{{Short description|Phantom islands in the North Pacific}} The '''Anson Archipelago''' was a designation for a widely scattered group of purported islands in the Western North Pacific Ocean between Japan and Hawaii. The group was supposed to include Wake Island and Marcus Island, as well as many phantom islands such as Los Jardines, Ganges Island, Rica de Oro, and Rica de Plata (the latter two sometimes referred to as Roca de Oro and Roca de Plata).<ref>{{cite book | last = Stommel | first = Henry | title = Lost Islands: The Story of Islands That Have Vanished from Nautical Charts | publisher = University of British Columbia Press | location = Vancouver | year = 1984 | isbn = 0-7748-0210-3 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/lostislands00henr/page/ xvii, 105ff] | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/lostislands00henr/page/ }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tuckey |first=James Hingston |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FzhjAAAAMAAJ |title=Maritime Geography and Statistics ... |date=1815 |publisher=Black, Parry & Company |language=en}}</ref> The archipelago was named after George Anson, who seized Spanish navigational charts of these waters during his voyage around the world.
As time passed, it turned out there were no islands west of Kure Atoll (Ocean Island until the 1920s) until reaching Japan. To the east and north of what was alleged to be Anson is the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain, the eastern portion of which form the real Hawaiian island chain.
An 1855 German map showing the Anson Archipelago|frameless An 1883 Belgian map showing the Anson Archipelago|frameless An 1891 German map showing the Anson Archipelago|frameless A {{Circa|1914–18}} Australian map showing the Anson Archipelago|frameless
==See also== * Pedro de Unamuno * Chryse and Argyre * Byer's Island * Mid-Pacific Mountains * List of islands in the Pacific Ocean * Phantom islands
==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/these-fabled-ghost-islands-exist-only-in-atlases National Geographic article discussing ghost islands (2022)]
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Category:Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean Category:Cartographic errors Category:Islands of the Pacific Ocean Category:Phantom islands
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