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Guam won't give up more land to the U.S. military without a fight

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Government and Politics affecting the Island 

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Government and Politics affecting the Island 

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Government and politics plays a big role in Guam today. The decisions that lawmakers make affects everyone on our island. The military has been helpful to Guams economy but not to the people of the island.

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Guam won’t give up more land to the U.S. military without a fight

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Guam’s struggle against the U.S. military buildup on the island is a referendum on the future of climate justice, Indigenous sovereignty, and the U.S.′ global role as a military superpower.

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In This Remote American Outpost, Pandemic Recovery Is a Faraway Dream (Published 2021)

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Guam economy today relies mostly on tourism. Covid made Guam a ghost town during covid. Affected families.

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Tourism-dependent Guam has done almost everything it can to restart its economy. Its Asian neighbors may have to bounce back first.

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The infinity pool at the Guam Reef Hotel in August. Reservations at the hotel fell by about 98 percent. Credit... Anthony Henri Oftana for The New York Times

TAMUNING, Guam - Perched steps away from the prismatic seas off Guam's western shore, a water sports shop sat shuttered on a recent weekend morning, its rack of neon kayaks and fleet of Jet Skis collecting fallen leaves.

Down an oceanside road, in the tourist district of Tumon, the gift shop at the Hyatt Regency displayed its beach floaties and fidget spinners in total darkness. Nearby, a shopping plaza adorned with miniaturized street lamps had only one guest: a stray dog sunbathing in the tropical heat. Worn posters on its walls advertised a TV series that premiered last year.

"The hustle and bustle here has just evaporated," said Madelaine Cosico, the Hyatt's director of sales and marketing.

The South Korean and Japanese visitors who once thronged Guam for its year-round sun and luxury boutiques are long gone, and with their home countries now in the throes of their worst Covid outbreaks, they aren't coming back anytime soon. The island's economy shrank by up to 18.9 percent in 2020, and would have contracted by as much as 49 percent without federal pandemic aid, according to estimates by economists at the University of Guam.

Recovery, the island's leaders believe, starts with vaccination. Its population of 170,000 met the government's goal of an 80 percent vaccination rate among adults by July, the same month it waived quarantine requirements for foreign tourists. It has also kept mask mandates, and compliance is nearly universal. Most businesses ask customers to record their contact information, and even small hotel elevators have markings on the floor for social distancing.

By the end of August, at least 2,100 vaccine tourists will have arrived on chartered planes, according to the Guam Visitors Bureau, in addition to a relatively small number of others on regular flights. But that's little consolation on an island that recorded 1.7 million arrivals the year before the pandemic began.

"It's not even a drop in the bucket," said Bob Odell, the owner of a water sports shop called Guam Ocean Adventures. "I don't think anybody here is faring well."

The island had hoped to draw people from Japan and South Korea, where the vaccination campaigns have lagged, but infrequent flights and strict quarantine requirements back home have kept people away.

"That's an impediment to really growing this," said Gerry Perez, the visitors bureau's vice president. "We've got a program of organizers who are trying to put butts on the seats of planes."

Ms. Lin took her family to Guam to get the Pfizer vaccine before the school year started, spending thousands on a travel package that included a stay at the all-inclusive Pacific Islands Club. When she returns home, she will have to spend at least another $2,000, she said, on government-mandated quarantine in a hotel.

"I think it's good for them to be outdoors again. They're not just locked away in the house in the city," Ms. Lin said of her daughters. "I expected a lot of things to be closed down, so we'll have to come back here again."

Across the island, only a few businesses said they had noticed the small bump in tourists. Many are instead relying on steady shipments of U.S. service members arriving for short-term assignments. Others said it simply cost too much to reopen for such a small clientele.

At the Hyatt Regency, where the vast lobby bistro has only a few small tables in use and the nightclub has been chained up for months, roughly 100 full- and part-time staff members have been let go during the pandemic.

"We believe we will recover, but we won't recover very quickly. Not for at least maybe two or possibly three years," he said. "If the gods are with us, we should be able to bring in 80,000 visitors for the next fiscal year." That would be less than 5 percent of Guam's usual annual influx.

Vaccination - of both the local population and any visitors who need it - is a first step.

Standing in the basement of the Pacific Islands Club one recent day, Kai Akimoto guided a group of Taiwanese tourists to a line of black tables, where nurses waited to give them their shots. He has worked six or seven days a week for months now, he said, coordinating vaccine outreach programs for the American Medical Center, a local clinic.

