The island was first populated about 4,000 years ago by the ancestors of the Chamorros, still the island’s largest ethnic group. Now, about 160,000 people live on Guam. Its capital city is Hagatna and its largest city is Dededo. Its chief languages are English and Chamorro. He was a member of the Korean and Vietnam Veteran Associations as well as the Chamorro Society. He was known for donating to many charities. Fishing, playing poker, playing softball, attending grandchildren’s sporting events and playing the harmonica were some of the things he enjoyed.
History drew divisions
The people of the Mariana Islands archipelago, collectively known as Chamorros, call as their homeland an area in the Pacific comprising fifteen islands with a total land area of less than 400 square miles. The history of the Chamorro people in this area dates back 4,000 to 4,500 years, when seafaring peoples migrated from Southeast Asia and settled in the Marianas. But history would eventually draw divisive lines that have permanently etched not just the political landscape of the Marianas, but the social and cultural landscape of its people.
Though the people of the island chain’s two political territories, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, today hold US citizenship and live under the US flag, they live in a politically divided land – a result of political demarcations that date back to the nineteenth century.
Much of what we know about the history of the Chamorro people comes from historical accounts from European expeditions dating back to the sixteenth century. Stumbled upon by explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, the islands were dubbed “Islas de los Ladrones,” a phrase meaning “Islands of Thieves” that stemmed from the explorer’s encounter with the indigenous population. Landing on Guam, Magellan’s expedition used the stop to rest and replenish his crew’s food supply. For reasons not recorded the islanders took items from Magellan’s ship including a small skiff. Magellan retaliated by attacking the islanders, killing seven villagers.
Representative of the possible cultural misunderstandings that arose in the West’s first encounters with the civilizations of the Pacific, the incident was a vivid example of the conflicts – both overt and subtle – that would later arise between the indigenous people and the powers that would come to rule over them. What the explorers viewed as thievery, the islanders may have viewed as reciprocity – an important tenet of the Chamorro culture that continues to be practiced today. In the end, the name given by Magellan ultimately was used by other explorers to refer to the entire chain of islands.
Later renamed the Mariana Islands in 1668 by Jesuit missionary Diego Luis De San Vitores in honor of Spain’s Queen Mariana de Austria, the island archipelago was officially claimed under the Spanish throne by explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1565, some forty years after Magellan’s landing. The Marianas remained under Spain’s control until the end of the nineteenth century, when world events would permanently sever the island chain, leaving it to be separately dominated by competing ruling powers.
US takes Guam
In 1898, the United States signed the Treaty of Paris with Spain. The agreement, which was enacted in April 1899, ceded Guam and the Spanish-controlled Philippines to the US for $20 million. The fate of the remaining Mariana Islands was defined in a separate agreement between Spain and Germany, signed soon after the Paris treaty concluded. The agreement ceded the remaining Mariana Islands, as well as the Marshall Islands, Caroline Islands, and Palau to Germany – the cost of which equated to $4.2 million.
Though American rule over Guam would continue for most of the twentieth century, German rule over the Marianas was short-lived, ending abruptly during World War I when Japan took control of the islands. Officially conveyed as a Japanese Mandated Territory in 1919 by the League of Nations, the Marianas again came under control of a dominating power, but this time its overseeing authority was an ally of the United States.
Though not ruled by opposing powers at that point, the division within the island chain was distinct. On one side its people lived under the political and ideological influence of the East; on the other, the West – a distinction that would impact the separate evolution of the culture and its language. Despite this, however, the two territories existed in what might be described as a passive coexistence prior to World War II. But what one war made allies, another war made enemies.
World War II takes a toll
It was as a result of World War II that the political divisions between the two territories extended to a clear, and perhaps irreversible, separation between its people. Guam, having fallen to the Japanese at the start of the war, put Chamorros across enemy lines during the thirty month Japanese occupation. Chamorros from Saipan and Rota were recruited by the Japanese military to serve as interpreters, police investigators, and staff assistants. As such, the people in the enemy-occupied territory of Guam were subject not just to the authoritative and often brutal hand of the Japanese military, but also to that of other Chamorros.
