Iwo Jima, officially Iōtō (硫黄島, listen (help·info): "sulfur island"), is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which makes up the southern end of the Ogasawara Islands. The island is located 1,200 kilometers (650 nautical miles) south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo. It is famous as the site of the February–March 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Japan during W...
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Iwo Jima, officially Iōtō (硫黄島, listen (help·info): "sulfur island"), is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which makes up the southern end of the Ogasawara Islands. The island is located 1,200 kilometers (650 nautical miles) south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo. It is famous as the site of the February–March 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Japan during World War II, when the iconic photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima was taken. The U.S. occupied Iwo Jima until 1968, when it was returned to Japan.
In 1779, the island was charted as Sulphur Island during Captain Cook's third surveying voyage.
Iwo Jima was traditionally called Iwōtō (Iōtō) by the Japanese. Prior to Japan's 1946 orthography reform, a historical spelling resulted in (approximately) Iwōtō (modern Iōtō). An alternative, Iwōjima (modern Iōjima)—where jima is an alternative pronunciation of tō (島, island)—also appeared in...
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