"We're a community that is not so apprehensive about getting the vaccine. We don't have as many people who have qualms about it here," Mr. Akimoto said. "Their qualm is that Guam is still closed. And if this is the ticket to getting back to work and restimulating the economy, then they want people to get the shot."

Down the street, the once-popular Guam Reef Hotel tended to a small group of customers, its lobby and infinity pool nearly empty on a weekend.

Jason LaMattery, the hotel's customer service coordinator, said that the number of guests had dropped by about 98 percent between early 2020 and early 2021. In addition to military visitors, the hotel has had a small number of vaccination tourists.

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In This Remote American Outpost, Pandemic Recovery Is a Faraway Dream (Published 2021)

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Tourism-dependent Guam has done almost everything it can to restart its economy. Its Asian neighbors may have to bounce back first. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.

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How todays climate change is affecting Guam.

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Pacific RISA - Managing Climate Risk in the Pacific

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Territory of Guam

For an up-to-date summary of the climate trends and future projections, and how climate change is affecting Guam's key sectors, see Climate Change in Guam: Indicators and Considerations for Key Sectors (November 2020). Authors from the University of Guam and the East-West Center-along with more than 30 technical contributors from local governments, NGOs, researchers, and community groups-collaboratively developed the Guam PIRCA report. Climate Change in Guam is one in a series of new PIRCA reports aimed at assessing the state of knowledge about climate change indicators, impacts, and adaptive capacity of the US-Affiliated Pacific Islands and the Hawaiian archipelago.

Geographically part of the Mariana Archipelago, Guam shares an ancient history and culture with the other islands in the chain. The archipelago was settled approximately 4,000 years ago by the Chamorro people, who maintained a culture and language that is unique throughout the Pacific. Guam and the Mariana Islands were among the first islands sited by European explorers, by Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. The island chain has been colonized ever since, by a succession of colonial powers, including Spain for over two hundred years. However, Guam's political and colonial history diverged from the rest of the Mariana Islands in 1898 after the Spanish-American War, when Spain ceded Guam to the United States, and sold the remainder of the Mariana Islands to Germany. After experiencing major battles and extreme violence under Japanese occupation during World War II, Guam officially became a U.S. territory in 1950. Under the Guam Organic Act, Guamanians are represented in Congress by a nonvoting member, and are U.S. citizens but cannot vote. Guam has become the commercial and population hub of the Micronesian region, and is by far the most developed island in the area. Because it is a high island, Guam has extensive freshwater resources, and is not threatened by sea-level rise like the low atoll nations in the region. However, Guam lies directly within the typhoon belt, and is regularly hit by major storms and typhoons [9]. On December 8, 2002, Supertyphoon Pongsona produced strong wind gusts peaking at 278 km/h (173 mph), which left the entire island of Guam without power and destroyed about 1,300 houses. Damage on the island totaled over $700 million (2002 USD, $800 million 2007 USD) and was considered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to be the costliest United States disaster in 2002 in a single state or territory [3, 7].

Geography

The island of Guam is the largest and southernmost island in the Marianas archipelago, which continues northward from Guam and makes up the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. At 212 sq miles (549 sq km), it is the largest island in Micronesia. The capital, Hagåtña (formerly Agana), is located on the west coast, near the middle of the island, and is the seat of government and the site of the main commercial districts on Guam [10]. The northern part of the island is a forested coralline limestone plateau with sheer coastal cliffs, while the south contains volcanic peaks covered in forest and grassland. A coral reef surrounds most of the island, except in areas where bays exist that provide access to small rivers and streams that run down from the hills into the Pacific Ocean and Philippine Sea [1, 9]. The Northern Guam Lens provides nearly 40 million gallons per day of drinking water (about 80 percent of the total) to the island of Guam [8]. Guam is the closest landmass to the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in the ocean [9]. Because of its strategic location in the western North Pacific Ocean, the U.S. has long maintained military bases there [1].

