Insular area

Insular area is the name for one of the territories of the United States which are not a state of the union. People that live in these areas usually have no right to vote in US elections. Sometimes, they take part in preliminary elections.

Locations of the insular areas (blue) of the United States (pink).

There are three areas in the Pacific Ocean:

• Guam
• Marshall Islands
• Palau
• Federated States of Micronesia
• Northern Mariana Islands
• American Samoa

The following areas are in the Caribbean:

• Puerto Rico
• US Virgin Islands

Uninhabited islands

The term is also used for many uninhabited islands, which the US claims as its territory. Most of these are in the Pacific:

• Palmyra Atoll
• Baker Island
• Howland Island
• Jarvis Island
• Johnston Atoll
• Kingman Reef
• Midway Atoll
• Wake Island (disputed with Marshall Islands)

Only a few are in the Caribbean:

• Navassa Island (disputed with Haiti)
• Serranilla Bank (disputed with Colombia, Jamaica and Nicaragua)
• Bajo Nuevo Bank or Petrel Islands (disputed with Colombia, Honduras and Jamaica)