Farallon de Pajaros

Farallón de Pájaros (from SpanishFarallón de Pájaros, meaning "Birds' Sea Stack", see Stack (geology)), also known as Urracas (from Spanish Urracas, meaning "Magpies"), is a small (2.3 km²) uninhabited volcanic island, the northernmost island and also farthest west in the Northern Mariana Islands chain.

Presumably Farallon de Pajaros was never permanently inhabited.

Farallón de Pájaros was ceded by Spain to Germany through the German–Spanish Treaty (1899), together with the rest of the Mariana Islands (except Guam). The formalities of the cession were carried out on November 17, 1899, in Saipan, for all the Northern Mariana Islands.

From 1899 to 1914, Farallón de Pájaros was controlled by the German Empire and was administered as part of the colony of German New Guinea. In 1903 the island was leased to a Japanese company, which hunted birds whose feathers were exported to Japan and then to Paris.^[2]

After World War I, the island was awarded to the Empire of Japan, by the League of Nations as part of the South Seas Mandate. After World War II, Farallón de Pájaros was awarded to the United States as part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and is currently administered as part of the Northern Islands Municipality of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

In 1985, per the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the island was designated as a wilderness area for the protection and conservation of natural resources. Since 2009, the island has been part of Marianas Trench Marine National Monument of the United States.^[3]

Farallón de Pájaros es la isla más al norte de la cadena de las Marianas. Se encuentra a 65 kilómetros (40 millas) al noroeste de las Islas Maug y a 591 km (367 millas) al norte de Saipán , la isla principal de las Islas Marianas del Norte. Su vecino del norte es Iwo Jima del Sur de las Islas Ogasawara de Japón , ubicada a 541 km (336 millas) de distancia.     

Farallón de Pájaros es casi circular, con una longitud de 1,8 km (1,1 mi) , un ancho de 1,6 km (0,99 mi) y una superficie de 2,3 km² (0,89 mi² ⁾ . [ ^{4 ] Farallón} de Pájaros es la cima de un estratovolcán activo con una altura de 360 ​​metros (1180 pies) sobre el nivel del mar. La base de este estratovolcán se encuentra a unos 2000 pies (610 m) bajo el nivel del mar y tiene un diámetro de entre 15 y 20 kilómetros.         

• Okinotorishima

• Horst Lehne y Christoph Gäbler: Über die Marianen. Lehne-Verlag, Wohldorf en Alemania 1972.
• Russell E. Brainard et al.: Informe de monitoreo del ecosistema de arrecifes de coral del archipiélago de las Marianas: 2003–2007. (= Publicación especial del PIFSC , SP-12-01) NOAA Fisheries, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center 2012 ( Capítulo Farallon de Pajaros (inglés, PDF, 10,4 MB)).

• «Farallón de Pájaros» . Programa Global de Vulcanismo . Institución Smithsonian .