Climate

Guam's climate is almost uniformly warm and humid throughout the year. Generally, the temperature range is from the low 70s to the middle 80s Fahrenheit. The coolest and least humid months, marked by prevailing westerly tradewinds, are in December through February. Although the warmest months are from March through August, the tradewinds still blow steadily from the east or northeast. There are two seasons, the dry and the rainy. The dry season typically begins in December and extends through June. The rainy season falls within the remaining months [4]. The annual rainfall totals 80-110 inches (2,032-2,794 mm) [4]. Three-quarters of the rain falls between during the rainy season between June and December [6]. During the rainy season there is a breakdown of the trades, and on some days the weather may be dominated by westerly-moving storm systems that bring heavy showers, or steady and sometimes torrential rain [5]. Guam lies within the typhoon belt and is periodically struck by tropical storms and typhoons [6], which are most frequent from June through December. An average of three tropical storms and one typhoon pass within 180 nautical miles (330 km) of Guam each year. Since 1962, ten of thirteen major disaster declarations resulted from typhoons, and two of the other disasters were associated with climate [2]. The most intense typhoon to pass over Guam recently was Super Typhoon Pongsona on December 8, 2002, with sustained winds of 125 miles per hour, leaving massive destruction as the oil tanks in Apra Harbor caught fire [1, 2]. The loss of harbor operations made response to the disaster more difficult [2].

Demographics

The estimated population of Guam is 168,801 (July 2021 est.) [1]. Residents of Guam are known as Guamanians, and the indigenous inhabitants are called Chamorro. Over two-thirds of the population lives in the capital, and more than 90% of the population is urban. Although population growth has been relatively slow over the past decade, the possible military buildup on the island could cause unprecedented population grown in the coming years, with tens of thousands of military personnel, their dependents, and others possibly moving to Guam [9]. The main ethnicities on the island are Chamorro 37.3%, Filipino 26.3%, White 7.1%, Chuukese 7%, Korean 2.2%, other Pacific Islander 2%, other Asian 2%, Chinese 1.6%, Palauan 1.6%, Japanese 1.5%, Pohnpeian 1.4%, mixed 9.4%, other 0.6% (2010 est.) [1]. Both English and Chamorro are official languages of Guam [9], with English spoken by 43.6%, Filipino 21.2%, Chamorro 17.8%, other Pacific island languages 10%, Asian languages 6.3%, other 1.1% (2010 est.). Due to historic Spanish colonization of Guam, approximately 85% of the population is Roman Catholic [1].

History and Government

The Mariana archipelago was initially settled by Chamorro migrants from Southeast Asia, most likely Indonesia, around 2000 BC. All the inhabited islands of the archipelago share an ancient history and culture; however, they are now politically separated into the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Territory of Guam, which is comprised of only the southernmost and largest island in the chain. Pre-contact Chamorro society was stratified into three classes, called matua (upper class), achaot (middle class), and mana'chang (lower class). Belief in the spirits of ancestors was the foundation of the indigenous religion, and inter-island transportation took place in sailing canoes, called "flying proas" by early European explorers because of their speed. Thatched houses were built on top of huge carved stone and coral pillars known as "latte stones", some of which still exist and are unique throughout the Pacific. Guam was one of the first islands in the Pacific discovered by Europeans, in 1521 by Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan. The island was formally colonized by Spain in 1668, and remained part of the Spanish colonial empire until it was surrendered to the U.S. in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. Practically all aspects of Chamorro culture - from language to food to religious beliefs - were impacted by more than two centuries of Spanish colonialism. After 1898, Guam was the only U.S.-held territory in the Pacific before World War II, but in 1941 Japan captured the island almost immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The U.S. did not recapture the island until 1944, until which time the occupying Japanese subjected the local inhabitants to torture, concentration camps, forced enculturation, and other war crimes; the memory and legacy of this violence still continues to this day. After the war, the Guam Organic Act of 1950 established Guam as an unincorporated organized territory of the United States, provided for the structure of the island's civilian government, and granted the people U.S. citizenship. Since Guam is not a U.S. state, citizens residing on Guam are not allowed to vote for president and their congressional representative is a non-voting member of Congress [9]. Today the U.S. military installation on Guam is one of the most important bases in the Pacific [1], and is poised expand even more with the possible relocation of tens of thousands of military personnel, their spouses and dependents, and other staff from Okinawa in the near future [9].

