NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

also called Northern Marianas, officially Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a self-governing commonwealth in political union with the United States. It is composed of 22 islands and islets in the western Pacific. The commonwealth is a part of the Mariana Islands, a chain of volcanic mountain peaks and uplifted coral reefs extending from latitude 12 to 21 N and longitude 144 to 146 E. (The Marianas chain also includes the politically separate island of Guam.) The Northern Marianas has a land area of 184 square miles (477 square kilometres). Saipan (47 square miles), Tinian (39 square miles), and Rota (33 square miles) are the principal islands and, together with Alamagan and Agrihan, are inhabited. Another island, Pagan, was evacuated in 1981 after a severe volcanic eruption. The capital is Chalan Kanoa, on Saipan. also called Northern Marianas, officially Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands self-governing commonwealth in political union with the United States, in the western Pacific Ocean, composed of 22 islands located north of, but not including, Guam. The islands extend 450 miles (720 km) in a north-south arc and have a land area of 184 square miles (477 square km). Saipan (47 square miles [122 square km]), Tinian (39 square miles [101 square km]), and Rota (33 square miles [85 square km]) are the principal islands and, together with Alamagan and Agrihan, are inhabited. Another island, Pagan, was evacuated in 1981 after a severe volcanic eruption. Besides Guam, the nearest neighbours are the Bonin Islands (north) and the Federated States of Micronesia (southeast). The Mariana capital is Chalan Kanoa, on Saipan. Additional reading For information on the Northern Mariana Islands, see the works by Francis X. Hezel, Frank P. King, and Dirk Anthony Ballendorf, cited above under History, and the works by Mark R. Peattie, Donald F. McHenry, and David Nevin, under Micronesian cultures. History Archaeological evidence at Chalan Piao on Saipan indicates that the Northern Marianas were settled by an insular people originating in Southeast Asia. They made a distinctive red-slipped ware, sometimes incised with lime-filled decoration, closely related to Philippine wares. By AD 800 a plain, unslipped ware was in use, and stone architecture had developed. Parallel rows of upright pillars topped with hemispheric capstones (halege) were erected. According to early Spanish accounts, the pillars were supports for structures called latte (after which term the culture is named), which may have served as men's houses or as canoe sheds. Each village had from one to several latte structures. Stone and shell tools were used and the betel nut was chewed, as shown by extended burials most often located between the rows of latte. Ferdinand Magellan was the first to open the Marianas to the West when he stopped there briefly during his first circumnavigation in 1521. There is some historical question as to which island he actually visited, but Magellan named the islands the Ladrones (Spanish: Thieves) because while he was there some of the islanders took a small skiff that he had trailing behind one of his ships. In 1565 Miguel Lpez de Legazpi landed at Umatac, Guam, and proclaimed Spanish sovereignty over the Ladrones; some priests went ashore to say the mass. No colonies were started at that time, however, because the Spanish were more interested in conquests in the Americas, the Philippines, and the Moluccas. The British adventurer Thomas Cavendish was the next to visit the Marianas, in 1588 aboard the Desire. He traded briefly, and as he left he ordered his men to open fire from the rear of the ship to discourage the islanders from following. The effects of the early explorers and those who followed them to the islands were not unmixed. On the one hand the Europeans provided ironware and cloth, which was traded for fresh produce. On the other hand they introduced infectious diseases, including influenza, smallpox, leprosy, venereal diseases, and tuberculosis, which severely depleted the indigenous population. The permanent colonization of the islands began with the arrival of Father Diego Luis de Sanvitores in 1668. With him were priests, laymen, women, and some Filipino soldiers. Mariana of Austria, the regent of Spain, financed his mission, and he renamed the islands the Marianas in her honour. Sanvitores and his colonists established churches and religious schools. A series of revolts attended these efforts, since the islanders resisted conversion to a religion that did not fit traditional beliefs. The Spanish during this time, in order to control the islanders more effectively, moved the population of the Marianas into enclaves and segregated the people into villages. Many islanders were killed in the process of relocation. Others died during their adjustment to new social environments, and the population was further decreased. In 1680 the Spanish sent reinforcements led by Don Jos Quiroga, who was interim governor of the Marianas from 1680 to 1696. He subdued the islanders after a series of revolts, sieges, murders of missionaries, and burnings of churches that was known as the Chamorro wars and that resulted in many islanders fleeing to the hills. In reprisal, the entire native population was relocated from Saipan and Rota in the northern Marianas to the island of Guam. Finally, the Chamorro people took the oath of allegiance to the king of Spain, accepted Spanish customs, and began to wear Western-style