Clipperton Island is
an uninhabited nine-square-kilometer coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean,
southwest of Mexico and west of Central America. It is an overseas possession
of France under direct authority of the Minister of Overseas France.
Clipperton Island is
low-lying and largely barren, save for scattered grasses and a few clumps of
coconut palms. A small volcanic outcrop rising to 29 meters on its southeast
side is referred to as "Clipperton Rock".
Clipperton's name
comes from John Clipperton, an English pirate and privateer who fought the
Spanish during the early 18th century, and who is said to have passed by the
island. Some sources say he used it as a base for his raids on shipping, yet
there is no documentary evidence for this assertion. The name Île de la Passion
(English: Passion Island) was officially given to Clipperton in 1711 by French
discoverers Martin de Chassiron and Michel Du Bocage, commanding the French
ships La Princesse and La Découverte. They drew up the first
map of the island and annexed it to France.
The atoll has been
occupied at various times by guano miners, would-be settlers or military
personnel, mostly from Mexico, which formerly claimed it until international
arbitration awarded it to France in 1931. In the late 1930s, Clipperton Island
was visited twice by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who wanted it to
become an American possession for use as an airbase for Pacific Ocean
operations. In 1944, he ordered the US Navy to occupy the island (until 1945)
in one of the most secret U.S. operations of World War II.
The island was
abandoned at the end of World War II. Since then it has only been visited by
sport fishermen, film crews, shipwreck survivors, regularly scheduled patrols
of the French Navy, and by Mexican tuna and shark fishermen.
There are 3 different coins from Clipperton Island:
- 100 francs Brass
- 200 francs Bimetallic Brass/Nickel
- 500 francs Bimetallic Brass/Nickel