An unsigned painting of Navassa Island c. 1870 showing the brig Romance, company buildings at Lulu Town near the shore, and guano mining activity up the hillside.

Lulu Town, also known as Lulu Ville, is a now uninhabited, former settlement on Navassa Island, claimed by both the United States and neighbouring Haiti, in the Windward Passage.

Overview

Navassa Island was claimed for the United States on September 19, 1857, by Peter Duncan, an American sea captain, under the Guano Islands Act of August 18, 1856.[1] The modest settlement was created to house both mine workers and supervisors whose goal was the rich deposits of guano found on Navassa. This resource, gathered mainly from the interior of the island, was stored in Lulu Town for later shipment to the United States.[2]

Mining operations on Navassa Island were halted and the island evacuated in 1899 during the Spanish–American War. In 1901 the Navassa Phosphate Co. filed for bankruptcy and abandoned Lulu Town and rest of the island.[3]

The town lies on Lulu Bay. Its ruggedness prevents boats from landing; such small boats as regularly ply the area are mainly fishing boats from nearby Haiti.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "GAO/OGC-98-5 - U.S. Insular Areas: Application of the U.S. Constitution". Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. November 7, 1997. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  2. ↑ Hyles, Joshua (2017). "Washington's Secret Colonies: The Bizarre Story of the Guano Islands Act". Inter-American Relations: Past, Present, and Future Trends. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 156–157. ISBN 978-1-4438-7390-1. OCLC 992343683.
  3. ↑ Schwagerl, Joseph; Anadón-Irizarry, Verónica (2008). "Navassa" (PDF). In Wege, D.C.; Anadón-Irizarry, V. (eds.). Important Bird Areas in the Caribbean: Key Sites for Conservation. Cambridge, England: BirdLife International. p. 238.
  4. ↑ Bruckner, Andrew. Global Reef Expedition: Navassa, March 25–31, 2012 — Final Report (PDF) (Report). Landover, Maryland: Khaled Bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation.

18°23′46″N 75°01′06″W / 18.396°N 75.0182°W / 18.396; -75.0182

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.