Natural Resources and Economy

The Guam economy depends primarily on tourism, U.S. Department of Defense installations, and locally owned businesses. The tourist hub, called Tumon, features many shopping, entertainment, and vacation venues and is a popular destination for tourists from South Korea, the U.S., the Philippines, Taiwan, and especially Japan [9]. Guam receives no foreign aid, but as a U.S. territory it does receive federal funding from the U.S. treasury. As a U.S. territory, Guam is also open to immigration from the Freely Associated States, which include Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Citizens of the FSM especially are increasingly migrating to Guam because of its proximity as well as environmental and cultural familiarity. Although these migrants do contribute to the workforce and the economy, they also increase the resources required by public assistance programs and the public education system [9]. Guam has experienced problems with invasive, introduced plant and animal species causing ecological damage for at least a century. Especially prevalent are the cane toad, the giant African snail, the coconut rhinoceros beetle, and the brown tree snake, which was introduced during World War II and has nearly eradicated the native bird population [9]. As a higher island, Guam has plentiful freshwater resources, which means that there are fewer problems with water supply during ENSO events and typhoons and other natural disasters. The coral reefs, which provide habitat, food, and protection for the islands, as well as attraction for the tourism industry, can experience increased pressure from extreme weather events that result in bleaching or sedimentation that covers and kills the reefs. During disasters throughout Micronesia, people from atoll islands historically migrate to Guam because it usually has more food and water resources available. With increased future migration from the impacts of climate change, Guam's resource needs may exceed its carrying capacity.

Related Links

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office Guam

Latest Seasonal Sea Level Forecast for Guam

Latest Seasonal Rainfall Forecast for Guam

Rainfall Variations during ENSO

Tropical Pacific Islands Rainfall Outlooks from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC)

References

[1] Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/guam/#people-and-society, accessed May 13, 2021.

[2] Federal Emergency Management Agency, http://www.fema.gov/femaNews/disasterSearch.do, accessed August 30, 2012.

[3] Federal Emergency Management Agency. 2003. Super Typhoon Pongsona: The First 100 Days Over $300 Million In Disaster Relief And Assistance, http://www2.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=2240, accessed August 30, 2012.

[4] National Weather Service Forecast Office, Tiyan, Guam, https://www.weather.gov/gum/, accessed August 30, 2012.

[5] Shea, E., G. Dolcemascolo, C.L. Anderson, A. Barnston, C.P. Guard, M.P. Hamnett, S.T. Kubota, N. Lewis J. Loschnigg, & G. Meehl. 2001. Preparing for a Changing Climate: The Consequences of Climate Variability and Change for Pacific Islands. Honolulu: East-West Center, http://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/preparing-changing-climate-potential-consequences-climate-variability-and-change-execut, accessed May 13, 2021.

[6] U.S. Department of Interior. 2006. United States of American Insular Energy Assessment Report 2006. Suva, Fiji: Pacific Power Association, https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/migrated/oia/reports/upload/U-S-Insular-Area-Energy-Assessment-Report-2006.pdf, accessed May 13, 2021.

[7] Wikipedia, Typhoon Pongsona, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Typhoon_Pongsona#cite_note-femlast-0, accessed May 13, 2021.

[8] USGS Pacific Islands Water Science Center, http://hi.water.usgs.gov/studies/guamlens/index.html, accessed August 30, 2012.

[9] Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guam, accessed August 27, 2012.

[10] Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hag%C3%A5t%C3%B1a,_Guam, accessed August 29, 2012.

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Territory of Guam For an up-to-date summary of the climate trends and future projections, and how climate change is affecting Guam's key sectors, see Climate Change in Guam: Indicators and Considerations for Key Sectors (November 2020).

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Traditions and Customs of the Island of Guam

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More information on Guams culture and festivals today.

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Guam Island is known for its magnificent landscapes of beaches, waterfalls, and tropical plants. A lot of students prefer checking best essay writing service reviews and ordering essays from top companies to have more time to travel there. But Guam is not only about "standard" tourism attractions. It has a lot more to show and feel.

In Guam, you can find ancient rock art pieces and traditional dwellings. There also are the "prints" of the Spanish reign and many places to remind of World War II.

Despite Guam Island having remained under European and American influence for centuries, the Chamorro culture is still present in all aspects of life. Additionally, the island's government began putting a lot of effort into supporting and develop that culture. They study and restore the ancient language despite the fact that Guam's youth prefers to use English to communicate.

Now, let's see why you should read the assignment geek review, entrust your academic papers to professionals, and leave for Guam right after the pandemic restrictions will be lifted. There are more than enough reasons. Find them below.

