evidence: Jarvis Island is another uninhabited territory of the United States that can be found deep in the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the islands belonging to the United States Minor Outlying Islands and is administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System. The island was officially claimed by the British Empire in the middle of the 19th century, but nothing developed beyond that. In 1935, the United States took control of the island without the British hardly noticing. [...] Formally claimed by the United States in 1899, Wake Island originally served the United States as a place to stop in between trips from Guam and the Philippines. Military installations were ordered to begin construction on the island in 1939, but they were never finished. In 1941, the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbor, Wake Island was taken by Japanese forces. The island was eventually retaken by the Americans in 1945, but not without heavy resistance from the Japanese forces who still occupied the area. After the war, the island slowly lost its military importance, and its presence was cut back.