Initially claimed by the
United States under the
Guano Islands Act of 1856, the atoll was ceded by the United States to
Colombia on September 17, 1981, as the result of the Vásquez-Saccio Treaty (signed in 1972). In 1894, the
USS Kearsarge was shipwrecked on Roncador Bank. There are several dilapidated houses on it built by American troops during the
Cuban Missile Crisis. == Lighthouse ==