Chamorro Culture & Language

Legends and myths are traditional solutions for Chamorro people to share their knowledge with younger generations. They have been telling local tales to each other for hundreds and even thousands of years. The more skilled the storyteller is, the more respect they have among the locals. Truly experienced narrators can make their stories entertaining and teaching at a time. That's why children learn them so well.

Local legends are magnificent, too. For example, the place called Two Lover's Point, one of the most romantic sites of Guam has a legend behind it. The story tells of two people in love with each other. They belonged to different castes, so they jumped off the cliff together to stay united forever.

Nowadays, loving couples come to that cliff to express their feelings, see the endless ocean and orange sunset and leave padlocks with their names written or carved on as personal eternal love vows. This place is among the best sites in the world to come with your sweetheart.

Music and Arts

Chamorro people love music! They feel it, and they like being creative. One can see brilliant performances of local dancers, singers, and players all over the island, and you are bound to remember them for the rest of your life.

When speaking of fine arts, there is a lot to see as well. In the capital village of Guam, Hagåtña, they like going in for street art, while in smaller villages, artists focus on murals more. Visiting the Guam Museum is probably the most comfortable and exciting way to see the best pieces of fine arts by Guam artists. Or you can try buying their pictures on local markets along with works by smiths, weavers, woodcarvers, and of course, jewelers.

Jewels

Actually, jewelers are worth noting separately here. Traditionally, Chamorro people craft their jewels by hand. To finish a single work of art, they use natural resources and materials like the Guam ifit tree or clamshells. Guam jewelers also know how to work with silver and gold. They make their works attract your attention right after you look at them for the first time! You'll definitely want to buy something as a souvenir!

Festivals

Holidays and festivals in Guam are perfect to see if you want to have fun and take great impressions home with you. Many events are connected with the culture of Chamorro and people living on nearby islands. The unforgettable Micronesian culture expects you to dive into it entirely during every festival. Of course, they are also full of traditional Chamorro music, dancing, and arts. Every village and market of Guam has something to offer to a tourist.

On the 21 st of July, Guam people celebrate the day when the island was set free of Japanese invaders during World War II. The holiday parade takes place in the capital village.

On the 8 th of December, the festive procession takes place to honor the island's patron: Santa Marian Kamalen, also known as Our Lady of Camarin. The event is definitely worth seeing, so it would be great for you to plan your visit to Guam appropriately.

Additionally, each of the 19 villages and municipalities of Guam has its special day devoted to the patron. That holiday is named fiesta. It's a time for locals to crowd the streets and go in for noisy entertainment, hanging out and eating tasty foods throughout the night.

Conclusion

Guam Island is a special place with special people. Every traveler should use the opportunity to see and feel the Guam culture on their own. It's an unforgettable experience that guarantees you lifetime memories.

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Traditions and Customs of the Island of Guam

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Guam Island is known for its magnificent landscapes of beaches, waterfalls, and tropical plants. A lot of students prefer checking best essay writing service reviews and ordering essays from top companies to have more time to travel there. But Guam is not only about "standard" tourism attractions.

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A brief history of my island and culture.

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That Guam once again finds itself in the crosshairs of foreign adversaries is nothing new. It was 500 years ago, in 1521, when Ferdinand Magellan's ships, weary and hungry, pulled up to this island, beginning 300 years of Spanish conquest. Nowadays most Americans, if they know of Guam at all, think of this and neighboring Saipan as sites of World War II battles. It was from neighboring Tinian that the Enola Gay took off to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. And as is always the case in these struggles between external powers, the presence of the Chamorro, the indigenous peoples of the islands, is lost.

Most Americans likely have some inkling that Guam exists and is somehow American. Few know how or why. While geographically, Guam is among the Mariana Islands, so named by Spanish missionaries in 1668, it is a separate U.S. territory from the Northern Mariana Islands, which is technically a commonwealth. Guam remains on the United Nations list of 17 non-self-governing territories -colonies, that, under the U.N. charter, should be de-colonized. It's "American soil," but the residents do not have full American citizenship, and cannot vote in presidential elections. They have a non-voting representative to Congress.

In 2002, I conducted community-based research in the southern village of Inarahan (Inalahan in Chamorro). The project, Pacific Worlds, is an indigenous-geography cultural documentation and education project, sponsored by Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL). Later I did a similar project in Tanapag village on nearby Saipan, part of the Northern Mariana Islands, and published a paper about the history of colonialism (American, in particular) in the region.

