|year=1970}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.eastasianhistory.org/sites/default/files/article-content/32-33/EAH32-33_05.pdf |title=The South China Sea and Its Coral Reefs during the Ming and Qing Dynasties: Levels of Geographical Knowledge and Political Control |author=Ulises Granados |journal=East Asian History |volume=32/33 |year=2006 |pages=109–128 |access-date=6 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801234520/http://www.eastasianhistory.org/sites/default/files/article-content/32-33/EAH32-33_05.pdf |archive-date=1 August 2019}}</ref>
File:Carta_Hydrographica_y_Chorographica_de_las_Yslas_Filipinas_Dedicada_al_Rey_Nuestro_Señor_por_el_Mariscal_d._Campo_D._Fernando_Valdes_Tamon_Cavallº_del_Orden_de_Santiago_de_Govor._Y_Capn.jpg|The [[Velarde map]] shows Galit, Pancot, and Lumbay, which the Philippines identifies as the [[Scarborough Shoal]] and islands off of [[Palawan]]. It was used in the [[South China Sea Arbitration]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 September 2019 |title=Ever heard of the 1734 Murillo Velarde map and why it should be renamed? |url=https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/240646-why-we-should-rename-1734-murillo-velarde-map |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927034721/https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/240646-why-we-should-rename-1734-murillo-velarde-map |archive-date=27 September 2019 |access-date=6 May 2020}}</ref>
File:Bajos_de_Paragua,_detail_in_Carta_Hydrographica_y_Chorographica_de_las_Yslas_Filipinas.jpg|The Spratlys labeled as ''"Los Bajos de Paragua"'' off the coast of [[Palawan]] (''Paragua'') on the [[Velarde map]]
File:1801 Cary Map of the East Indies and Southeast Asia ( Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Philippines) - Geographicus - EastIndies-cary-1801.jpg|An 1801 Cary Map of the East Indies and Southeast Asia showing Panacot, the Scarborough Shoal, Amphitrite, the Paracels, and what is now known as the Spratlys
File:DaiNamNhatThongToanDo 1834-1838.jpg|An 1838 Unified Dai Nam map marking [[Trường Sa]] and [[Hoàng Sa]], which are considered as Spratly and [[Paracel Islands]] by some Vietnamese scholars
File:China Sea - Southern Portion - Eastern Sheet.png|A British chart of the sea in northern Borneo, first issued in 1881 and corrected in 1935
</gallery>