Iwo Jima, officially Iōtō (硫黄島?, listen : "sulfur island"), is an uninhabited island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which makes up the southern end of the Ogasawara Islands. The island is located 650 nautical miles (750 mi; 1,200 km) south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo. It is famous as the site of the February–March 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Japan during World War II, when the iconic photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima was taken. The U.S. occupied Iwo Jima until 1968, when it was returned to Japan.
Forty-three nautical miles (50 mi, 80 km) north of the island is North Iwo Jima (北硫黄島, Kitaiōtō?, literally: "North Sulphur Island") and 32 nautical miles (37 mi; 59 km) south lies South Iwo Jima (南硫黄島, Minamiiōtō?, "South Sulphur Island"), with the three islands making up the Volcano Islands group of the Ogasawara Islands. Just south of Minamiiōjima are the Mariana Islands.
Before World War II, Iwo Jima was administered (as it is today) by the prefectural government of Tokyo. A census in June 1943 reported an island civilian population of 1018 (533 males, 485 females) in 192 households in six settlements. The island had a primary school, a Shinto shrine, and a single police officer; it was serviced by a mail ship from Haha-jima once a month, as well as a Nippon Yusen ship once every couple of months. The island's economy relied upon sulfur mining, sugarcane farming, and fishing; an isolated island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with poor economic prospect, Iwo Jima had to import all rice and consumer goods from the Home Islands. (based on a wikipedia article / cc by-sa)