GUAM

the largest, most populous, and southernmost island of the Mariana Islands and an unincorporated territory of the United States. It lies in the Pacific Ocean about 5,800 miles (9,300 kilometres) west of San Francisco and 1,600 miles east of Manila. The total land area is 209 square miles (541 square kilometres). Agana is the capital. The most populous settlements are Tamuning, Apra Harbor, and Mangilao. officially Territory of Guam island, largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and an organized unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Pacific Ocean some 3,000 miles (5,000 km) west of the Hawaiian Islands. With an area of 209 square miles (541 square km), the island is sharply divided into a northern coralline limestone plateau, which has a general elevation of 500 feet (150 m) and lacks surface streams, and a southern chain of volcanic hills. The climate is tropical, with temperatures ranging from 70 to 90 F (21 to 32 C) throughout the year. Average annual rainfall is about 95 inches (2,400 mm), most of which falls from July to September. Vegetation varies from coconut palms along the shore to sword grass on the hills and jungle shrub on the plateau. Guam was probably visited (1521) by the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan (sailing for the Spanish), who is also credited with naming the island Ladrones (Thieves) because of the behaviour of the inhabitants. Guam was formally claimed by Spain in 1565, and its people were forced into submission and conversion to Roman Catholicism, beginning in 1668. For the next two centuries Guam remained an outpost of Spain. The island was ceded to the United States as a prize of the SpanishAmerican War (1898). In the mid-1930s, it served as a stop for transpacific air flights. In 1941 the Japanese occupied the island, which was retaken by U.S. forces in 1944 and turned into a major air and naval base. Under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Navy, it was made a territory (1950) that was administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior (from 1973, by the Office of Territorial Affairs, within that department), and the Guamanians, previously nationals of the United States, were made U.S. citizens, although they cannot vote in U.S. national elections. Guam is now self-governing, with a civilian governor (first elected in 1970) and a popularly elected unicameral 21-member legislature. Each of the island's villages is headed by a popularly elected commissioner. In 1972 a new law gave Guam one delegate (elected for a term of two years) to the U.S. House of Representatives. The delegate can vote in committees but not in the House. Guam also has a federal district court. Guam remains the site of major U.S. naval and air bases, which are its economic mainstay; about one-third of the land in Guam is owned by the U.S. armed forces. Facilities include a nuclear submarine base and a large ship-repair yard located at Apra Harbor. From Andersen Air Force Base on the northeastern corner of the island, U.S. planes carried out bombing raids over Indochina during the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early '70s. In 1975 thousands of South Vietnamese refugees were flown to Guam before being transferred to the United States. The limited amount of agriculture on Guam principally supplies the local market. Products include truck (market) crops, bananas, sweet potatoes, corn (maize), and sugarcane. There is also commercial poultry farming, supplying both meat and eggs. For several years the only significant industry was the assembly of watches from Swiss-made components. In the early 1970s a brewery and textile industries were established. Guam is a stop for airlines serving the U.S. west coast, Hawaii, the Philippines, various Micronesian islands, Australia, and the Far East. A growing tourist trade, second only to the U.S. military establishments in economic importance, is based on this air traffic and on several shipping lines, most of the tourists coming from Japan. Facilities for the handling of containerized cargo were opened in Apra Harbor in 1969. Major imports are petroleum, machinery and transport equipment, food and live animals, and manufactured goods; exports include clothing, beverages and tobacco, and machinery and transport equipment. Education is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 16. There are numerous elementary and high schools and one community college. The University of Guam, opened in 1952, provides a four-year degree program. Health facilities on the island include public, private, and military hospitals and local clinics. The native Guamanians, the Chamorro, are basically of Malayo-Indonesian stock with a considerable admixture of Spanish, Filipino, Mexican, and other strains. In addition to the official language, English, they speak a distinct language, Chamorro. About four-fifths of the population is Roman Catholic, and most of the rest is Protestant. Agana is the capital of the territory. Tamuning, Apra Harbor, and Mangilao are the other larger settlements on the island. There is a good highway network, and an international airport is located near Agana. Pop. (1988 est.) 126,000. Additional reading Laura Thompson, Guam and Its People, 3rd rev. ed. (1947, reprinted 1969), remains a valuable source. An overview of economics, politics, and industry is given in William Lutz, Guam (1987). For history, see Paul Carano and Pedro C. Sanchez, A Complete History of Guam (1964); Timothy P. Maga, Defending Paradise: The United States and Guam, 18981950 (1988); and Robert F. Rogers, Guam's Commonwealth Effort 19871988 (1988). Guam in World War II is discussed in Tony Palomo, An Island in Agony (1984). History Guam, like the other Mariana Islands, was settled before the second quarter of the 2nd millennium BC by an IndonesianFilipino people. Archaeological research shows that by AD 800 they had developed a complex society that erected elaborate stone pillars (halege), which served as supports for communal houses (latte). Ferdinand Magellan probably landed on Guam in 1521. The island was officially claimed by Spain in 1565, and there was no attempt to conquer it until the latter part of the 17th century. After an uprising in 1670 and 25 years of intermittent warfare, the Spanish subdued the population with considerable bloodshed. Disease, particularly smallpox and influenza, also played an important role in the decimation of the population. Typhoons in 1671 and 1693 caused further destruction and loss of life. Guam remained a Spanish possession until 1898, when, in the course of the Spanish-American War, the U.S. warship Charleston steamed into the harbour of Apra and shelled the old fort. Guam was ceded to the United States, and the other islands of the Marianas were sold by Spain to Germany in 1899. From that time until 1950 (except for the period of its occupation by the Japanese during World War II) the governor of the island was a naval officer appointed by the president of the United States. During World War I Japan occupied Germany's island possessions north of the Equator, and after the war Japan received the Marianas (except Guam) and the Caroline and Marshall groups as a mandate under the League of Nations. Japan retained possession of the islands even after it withdrew from the League in 1933. In World War II the Japanese landed on Guam just after the attack on Pearl Harbor and occupied the island by Dec. 12, 1941. U.S. forces retook Guam by Aug. 10, 1944. It was a major air and naval base for the squadrons of bombers that attacked Japan near the end of the war. Under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Navy, it was made a territory (1950) that was administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior. From 1973 Guam was administered by the Office of Territorial Affairs within that department. Guam remains the site of major U.S. naval and air bases; about one-third of the land in Guam is owned by the U.S. armed forces. In the 1970s Guam gradually began to move toward representative self-government. The first popularly elected governor ran for office in 1970, and in 1972 Guam was given the right to send one nonvoting delegate (entitled to vote in committees, however) to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1978 the U.S. Senate accorded Guam the right to adopt a territorial constitution. In 1982, in a referendum offering six options, the option of commonwealth status won a plurality (48 percent) of votes. Dirk Anthony Ballendorf