It’s well known that the U.S. comprises 50 states plus the District of Columbia, seat of the nation’s capital. But it is less well known, however, that the U.S. also has jurisdiction over other places that are not part of any state or the District of Columbia. These places are known as the U.S. territories. They are located in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. When it comes to permanently inhabited territories, the U.S. has five— Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands in the North Pacific Ocean, and American Samoa in the South Pacific Ocean. But there are still other territories that have no permanent human inhabitants. Rounding out that list is Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll, Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Wake Island, and Navassa Island. See the picture below.
