copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2015-09-08): The Minerva Reefs (Tongan: Ongo Teleki), briefly de facto independent in 1972 as the Republic of Minerva, are a group of two submerged atolls located in the Pacific Ocean south of Fiji and Tonga. The reefs were named after the whaleship Minerva, wrecked on what became known as South Minerva after setting out from Sydney in 1829. Many other ships would follow, for example the Strathcona, which was sailing north soon after completion in Auckland in 1914. In both cases most of the crew saved themselves in whaleboats or rafts and reached the Lau Islands in Fiji. Of some other ships, however, no survivors are known. [...] In 2005, Fiji made it clear that they did not recognize any maritime water claims by Tonga to the Minerva Reefs under the UNCLOS agreements. In November 2005, Fiji lodged a complaint with the International Seabed Authority concerning Tonga's maritime waters claims surrounding Minerva. Tonga lodged a counter claim, and the Principality of Minerva micronation claimed to have lodged a counter claim. In 2010 the Fijian Navy destroyed navigation lights at the entrance to the lagoon. In late May 2011, they again destroyed navigational equipment installed by Tongans. In early June 2011, two Royal Tongan Navy ships were sent to the reef to replace the equipment, and to reassert Tonga's claim to the territory. Fijian Navy ships in the vicinity reportedly withdrew as the Tongans approached.[5][6]
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-02-25): The ownership of Minerva Reefs has been an unresolved issue between Fiji and Tonga for quite a while. Minerva reefs is a group of two submerged atolls named after the whaling ship Minerva that wrecked there in 1829. [...] But in November 2005 Fiji complained to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) claiming Minerva was part of its territory. The claim was countered by Tonga without the ISA reaching any conclusion and arguments between the two countries have continued.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-07-12): The Minerva Reefs (Template:Lang-to) are a group of two submerged atolls located in the Pacific Ocean south of Fiji and Tonga. The islands are the subject of a territorial dispute between both nations, and in addition were briefly claimed by American Libertarians as the centre of a micronation, the Republic of Minerva. [...] In 2005, Fiji declared that it did not recognize any maritime water claims by Tonga to the Minerva Reefs under the UNCLOS agreements. In November 2005, Fiji lodged a complaint with the International Seabed Authority concerning Tonga's maritime waters claims surrounding Minerva. Tonga lodged a counter claim. In 2010 the Fijian Navy destroyed navigation lights at the entrance to the lagoon. In late May 2011, they again destroyed navigational equipment installed by Tongans. In early June 2011, two Royal Tongan Navy ships were sent to the reef to replace the equipment, and to reassert Tonga's claim to the territory. Fijian Navy ships in the vicinity reportedly withdrew as the Tongans approached.[16][17][18] [...] - ↑ Has Minerva got a king or a president? Pacific Islands Monthly, August 1972, p13 - ↑ Song, Lili (2019). "The Curious History of the Minerva Reefs: Tracing the Origin of Tongan and Fijian Claims over the Minerva Reefs". The Journal of Pacific History. 54 (3): 417–430. doi:10.1080/00223344.2019.1573664. S2CID 166321414.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-06-05): As you can see on the above satellite image, the Minerva Reefs are on a major under ocean ridge line. They are a couple of coral lagoon with almost nothing above the water at high tide and a substantial wall of coral deadening the ocean swell at low tide. [...] Both North and South Minerva Reefs lagoons has a small break in the coral wall to allow a boat to access. The access passages into the lagoons are not big, so daylight is essential to make sure I do not add Logic to the numerous boat that have been wreck on the reefs. North Minerva Reef has a more substantial coral rim to the lagoon, which makes it a better protected anchorage from the ocean swell. We ended up being able to make it into South Minerva Reef’s lagoon, in daylight, which would have not been the case if we had of continued the additional 24miles to North Minerva.I took the boat into the western lee of the island to try and catch a fish as we motored around to the entry of the lagoon. Which proved to be an ideal call as we caught a 4kg Big Eye Tuna, the Rolls Royce of sashimi tuna species.Compared to the coral reefs I had anchored in amongst , in the Great Barrier Reef, off the Australian coast, it was relatively easy to entre to South Minerva Reef’s lagoon, but I still would not have liked to do it without daylight to confirm there were no coral bommies in our path.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-08-11): On 24 February 1972 Tonga made a claim over the Minerva Reefs, which was backed by Australia, New Zealand (including the Cook Islands), Fiji, Nauru and Samoa. A Tongan expedition was sent to enforce the claim, arriving on 18 June 1972. In 1982 a group of Americans led again by Davis tried to occupy the reefs, but were forced off by Tongan troops after three weeks.[2] No known claimant group since 1982 has made any attempt to take possession of the Minerva Reefs. According to Reason, Minerva has today been "more or less reclaimed by the sea".