There are records of various cultures in the region passing through the islands for trade. Permanent populations and military stations only became apparent in the 20th century. In 1734, the Spanish colonial government in the
Philippines published the first edition of the
Velarde map, which details territories under full sovereign control of Spanish Philippines, including
Scarborough Shoal (called
Panacot in the indigenous language in the map) and Kalayaan or
Spratly Islands (referred in the map as
Los Bajos de Paragua), and is the earliest map to showcase the sovereignty of a nation over Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands. The official territories of the Philippines was again published in the 1808
Carita General del Archipelago Filipino and again in the 1875
Carita General del Archipelago Filipino, which continued to include the Kalayaan islands. After the
Spanish-American War, Spain lost and ceded the territory of the
Philippines to the
United States through the
1898 Treaty of Paris. The 1898 Treaty of Paris created a treaty line, where Scarborough Shoal, the Kalayaan or Spratly Islands, and parts of Tawi-tawi continued to be under Spanish sovereignty. This led to talks between Spain and the United States, which ended upon the signing of the
1900 Treaty of Washington, which rectified retroactively the 1898 Treaty of Paris. Under the 1900 Treaty of Washington, "all islands belonging to the Philippine Archipelago, lying outside the lines described in Article III" were also ceded to the United States as part of the territory of the Philippines, where Scarborough Shoal, the Kalayaan or Spratly Islands, and the rest of Tawi-tawi was included. From 1899 to 1902, the United States war department in the territory of the Philippines republished and reissued four times the 1875 Carita General del Archipelago Filipino with the addition of military telegraph lines, military cable lines, eastern cable company lines, and military department boundaries. The official map of the entire Philippine territory under Spanish rule was effectively adopted as the entire Philippine territory under American rule. During the 1928 Islas Palmas international case, the United States, as representative of the territory of the Philippines, reiterated in a court memorandum that the 1875 Carta General del Archipielago Filipino "is both an American official and a Spanish official map" of Philippine territory, bounding the United States on its recognition of the Scarborough Shoal and the Kalayaan or Spratly Islands as Philippine territory. Under the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the 1935 Constitution was adopted, reiterating the national territory of the Philippines, which included Scarborough Shoal and the Kalayaan or Spratly Islands. After regaining independence in 1946, the Philippines again asserted its claims to the Spratly islands. The Americans at the time discouraged the Philippines to avoid conflict with the Chinese government of Chiang Kai-shek, who was an ally of the United States. In 1946, Vice President
Elpidio Quirino reiterated the "New Southern Islands", the forerunner name for Kalayaan, as part of the Philippines. In 1947, Tomás Cloma stumbled upon the Kalayaan islands, which were uninhabited at the time. On May 31, 1956, Cloma declared the establishment of the Free Territory of Freedomland, ten days after sending his second representation to the
Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs, informing the latter that the territory claimed was named "Freedomland". In 1978, the Municipality of Kalayaan was created through Presidential Decree No. 1596 taking effect on June 11, 1978. which defined the archipelagic
baselines of the Philippines, was enacted into law. It gave additional weight to the Philippines' sovereignty over the Kalayaan Island Group under Section 2, sub-paragraph A which described the territory as a "Regime of Islands"—a concept defined in the United Nation Convention on Law of the Sea for similar bodies of land. In 2012, the government began its legal battle against China in international court. The court proceedings occurred from 2013 to 2016. In 2016, the dash-line utilized by both the Republic of China (Taiwan) and People's Republic of China (PRC) was declared as invalid by the
South China Sea Arbitration ruling. , 26 governments support the ruling, 17 issued generally positive statements noting the ruling but not called for compliance, and eight rejected it. In 2024, Republic Act No. 12064, was enacted into law, which define the
Philippine Maritime Zones. It clarifies the maritime zones of the Philippines, including those surrounding the Kalayaan Island Group in the West Philippine Sea shall have a territorial sea of 12 nautical miles from its baselines. In addition to the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Malaysia all claim the Spratly Archipelago either as a whole or in part. The Philippines occupies 10 reefs and islands. The
People's Republic of China presently occupies seven reefs. The Republic of China (Taiwan)'s solitary island is the largest in the archipelago at approximately . Vietnam occupies 21 islets and reefs. Malaysia claims 7 reefs including Layang Layang which currently hosts a naval base and a diving resort.
Investigator Shoal is currently under de facto administration of Malaysia although is claimed by the Philippines as part of the municipality.
Restrictions by China In January 2026, the municipal council of Kalayaan declared Chinese ambassador to the Philippines
Jing Quan persona non grata. The municipality stated: "Ambassador Jing Quan and the Chinese Embassy recently engaged in blatant interference by demanding that the Philippine government 'hold accountable' Commodore
Jay Tarriela, the
Philippine Coast Guard Spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, for his transparency efforts — an act that constitutes an attempt to intimidate a Philippine officer for performing his patriotic duty." This action prompted China to ban 16 Kalayaan officials from entry in
mainland China,
Hong Kong, and
Macau in February 2026. Reflecting on the 2023 and 2026 resolutions declaring two Chinese ambassadors persona non grata, the Chinese embassy stated that "individuals involved in fabricating the said resolutions are not welcome" and justified the travel restrictions "based on the principle of reciprocity". The
Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs reacted that the ban is detrimental to the diplomatic relations between China and the Philippines. The
Malacañang Palace expressed not to interfere stating: "Whatever decisions and policies China has made are not within our jurisdiction, just as they should not cover or interfere with whatever decisions this administration makes." == Geography ==