clothes, cultivate corn, and learn to eat meat. Artisans were sent to the villages to teach sewing, spinning, weaving, tanning, iron forging, stone masonry, and other crafts. By 1698 the subjugation of the Marianas was complete. The Spanish branched out from the Marianas into the rest of Micronesia, meeting only mild resistance. Guam became a regular stop for the Spanish galleons traveling between the Philippines and Mexico. By the 19th century the Marianas had become involved in European colonial rivalries. The Germans as well as the British began to encroach on the Spanish claims in Micronesia, and difficulties were averted in 1886 by the mediation of Pope Leo XIII, whose efforts in this regard prevented war between Germany and Spain. But Spain's empire was weakening, and by 1898 war with the United States was at hand. After American naval forces under the command of Commodore George Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet in the Philippines and took Guam, Spain made the decision in 1899 to withdraw entirely from the Pacific and sold its possessionsincluding all of the Marianas except Guam, which the Americans still heldto Germany. The Germans promptly established an administrative centre at Saipan, which had served as the seat of the Spanish administration after the Americans captured Guam in 1898. This period marked the permanent division between Guam and the northern Marianas. Schools, a hospital, and other public buildings were erected in the northern Marianas, and colonists were encouraged to emigrate from Germany. Large coconut plantations were started, as were other agricultural projects. Copra production was the main German agricultural interest. German control in the northern Marianas ended abruptly with the outbreak of World War I. In October 1914 the Japanese navy took possession of the northern Marianas and the rest of Micronesia. Japan's authority for this seizure was based upon several secret agreements with the British designed to keep the peace in Asia in the event of war. After World War I Japan received the northern Marianas by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919, and then later as a mandate under the League of Nations on Dec. 17, 1920. The United States, which continued to hold Guam, recognized this mandate on Feb. 11, 1922. Japanese rule in the northern Marianas was direct and allowed the islanders little part in local government. The basic laws of Japan were extended to the islands with only such modifications as were needed to meet local conditions. Formal educational facilities were restricted, emphasis being placed upon learning the Japanese language. Public health conditions, however, were improved, and hospitals were established. Economic development was Japan's main interest, and large sugar plantations and refineries were started at Saipan and Rota. Large amounts of labour and capital were made available. There was full employment, and the islanders were made more productive than they had been before. When World War II began, the Japanese immediately took Guam from the United States and made their domination of the Marianas complete. The larger islands of Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Pagan, and Agrihan, along with Guam, became bases for Japanese expansion to the south and east. In 1943 U.S. forces began to reduce Japanese strength in Micronesia, and in JuneJuly 1944 the Marianas were neutralized with the recapture of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. The three islands then became Allied bases for the bombing of the Japanese home islands; the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were flown from a base at Tinian. Most of the individual islands of the Marianas were bypassed, and with most of these communication was not reestablished until the war was over. The U.S. invasion of the Marianas during World War II completely destroyed the Japanese-created economy in the islands. The United States began the task of rebuilding. President Harry S. Truman signed a Trusteeship Agreement with the United Nations for the administration of the northern Marianas as a district within the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in Micronesia on July 18, 1947, and delegated responsibility for the civil administration to the U.S. Navy. Then, on July 1, 1951, following the signing of the peace treaty with Japan and the renouncing of all Japanese claims to the northern Marianas, U.S. administrative responsibility under the UN Trusteeship was transferred to the secretary of the interior. A special designation of strategic trusteeship was made, which placed the ultimate jurisdiction of the Marianas under the United Nations Security Council. The other Micronesian island groups of the Marshalls and the Carolines were also covered under this Trusteeship Agreement. The United States pledged to promote development . . . towards self-government or independence as may be appropriate. In 1969 political status talks began between the Micronesians from the entire Trust Territory and U.S. representatives. In 1973 the northern Marianas began separate negotiations with the United States that led to a plebiscite in 1975 in which the people approved a commonwealth status in association with the United States. The new government began operations under its own constitution and an elected governor, who was installed in January 1978. Eligible residents of the Northern Marianas became U.S. citizens. The United States declared the trusteeship officially ended on Nov. 4, 1986. Dirk Anthony Ballendorf