[3] [...] Consequently, a conference of the neighboring states (Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Nauru, Samoa, and territory of Cook Islands) met on 24 February 1972 at which Tonga made a claim over the Minerva Reefs, and the rest of the states recognized its claim.[10] [...] - ^ "The Curious History of the Minerva Reefs: Tracing the Origin of Tongan and Fijian Claims Over the Minerva Reefs". Taylor and Francis. February 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-07-12): In 1972, the "utopian" Republic of Minerva made its first appearance in the New York Times in a story headlined "South Sea Reef Proclaimed a Republic by 3 Americans." Michael Oliver, one of the three founders, explained that he wanted to create an "escape from high taxes, riots, drugs, and crime" and did it through an old-fashioned colonial land grab. Oliver and his partners chose the Minerva Reef—named after a ship that was wrecked on it in the 1820s—which is about 450 miles south of Fiji and 260 miles east of Tonga. During low tide, it’s only partially submerged. They intended to build a 400-acre artificial island over the reef and turn it into a resort that would "sparkle like a jewel in the blue South Pacific," according to one of the Republic of Minerva’s self-published newspapers. They hoped to attract tens of thousands of residents and base their governance structure on zero taxes, no welfare, no subsidies, and no economic intervention. [...] According to some accounts, the Tongan government retaliated by dropping a box of emergency supplies labeled "supplied and maintained by the Tongan government" to establish ownership of the reefs. The Republic of Minerva’s founders showed no signs of backing off, so in June of 1972, the King of Tonga proclaimed that the reefs were part of his country and planted a Tongan flag on the reef.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2011-06-21): The rescue of Colonel David Mara from Fiji water first of all demonstrated to Fiji that Tonga will use force to protect its sovereignty over Minerva aka Teleki Tonga and Teleki Tokelau, and Tonga is quiet capable of protecting its own territory. The Tongan official stand on the Minerva Reef is: [...] j. Minerva has been recognised by international organisations as under the Tongan sovereignty since 1972 as shown by the two maps from [the] International Atlas contrary to some Fijian claims of recognition. k. The Fiji illegal government's willingness to talk about the claim of Minerva should not be recognized by Tonga, unless Fiji returns to democracy and elects a legitimate government and in the meantime Tonga has submitted its territorial and EEZ claims to the UN.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-05-21): The Minerva reefs are two atolls in the Pacific Ocean and are located south of Fiji and Tonga. They lie below sea level and were discovered when the Rosalia shipwrecked there in 1807. Another shipwreck, the whaleship Minerva, gave its name to the reefs. In the early 1970s libertarian millionaire Michael J. Oliver erected the Ocean Life Research Foundation and reclaimed the reefs from the sea with tons of sand shipped in from Australia, he planned to build a resort there, Sea City, based upon libertarian principles: ‘no taxation, welfare, subsidies, or any form of economic interventionism’. He declared the independence of the Republic of Minerva in 1972, but this was not accepted by Tonga, the rightful owner of the reefs according to the South Pacific Forum. Ten years later another group of Americans made another attempt to claim the reefs but they were forced off by Tongan forces. Now the reefs are ‘more or less reclaimed by the sea’.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2014-07-04): Tonga's land minister Lord Ma'afu suggests ceding the Minerva Reefs in return for Fiji's Lau Islands group. He told the Tonga Daily News, external, "We have a lot of our own people with Lauan ancestry and a lot of Lauans with Tongan ancestry... our history dates back a long, long time. So in good faith I will propose to Fiji's foreign minister that they can have Minerva Reef and we get Lau in return". Lord Ma'afu is named after a Tongan prince who tried to conquer Lau in the 19th century. Possession of Minerva Reefs grants rights to possibly lucrative undersea minerals. Tonga annexed the atolls in 1972 to forestall attempts by US, Australian and other prospectors to develop it. Fiji does not recognise Tonga's claim to maritime waters around the reefs, and filed a complaint with the International Seabed Authority in 2005.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2018-10-31): Blackspotted Puffer (Arothon nigropunctatus) at South Minerva Reef / Teleki Tonga, a disputed territory in the South Pacific between Tonga and Fiji.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2018-10-31): Aerial view of North Minerva Reef also known as Teleki Tokelau, a disputed territory in the South Pacific between Tonga and Fiji.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-12-28): In the mean time we are constantly watching the two systems. The larger system on the NW got a name…cyclone Lola. Her trajectory is over Vanuatu and then moving over Fiji. The lower storm (not called a cyclone yet) is still being called a Tropical Storm. But as you can see, lots of boats have decided to leave Fiji, Minerva Reef and Vanuatu to get to safer territories. Keep in mind that the boats are miles apart – we cannot see any of them.