The uninhabited island of Trindade or Trinidad (an uninhabited island less than 10 square kilometers in the South Atlantic, east of Brazil; not to be confused with Trinidad in the Caribbean) was claimed by James Harden-Hickey of San Francisco, who declared it a military dictatorship and presented himself as James I, Prince of Trinidad. James I announced his reign on the front page of the New York Times. He had never actually been to the island. However, he aimed to establish a thriving economy based on the export of gull guano, used as fertilizer. But on January 3, 1895, British troops landed on the island from the naval vessel Barracuda. This marked the end of James I’s brief reign. When the British left the island in January 1896, it was occupied by the Brazilians, who remain in control to this day.
