History
Dongsha Islands were found by Chinese people. The islands were recorded in the book "Guangzhou Ji" (廣州記) written by Pei Yuan (裴淵) in Jin Dynasty over 1000 years ago. Chinese fishermen fished in the sea around the Dongsha Islands by that time. A Japanese businessman named Nishizawa Yoshizi (西澤吉次?) established a guano collecting station, destroyed the Dawang joss house (大王庙), and dig graves and poured bone ashes of Chinese fishermen into the sea there, and renamed the island "Nishizawa Island" in 1908-09, but after a diplomatic confrontation, Chinese sovereignty was re-established, and Nishizawa withdrew, after being compensated by the Guangdong provincial government, and after paying compensation for the destruction of a Chinese fishermen's shrine. Japanese Naval personnel occupied Pratas Island during World War II. The Japanese Navy utilized Pratas Island as a weather station and listening outpost until May 29, 1945 when a landing party consisting of Australian Commandos and US naval personnel from the USS Bluegill SS242 raised the US flag and declared the Island as a United States territory and named it Bluegill Island. During the allied occupation a radio tower, weather station, fuel, ammo dump and several buildings were destroyed. No lives were lost during this raid as all of the Islands occupants fled just days prior to Bluegill's raid. The Islands were later restored to the Republic of China's Guangdong Province.
The islands have historically been uninhabited yet nations, including China and Japan, have claimed them to be their overseas territory. After World War II, the islands and the sea around them were mandated by United Nations.
In the Journal of Science April 1867 there is a nine page article entitled The Natural History of Pratas Island in the China Sea by Dr. Cuthbert Collingwood, Naturalist on board H.M.S. Serpent. It describes what was observed, especially bird life, during a visit of two days while the survey ship lay at anchor.
Today, the islands are administered by the Republic of China which calls them the Dongsha Islands (traditional Chinese: 東沙群島; pinyin: Dōngshā Qúndǎo; lit. East Sand Islands) and assigns them the postal code 817.
Read more about this topic: Pratas Islands
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