Viewed as collaborators by Guam’s Chamorros, the Chamorros of the other Mariana Islands were thus inextricably associated with the bitter memories of the Japanese occupation. So deep was this blow to Chamorro solidarity that, in the few years after the war ended, Chamorros from Guam welcomed a new naming convention that would distinguish them from the Chamorros of the rest of the Mariana Islands. Chamorros on Guam decided to call themselves Guamanians.
There was a reunification movement in the 1960s however. The people cast their vote in the matter, with the people of the Northern Marianas wanting the reunification, and the people of Guam choosing against it. Guamanians felt that reunification would be rewarding the Saipanese interpreters and that Guam’s economy would not be able to handle the cost of bringing the Northern Marianas standard of living up to that of Guam’s. The people of the Northern Marianas thought the reunification would help them gain U.S. citizenship.
Two American entities
Though the end of World War II would see a re-unification of the Marianas under one American flag, the United States maintained the political division between the two territories. Administered separately by the US Navy, Guam was governed as a flag territory, and the Marianas as a US trusteeship. In the post-war period, the islands saw significant changes to their political, social, and economic infrastructures.
In Guam, the transition toward a greater semblance of self-rule came in the form of the Organic Act, which was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1950. Among its provisions, the enabling document delineated a three-branch system of government for Guam and granted US citizenship to the island’s people.
In contrast, the Marianas trusteeship signed its own agreement with the US toward the end of the trusteeship period. In 1975, the trusteeship formally re-defined its relationship with the US by adopting a new political status in association with the United States, officially forming the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The residents of the CNMI were officially granted US citizenship at the end of the trusteeship in 1986.
In contrast to the Guam agreement, the CNMI covenant granted its people greater political autonomy, including control over immigration and labor. By the turn of the twentieth century, though no longer political enemies by virtue of their governing authority, the Mariana Islands archipelago seemed permanently fated to evolve as a divided region – a historical experience not unlike that of other colonial territories across the Pacific.
For further reading
The CNMI Guide (accessed August 9, 2010).
Farrell, Don A. History of the Northern Mariana Islands. Saipan, CNMI: Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Public School System, 1991.
Sanchez, Pedro C. Guahan Guam: The History of Our Island. Hagåtña: Sanchez Publishing House, c.1988.
Rainbird, Paul. The Archaeology of Micronesia. Cambridge: Cambridge Press, 2004.
Related
History drew divisions
The people of the Mariana Islands archipelago, collectively known as Chamorros, call as their homeland an area in the Pacific comprising fifteen islands with a total land area of less than 400 square miles. The history of the Chamorro people in this area dates back 4,000 to 4,500 years, when seafaring peoples migrated from Southeast Asia and settled in the Marianas. But history would eventually draw divisive lines that have permanently etched not just the political landscape of the Marianas, but the social and cultural landscape of its people.
Though the people of the island chain’s two political territories, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, today hold US citizenship and live under the US flag, they live in a politically divided land – a result of political demarcations that date back to the nineteenth century.
Much of what we know about the history of the Chamorro people comes from historical accounts from European expeditions dating back to the sixteenth century. Stumbled upon by explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, the islands were dubbed “Islas de los Ladrones,” a phrase meaning “Islands of Thieves” that stemmed from the explorer’s encounter with the indigenous population. Landing on Guam, Magellan’s expedition used the stop to rest and replenish his crew’s food supply. For reasons not recorded the islanders took items from Magellan’s ship including a small skiff. Magellan retaliated by attacking the islanders, killing seven villagers.
Representative of the possible cultural misunderstandings that arose in the West’s first encounters with the civilizations of the Pacific, the incident was a vivid example of the conflicts – both overt and subtle – that would later arise between the indigenous people and the powers that would come to rule over them. What the explorers viewed as thievery, the islanders may have viewed as reciprocity – an important tenet of the Chamorro culture that continues to be practiced today. In the end, the name given by Magellan ultimately was used by other explorers to refer to the entire chain of islands.
Later renamed the Mariana Islands in 1668 by Jesuit missionary Diego Luis De San Vitores in honor of Spain’s Queen Mariana de Austria, the island archipelago was officially claimed under the Spanish throne by explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1565, some forty years after Magellan’s landing. The Marianas remained under Spain’s control until the end of the nineteenth century, when world events would permanently sever the island chain, leaving it to be separately dominated by competing ruling powers.