I do not speak for the Chamorro people, but as a scholar of colonialism and indigeneity, who was taught directly by the people who shared their lives with me. The full community study, with maps, photos and illustrations, can be found here, but given the current circumstances, a short history is merited.

People arriving from islands off Southeast Asia, most likely Taiwan, settled Guam and the Marianas more than 4,000 years ago. One could sail west-to-east from the Philippines to the Marianas just by following the sun. A clan-based society arose by 800 A.D. that included villages characterized by impressive latte houses, one-story houses set atop rows of two-piece stone columns; these were still in use as late as 1668. Archaeological evidence indicates rice cultivation and pottery making prior to European arrival in the 16th century. By then, the Chamorros had developed a complex, class-based matrilineal society based on fishing and agriculture, supplemented by occasional trade visits from Caroline Islanders.

The Mariana Islands proved not terribly useful to the Spanish. "Magellan's view of the world as a Portuguese Catholic in the early 1500s did not help the encounter," explains Anne Perez Hattori, a Chamorro historian at the University of Guam. "On seeing the Chamorros, he did not view them as his equals.... He definitely viewed them as pagans, as savages.... [T]he Chamorros took things. And then because of that, Magellan calls the islands the 'Islands of Thieves.'"

Magellan's characterization of the Chamorros as "thieves," discouraged further European intrusion; and while some ships still visited, the Chamorros lived in relative isolation for the next century or so. The nearby Philippines, where traders found an entryway to the Chinese market, attracted most of the seafarers from abroad.

That all changed when an aggressive Jesuit missionary, Father San Vitores, arrived in the Marianas in 1668. Relations were tense with occasional violence. In 1672, San Vitores secretly baptized the infant daughter of a local chief, Matå'pang, against the chief's wishes, a last straw that ended with San Vitories' death.

His death was the turning point that transformed this hitherto-ignored Spanish outpost into a subjugated Spanish colony.

"After San Vitores dies, the military took over the mission, so it became really a war of subjugation," Hattori says. Twenty-six years of Spanish-Chamorro wars ensued that, along with introduced diseases, decimated the population. By 1700, just 5,000 Chamorros - some 10 percent of their former number-remained.

The Spanish then began transporting Chamorros from the northern islands to Guam, where they could control them-a process that took nearly a century, as the fast native canoes could outrun the larger and slower Spanish ships and elude capture. Canoe culture was then banned to keep them from escaping.

Once on Guam, the Chamorros were resettled into newly created villages, each under the watchful eye of a Spanish priest. And so began the assimilation of the Chamorros. They lost their millennia-old connections to the land, their traditions and their stories. Today, the Chamorro language retains its traditional grammar, but 55 percent of the vocabulary borrows from Spanish.

Nonetheless, indigenous culture continued in other ways-in values, in traditions surrounding weddings and funerals, in housing styles, and many other forms not obvious to the outsider. Small-island living requires a system of codes and practices, evolved over millennia, which no outside culture can replace, even today.

The Spanish maintained a lazy rule over the islands for the next century and a half. The northern islands were off limits, until typhoon-devastated Caroline Islanders arrived from the south-as was their traditional practice-looking for temporary shelter around 1815. The Spanish governor settled them on Saipan, where they still live alongside of-if not intermarried with-Chamorros who were allowed to return there in the mid-19th century.

The Spanish empire was approaching its twilight years by the time the United States acquired California from Mexico in 1848, an era when the ideology of "manifest destiny" justified aggressive American expansion.

By 1898, with the Spanish-American War, the nation's ambitions expanded beyond the U.S. continent, and extended American "Indian-hating" to the far western Pacific.

The Spanish troops and officials stationed in Guam were at first glad to have visitors when the USS Charleston arrived. They didn't know that war had been declared between the two nations, and mistook their cannon fire for a salute. A peaceful transfer of power ensued.

The 1898 Treaty of Paris between Spain and the U.S. would later formalize the handover of Guam. The reason why Guam remains a U.S. territory, while the rest of Micronesia is not, can be traced to an ironic accident of history and geography. The American negotiators neglected to inquire about the Spanish claims to the rest of the Marianas and much more of Micronesia, and Spain quickly sold these other islands to Germany. Thus began a rift between the Chamorros of Guam and those of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Guam has persisted under American rule to the present day, while the northern islands experienced first almost two decades of benign German rule, then nearly three decades under the thumb of the Japanese empire, which took all of Germany's Pacific territories at the outset of World War I.

