Aktuelle amerikanske formynderskabsområder

American Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

Alle er beliggende i Stillehavet.

• Marianaøerne
• Marshalløerne
• Mikronesien
• Palau

Diverse Amerikanske Stillehavsøer er et forældet begreb, der anvendes til kollektivt til at beskrive Baker, Howland, Jarvis øerne, Kingman Reef, og Palmyra Atoll, alle territorier i Stillehavetsom kontrolleres af USA med afsæt loven om Guano øerne (fugleekskrementer, som var indtørret og opohobet på naturlig måde. Navnet blev først brugt om den fuglegødning, der var aflejret langs Sydamerikas vestkyst. Gødningen, som fandtes i metertykke lag på tørre øer ud for kysten, blev brudt og sejlet til Nordamerika og Europa, hvor den blev forhandlet under navnet "chilesalpeter").
/ The Guano Islands Act (11 Stat. 119, enacted 18 August 1856, codified at 48 U.S.C. ch.8 §§ 1411-1419) is federal legislation passed by the U.S. Congress that enables citizens of the U.S. to take possession of islands containing guano deposits. The islands can be located anywhere, so long as they are not occupied and not within the jurisdiction of other governments. It also empowers the President of the United States to use the military to protect such interests and establishes the criminal jurisdiction of the United States.
Whenever any citizen of the United States discovers a deposit of guano on any island, rock, or key, not within the lawful jurisdiction of any other Government, and not occupied by the citizens of any other Government, and takes peaceable possession thereof, and occupies the same, such island, rock, or key may, at the discretion of the President, be considered as appertaining to the United States.
—first section of Guano Islands Act
United States Minor Outlying Islands consists of eight United States insular areas in the Pacific Ocean: Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island; and one in the Caribbean Sea: Navassa Island
Acquisition Process of Insular Areas". United States Government, Department of the Interior.
Public international law seems to recognize five ways to acquire insular areas. These are 1) cession, 2) occupation, 3) accretion, 4) subjugation and 5) prescription. [Raphael Perl, The Falkland Islands Dispute in International Law and Politics: A Documentary Sourcebook (New York: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1983)(hereinafter cited as Perl ) 12-13.] By cession or occupation, the United States has acquired the sixteen insular areas presently under its sovereignty.
Palmyra Atoll Republic of Hawaii 1898
Guam Queen Regent of Spain 1899
Puerto Rico Queen Regent of Spain 1899
American Samoa Queen Regnant of the United Kingdom and the German Emperor (King of Prussia) [confirmed by the acts of cession of the matai of Tutuila and Aunu'u on April 17, 1900, and of Tuimanu'a and the matai of Manu'a on July 14, 1904]

Se også: Guam ; USA: Geografi.