Honoring Our U.S. Protectorates: Serranilla Bank...

Serranilla Bank is a coral atoll reef that is partially submerged and contains very small and uninhabited islets in the western Caribbean Sea. It is about 28 by 23 miles of land, and only the eastern and southern parts are visible. It is composed of the Northeast Breaker, East Cay, Beacon Cay, Middle Cay, and West Beaker and is almost completely under water. In 1510, Serranilla Bank was first put on the map and was part of the San Andrés and Providencia. This was a place where many shipwrecks were located. In 1820, Louis-Michel Aury was shipwrecked there and he mentioned it along with others sovereign states in our history who had claimed it as their own.

In 1879, the U.S. claimed the Serranilla Bank under the Guano Islands Act by James W. Jennett. It was the place where the very last sighting of the Caribbean Monk Seal - who is now extinct - was sited. In 1972, Colombia renounced the Guano Islands Act of this region in a treaty. There was a big dispute over whether or not it was included in the agreement. Since the U.S. considered a reef to be an insular area, they believed they owned it. However, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) upheld Colombia's sovereignty over it. Between 1982 and 1986, Columbia got into an agreement with Jamaica, who granted fishing rights to vessels in the Serranilla Bank waters as well as the Bajo Nuevo Bank. In 1993, these two states agreed on the Maritime Delimitation Treaty that granted a "Joint Regime Area" to manage the resources in the waters between the two banks. In 1986, Honduras claimed Serranilla Bank as part of its national territory. It had to finally agree upon a boundary with Columbia that wouldn't allow Honduras to control the bank and waters. To add to the confusion, Nicaragua claimed the islands in an International Court of Justice in 2001 and 2007. However, on November 19, 2012, the International Court of Justice unanimously found that the Republic of Columbia had sovereignty over both Serranilla Banks and Bajo Nuevo. Neither Honduras or the U.S. were mentioned in this judgement. Today, Serranilla Bank is considered a Minor Outlying Island claimed by the US under the Guano Islands Act of 1856, but it is also administered by Colombia. There is no formal protectorate status, but the U.S. continues to claim sovereignty. It is an important nesting and migration spot that is used by many different species of animals like Sea Turtles that continue to thrive there.