Spratly Islands

The Spratly Islands

The Spratly Islands are 100 small uninhabited islands in the South China Sea. Fish are an abundant resource around the islands, and as the countries of Brunei Darussalam, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam have a commercial interest in them.. These countries share control of the islands but have varying claims of territory.

The islands are named after the British whaling captain Richard Spratly who saw Spratly Island in 1843.

The islands have less than 2 km² (490 acres) of land area.

Spratly Islands Media

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  Map of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea by Department of State (2015), showing occupation by Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines

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  A geographic map of Spratly Islands

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  The Velarde map shows actual Philippine control over Scarborough Shoal, as well as islands off of Palawan, identified as the Spratly Islands. The map was one of the key evidences in the Philippines v. China international case that debunked China's so-called nine-dash line claims.

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  The Spratlys labeled as "Los Bajos de Paragua" off the coast of Palawan (Paragua) on the 1734 Murillo Velarde map. Some shoals in the Spratlys were then considered part of Palawan in the Philippines v. China arbitration case.

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  Mao Kun map, Spratly Islands is suggested to be the islands at the bottom right (Chinese: 石星石塘; pinyin: shíxīng shítáng).

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  An 1801 Cary Map of the East Indies and Southeast Asia, with isles similar to those in the Mao Kun map. The isles are not the Paracels or Spratly Islands, but are instead identified as "Pulo Taya" and "Amphitrite".

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  An 1838 Unified Dai Nam map marking Trường Sa and Hoàng Sa, which are considered as Spratly and Paracel Islands by some Vietnamese scholars; yet they share different latitude, location, shape and distance. The Paracel claim may have been correctly identified, however, the "Spratly" claim on the map may instead be islands nearer to Vietnamese shores, instead of the actual Spratly Islands.

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  A striking large black and white British chart of the sea in northern Borneo, first issued in 1881 and corrected to 1935.

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  China's (now ROC and PRC) nine-dash line claim over the South China Sea, 1947

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  Territorial monument of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) on Southwest Cay, Spratly Islands, defining the cay as part of Vietnamese territory (Phước Tuy Province). Used from 22 August 1956 until 1975, when replaced by another one from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (successor state after the Fall of Saigon)