What is the name of the island?
Q: What is the name of the island?
A: The island is called Navassa Island, or La Navase in Haitian Creole.
Q: Where is it located?
A: It is located ninety miles south of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Q: Who claims ownership of the island?
A: The United States government and Haiti both claim ownership of the island.
Q: How was it named?
A: Some sailors sailing with Christopher Columbus named Navassa in 1504 because no fresh water could be found there.
Q: When did Peter Duncan give it to the U.S.?
A: Peter Duncan gave it to the U.S. in the late 1850s for guano mining purposes.
Q: Why was a lighthouse built on Navassa Island?
A: A lighthouse was built on Navassa Island after the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 as a navigational aid for ships passing through that area.
Q: When did no one live on Navassa again?
A After World War II, no one lived on it again.