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2011-06-13): Minerva Reef, remote, safe anchorage, pristine - but stay away! SW [...] The Fijians, recognising that Minerva Reef is a sore point with Tonga, who claims ownership of the remote reef, placed one of their warships in the lagoon of the remote atoll, much to the anger of the Tongans. This week two Tongan navy patrol boats returned from the atolls claiming that they had chased away a Fijian Navy warship they found in the lagoon. Tonga first claimed the two unpopulated Minerva Reefs in 1971 after an American tried to create a republic on them. The Pacific Forum recognised the Tongan action, but Fiji did not. Last year Tonga erected a beacon at a lagoon popular with yachties heading to and from New Zealand, but the Fijians destroyed it.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2011-05-27): The Fiji government stated Friday that the controversial Minerva Reef is inside Fiji's Exclusive Economic Zone and this is determined by geographical coordinates. [...] The Fiji government stated that the coordinates deposited and specified in the Marine Spaces Act defined Fiji's Exclusive Economic Zone and according to the coordinates Minerva Reef falls within Fiji's Exclusive Economic Zone.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2010-11-27): An email from Peter Sidler of the vessel Green Coral was forwarded to us with this report: "During the morning of November 20, we and one other sailing yacht entered the North Minerva Reef and anchored there. Three other boats were already there. One left immediately after we anchored. One other boat left around noon. On leaving the Minerva Reef, that boat was hailed by a patrol boat and questions about ‘where from’ and ‘where to’ were asked. "Around 1:00 p.m. the three remaining boats anchored in the Minerva Reef were hailed by the patrol boat. Each yacht was asked about its last port, next port and if they had permission to anchor in the Minerva Reef. All three yachts had Vava’u, Tonga, as their last port, and at least one yacht said they had written permission for a stopover in Minerva Reef on their clearance. By then we still believed that we were talking to a patrol boat from Tonga. To our surprise they told us that the permission from Vava’u was no good, that we had to get permission from Suva, Fiji, and that we had to leave the Minerva Reef immediately. "We and the other boats argued that we believed Minerva Reef to be Tongan territory but the only response we got was: ‘No, you have to get permission from Suva.’ We were given 30 minutes to prepare for departure and leave. We left the Minerva Reef angry and frustrated and continued our journey towards Opua."
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-09-15): - O’Connell, supra note 37, p. 197. The King of Tonga personally visited the Minerva Reefs together with ministers and other personnel, and officially declared Tonga’s sovereignty over all islands, rocks, reefs, and water areas within a radius of 12 nautical miles from these two reefs, which are within the Kingdom of Tonga’s fishery area. S. Menefee, "‘Republics of the Reefs:’ Nation-Building on the Continental Shelf and in the World’s Oceans," California Western International Law Journal, vol. 25 (1994), p. 100. Tonga subsequently set an EEZ surrounding "the territorial sea of Tonga" of 200 nautical miles from the baseline. The Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone Act, Act No. 30 of 23 October 1978, as amended by Act No. 19 of 1989. http://www.un.org/Septs/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/TON_1989_Act.pdf, accessed February 16, 2007.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-06-08): The Minerva Reefs are a kind of diplomatic pub quiz that usually gets rival teams raising hostile voices. Fiji says it owns them. Tonga, which used one of its gunboats to chase away Fijians who vandalised it, says they are Tongan. As a result, Suva and Nuku’alofa can not agree on their exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf border. [...] Two submerged atolls (at 23°40'S., 179°00'E.) 30 kilometres apart make up the Minerva reefs. They are named after an Australian whaling ship wrecked there in 1829. Although South Minerva’s lagoon offers a somewhat sheltered anchorage (popular with Aotearoa yachts going to and from Fiji and Tonga), both reefs only appear above sea level at low tide. For anything to qualify as an island, the 1958 Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone rules it has to be visible and able to be occupied at high tide. No one lives at Minerva. Claiming them is neither here nor there; in United Nations terms, there is nothing to claim. They are in Fiji’s EEZ, drawn from Tuvana-i-Ra, which at 310 km is the closest actual island to Minerva. Tonga’s Ata Island is 320 km away. Aotearoa would have an interest as its Raoul Island is 604 km to the south. The EEZ boundary shown on Global Fishing Watch is probably the one that will eventually be agreed upon.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-01-01): The ownership of Minerva Reefs (23°40'S., 179°00'E.) has been an unresolved issue between Fiji and Tonga for quite a while. Tonga is one of Fiji's closest friends and they hope to resolve the issue through peaceful dialogue. [...] Tonga's claim to the Minerva Reefs, situated south of Fiji's archipelago, may complicate Tongan-Fijian maritime boundary negotiations. In 1972, King Taufaahau Tupou IV made a royal proclamation that Minerva belongs to Tonga, the two atolls were named Teleki Tokelau (North) and Teleki Tonga (South). Tonga constructed two structures in each of the reefs where beacons were placed. [...] In February 2011 the Fiji and Tonga governments continued talks over the disputed Minerva Reef, which they both claim rights to. Fiji's deputy permanent secretary of foreign affairs, Sila Balawa, statedt the two countries' ambassadors to the United Nations are leading discussions on the issue. Balawa said Fiji received a report in late 2010 that Tonga was constructing two structures on the reef. The ministry of foreign affairs then complained to the Tonga government that the structures were being built on Fiji's territory.