Historical Seascapes

Story Maps are a unique interactive tools that help people understand, through virtual experience, geographic land or seascapes within a digital environment.

This post features a Story Map entitled Historical & Cultural Seascape of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which helps the user learn about one of the largest marine protected areas in the world. This Monument is especially unique because of its remote and widespread distribution across the central Pacific Ocean and relative proximity to different island nations.

The PRIMNM was established in 2009 through Presidential Proclamation 8336. Five years later, Presidential Proclamation 9173 expanded the Monument’s boundaries around Wake Atoll, Johnston Atoll, and Jarvis Island, bringing the total Monument area to approximately 370,000 square nautical miles. These seven islands and atolls share natural histories of geographic isolation and, as thriving ecosystems in the open ocean, provide invaluable scientific insight. Similarly, the human histories that are a part of each of these places help to shape a deeper understanding of the Monument’s global heritage.

This StoryMap highlights human interactions within the Monument and stories of people's connections to the Pacific Remote Islands before the onset of World War II. 

Coordinated efforts by the Marine National Monuments Program at NOAAs Pacific Islands Regional Office, the agencyʻs communications team, and two interns from Kupu ensured this project reached completion.

Click here to experience the live Story Map.