Right after the U.S takeover, the leading families of Guam met and established a legislature in anticipation of a democratic, representative government. To their surprise, the island was instead placed under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy, and was ruled by a series of military governors who, though generally benign, wielded absolute authority. The Navy maintained the island -both physically and discursively - as an essential American forward base, and under their administrations, Guam was run like a well-ordered battleship under what was essentially martial law.

In a series of Supreme Court rulings known as the Insular Cases of 1901, it was decided that new territories might never be incorporated into the union and were to receive only unspecified ''fundamental'' Constitutional protections. They were to be governed without the consent of the governed in a system that lacked the checks and balances that underlie the principle of limited government.

As one legal scholar noted in 1903, the new insular possessions became "real dependencies - territories inhabited by a settled population differing from us in race and civilization to such an extent that assimilation seems impossible." With these newly acquired lands, the U.S. became an empire in the manner of Britain, France and Germany. The contradiction of a "free," "democratic" country holding colonies unfolded powerfully on Guam over the ensuing century.

The Chamorros persisted in their pursuit of democracy, sometimes with moderate support from the naval governors, sometimes not, but always without success.

As late as 1936, two Guam delegates, Baltazar J. Bordallo and Francisco B. Leon Guerrero, went to Washington to petition in person for Chamorro citizenship.

They were positively received by President Franklin Roosevelt and by members of Congress. But the Navy convinced the federal government to reject the petition. As Penelope Bordallo-Hofschneider writes in her book A Campaign for Political Rights on the Island of Guam, 1899-1950, the Navy cited, among other things, "the racial problems of that locality" and asserted that "these people have not yet reached a state of development commensurate with the personal independence, obligations, and responsibilities of United States citizenship."

While the bombing of Pearl Harbor still lives on in infamy in American memory, the bombing of Guam-four hours later-is virtually forgotten. In a brief but locally well-remembered air and sea attack, Japanese troops seized control of the small American colony and began an occupation that lasted three years. More than 13,000 American subjects suffered injury, forced labor, forced march or internment. A local priest, Father Jesus Baza Dueñas, was tortured and assassinated. At least 1,123 died. To America, they are forgotten.

The battle to re-conquer Guam from the Japanese, however, does stand out, at least for war buffs. The National Park Service commemorated it with a park spanning seven different locations. It virtually dominates the landscape. It was not until 1993, with the 50th anniversary of the liberation approaching, that Congress was moved by Guam's congressional representative, Robert Underwood, to overtly recognize the suffering of the Chamorros. Public Law 103- 197 authorized construction of a monument to commemorate, by individual names, those people of Guam who suffered during the occupation.

In his book Cultures of Commemoration: The Politics of War, Memory and History in the Mariana Islands, Chamorro scholar Keith Camacho remarks that in military narratives of World War II's Pacific theater, Pacific Islanders play no central role. Instead, military historians tend to envision the Pacific Islands as "a tabula rasa on which to inscribe their histories of heroism and victimization," forming "a body of discourse in which only Japanese and Americans constitute the agents of change and continuity in the region, erasing the agency and voice of indigenous peoples."

Whatever happens with North Korea, which has threatened to attack Guam with a nuclear weapon, let us not forget that Guam and its fellow Mariana Islands are a locus of indigenous peoples, culture, history and traditional civilization. This is not just a U.S. military base, but a place with a long history and deep cultural roots, whose "American" people have striven for democracy for over a century, and still don't have it.

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The Chamorro people of this Pacific island have long been buffeted by the crosswinds of foreign nations

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Catholicism ingrained in daily life on US island of Guam

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Guam was first founded by the Spanish who influenced us to practiced our religion which is Christianity. I grew up around the Catholic Church and participated in events for our community. Our religion gave us our value and belief system that we practice till this day that we will pass on to future generations.

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Catholicism ingrained in daily life on US island of Guam

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HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — A towering white cathedral built on the site of Guam’s first church dominates the skyline of Hagåtña, the sleepy capital of this American territory. It is a symbol of Catholicism on an island closer to Tokyo than Honolulu, where the faith is part of daily life. More than 85% of…