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-06-01): A snap decision was made to sail to the Minerva Reefs, then on to Savusavu in northeastern Fiji. All new territory for us. [...] The sailing was extraordinary, fast surfing down the swells as we sailed beyond the lee of New Zealand, gradually overhauling all the other yachts in sight and leaving them all behind as we flew north. Our average speed was in double figures all night. I remember the moonrise at 10pm. Glittering moonlight revealing the magnificent sea state. We dodged a couple of giant container ships, then nothing. By morning we had sailed away from the fleet and didn’t see another boat until we arrived at Minerva reef 92 hours after leaving Opua. [...] It was a relief to turn in to the pass at Minerva Reef. It’s a sunken atoll, almost a perfect circle of reef, awash at high tide but with enough protection to be anchored in a calm pond, in the middle of the wild South Pacific.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-05-21): By 1971, Garvey, Atwood, Oliver, and their associates had set their sights on the Minerva Reefs. They did so after having rejected the option of another southwest Pacific atoll, the Conway Reef, when they learned that an Australian consortium intended to develop it for the construction of a casino. The Minerva Reefs were more attractive. They seemed to sit within neither the territorial waters of Aotearoa New Zealand to the south, nor Fiji or Tonga to the north. In August 1971, the Ocean Life Research Foundation arrived at the Minerva Reefs and began the arduous process of building an island in the southwest Pacific. A dredging vessel piled sand on the reef, while a small crew erected two mounds made from coral wrapped in chicken wire and encased in concrete, upon which they then constructed 26-foot vertical markers topped by a flag representing the Republic of Minerva. [...] Anarchists and nihilists turned out to be the least of their worries. By early 1972, the king of Tonga, Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, had caught wind of the project, and began to voice concerns. The Minerva Reefs may have sat at a substantial distance from the core of the Tongan archipelago and beyond its territorial waters, but that hardly meant they were not a part of Tonga’s political and cultural horizon. The reefs had long served as seasonal lobstering and fishing grounds for Tongans and Fijians. Historical and human connections to the reefs ran deep.
Claim: Minerva Reefs is a territory of Fiji (Minerva Reefs, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-08-08): Tonga, too, would have its share of trials, facing challenges for the territory that still rage today. When the kingdom claimed the seabed 200 nautical miles from its coast under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Minerva Reefs suddenly became politically relevant, overlapping with Fiji’s claim under the same treaty. Within the disputed region lies thousands of square kilometres of ocean and mineral deposits on the seabed potentially worth hundreds of millions in mining licences. This led to a naval stand-off, with the Tongans erecting a navigational beacon, and the Fijians tearing it down. Last year, Tonga suggested a land swap—Minerva Reefs for the Lau Group, which represents about half of Fiji’s territorial sea and would almost treble that of Tonga. The suggestion wasn’t taken seriously, and did little to settle international relations.
Claim: Swains Island is a territory of United States (Swains Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-03): Swains Island (/ˈsweɪnz/; Tokelauan: Olohega [oloˈhɛŋa]; Samoan: Olosega [oloˈsɛŋa]) is a remote coral atoll in the Tokelau volcanic island group in the South Pacific Ocean. Administered as part of American Samoa since 1925, the island is subject to an ongoing territorial dispute between Tokelau and the United States.[7][8][2] [...] Swains Island is part of the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa. The Swains Island sanctuary area encompasses a 52.3 square miles (135 km2) and includes territorial waters within a 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) circle around the island, excluding the interior lagoon and two channels between the lagoon and the sea.[28] Like other areas of its coastline, the United States claims a 200 nautical miles (370 km) exclusive economic zone around Swains Island, making up about a third of the U.S. EEZ in the South Pacific.[29]
Claim: Swains Island is a territory of United States (Swains Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-01-01): Swains Island, American Samoa, US Territories Besides the main island of Tutulia, most of the islands in American Samoa are sparsely populated, with less than 3% of the Territory’s population. Swains Island is 220 miles north of Tutulia, and has been claimed by the American settler Eli Jennings and his descendents since 1856, and joined American Samoa in 1925. It is a mile-wide ring of beach and land, surrounding a brackish lagoon, and is generally inhabited by around a dozen people, who sporadically operate a coconut plantation.