US takes Guam
In 1898, the United States signed the Treaty of Paris with Spain. The agreement, which was enacted in April 1899, ceded Guam and the Spanish-controlled Philippines to the US for $20 million. The fate of the remaining Mariana Islands was defined in a separate agreement between Spain and Germany, signed soon after the Paris treaty concluded. The agreement ceded the remaining Mariana Islands, as well as the Marshall Islands, Caroline Islands, and Palau to Germany – the cost of which equated to $4.2 million.
Though American rule over Guam would continue for most of the twentieth century, German rule over the Marianas was short-lived, ending abruptly during World War I when Japan took control of the islands. Officially conveyed as a Japanese Mandated Territory in 1919 by the League of Nations, the Marianas again came under control of a dominating power, but this time its overseeing authority was an ally of the United States.
Though not ruled by opposing powers at that point, the division within the island chain was distinct. On one side its people lived under the political and ideological influence of the East; on the other, the West – a distinction that would impact the separate evolution of the culture and its language. Despite this, however, the two territories existed in what might be described as a passive coexistence prior to World War II. But what one war made allies, another war made enemies.
World War II takes a toll
It was as a result of World War II that the political divisions between the two territories extended to a clear, and perhaps irreversible, separation between its people. Guam, having fallen to the Japanese at the start of the war, put Chamorros across enemy lines during the thirty month Japanese occupation. Chamorros from Saipan and Rota were recruited by the Japanese military to serve as interpreters, police investigators, and staff assistants. As such, the people in the enemy-occupied territory of Guam were subject not just to the authoritative and often brutal hand of the Japanese military, but also to that of other Chamorros.
Viewed as collaborators by Guam’s Chamorros, the Chamorros of the other Mariana Islands were thus inextricably associated with the bitter memories of the Japanese occupation. So deep was this blow to Chamorro solidarity that, in the few years after the war ended, Chamorros from Guam welcomed a new naming convention that would distinguish them from the Chamorros of the rest of the Mariana Islands. Chamorros on Guam decided to call themselves Guamanians.
There was a reunification movement in the 1960s however. The people cast their vote in the matter, with the people of the Northern Marianas wanting the reunification, and the people of Guam choosing against it. Guamanians felt that reunification would be rewarding the Saipanese interpreters and that Guam’s economy would not be able to handle the cost of bringing the Northern Marianas standard of living up to that of Guam’s. The people of the Northern Marianas thought the reunification would help them gain U.S. citizenship.
Two American entities
Chamorro Jimmy Poker Chips
Though the end of World War II would see a re-unification of the Marianas under one American flag, the United States maintained the political division between the two territories. Administered separately by the US Navy, Guam was governed as a flag territory, and the Marianas as a US trusteeship. In the post-war period, the islands saw significant changes to their political, social, and economic infrastructures.
In Guam, the transition toward a greater semblance of self-rule came in the form of the Organic Act, which was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1950. Among its provisions, the enabling document delineated a three-branch system of government for Guam and granted US citizenship to the island’s people.
In contrast, the Marianas trusteeship signed its own agreement with the US toward the end of the trusteeship period. In 1975, the trusteeship formally re-defined its relationship with the US by adopting a new political status in association with the United States, officially forming the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The residents of the CNMI were officially granted US citizenship at the end of the trusteeship in 1986.
In contrast to the Guam agreement, the CNMI covenant granted its people greater political autonomy, including control over immigration and labor. By the turn of the twentieth century, though no longer political enemies by virtue of their governing authority, the Mariana Islands archipelago seemed permanently fated to evolve as a divided region – a historical experience not unlike that of other colonial territories across the Pacific.
For further reading
The CNMI Guide (accessed August 9, 2010).
Farrell, Don A. History of the Northern Mariana Islands. Saipan, CNMI: Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Public School System, 1991.
Sanchez, Pedro C. Guahan Guam: The History of Our Island. Hagåtña: Sanchez Publishing House, c.1988.
Chamorro Jimmy Poker Games
Rainbird, Paul. The Archaeology of Micronesia. Cambridge: Cambridge Press, 2004.