Guam

 

(gwäm) , Chamorro Guåhan, officially Territory of Guam, the largest, most populous, and southernmost of the Mariana Islands (see also Northern Mariana Islands), an unincorporated territory of the United States (2005 est. pop. 168,000), 209 sq mi (541 sq km), W Pacific. The southern part of the island is mountainous, rising on Mt. Lamlam to 1,332 ft (406 m). Hagåtña (Agaña), on the central W coast, is the seat of government, and Apra Harbor, a large U.S. naval base, is nearby. Andersen Air Force Base is in the north. The interior of the island is dense jungle; most of the villages are on the coast.

Guamanians are U.S. citizens but cannot vote in U.S. elections. Guam's permanent inhabitants are predominantly of native Chamorro stock (37%) or Filipino descent (26%); the rest of the population mainly consists of other Pacific Islanders, Caucasians, and other persons of Asian descent. The people are overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. English, Chamorro, and Philippine languages are the main languages; efforts to preserve the Chamorro language began in the 1990s. Some one fourth of the population consists of U.S. military personnel and their dependents.

Providing goods and services for the huge U.S. bases is the major industry. Tourism, especially from Japan, is also important, and the territorial government is a significant employer. There is some light industry, and Guam is an important transshipment center for Micronesia and other Pacific islands. Some inhabitants practice subsistence farming, but large-scale agriculture is no longer possible because military installations occupy so much land. Local leaders began pressing for access to military land in the 1990s, and several facilities have been turned over.

Guam is governed under the 1950 Organic Act of Guam. The president of the United States is the head of state. The government is headed by a governor, who is popularly elected for a four-year term and is eligible for a second term. Members of the unicameral 15-seat Legislature are popularly elected for two-year terms.

Human artifacts dating from c.1500 B.C. have been found on Guam, but the first settlement may have occurred as much as 500 or more years earlier. Visited in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan, Guam was claimed and controlled by Spain until 1898, when it was taken by the United States in the Spanish-American War. After 1917, Guam, under the Dept. of the Navy, was governed by a naval officer who was advised by a local congress. Guam was captured by Japan in 1941, was retaken by U.S. forces in 1944, and became a major base for assaults on the Japanese mainland.

The Organic Act of 1950 transferred jurisdiction to the Dept. of the Interior. During the Vietnam War in the 1960s Guam was an important base for air assaults, and the island's military installations remain strategically important to the United States. Since 1970 the governor has been popularly elected. Guamanians voted in 1987 to seek commonwealth status from the United States. Guam was devastated by typhoons in 1976 and 1992 and suffered a severe earthquake in 1993. Felix Camacho was elected governor in 2002, succeeding Carl T. C. Gutierrez; he was reelected in 2006.

Territory of Guam Guåhan
Flag Coat of arms
Motto "Where America's Day Begins"
Anthem Fanohge Chamoru
Capital		Hagåtña
Largest village		Dededo
Official languages		English and Chamorro
Government
-	President	George W. Bush (R)
-	Governor	Felix Perez Camacho (R)
Area
-	Total	km² (192nd)  sq mi
-	Water (%)	negligible
Population
-	July 2006 estimate	170,000 (179th)
-	Density	307/km² (37th)  /sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2000 estimate
-	Total	$3.2 billion (167th)
-	Per capita	$21,0001 (35th)
Currency		United States dollar (USD)
Time zone		Chamorro Standard Time (UTC+10)
Internet TLD		.gu
Calling code		[[+1 671]]
1	2000 estimate.

Guam (Chamorro: Guåhan), officially the Territory of Guam, is an island in the Western Pacific Ocean and is an organized unincorporated territory of the United States. The Chamorros, Guam's indigenous inhabitants, first populated the island approximately 6,000 years ago. It is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands. The island's capital is Hagåtña, formerly Agana. Guam's economy is mainly supported by tourism (particularly from Japan, Korea and Taiwan) and United States armed forces bases.

History

Main article: History of Guam

Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, sailing for the King of Spain, reached the island in 1521 during his circumnavigation of the globe. General Miguel López de Legazpi claimed Guam for Spain in 1565. Spanish colonisation commenced in 1668 with the arrival of Padre San Vitores, who established the first Catholic mission. The islands were then governed as part of the Spanish East Indies from the Philippines. Between 1668 and 1815, Guam was an important resting stop on the Spanish trade route between Mexico and the Philippines. Guam, along with the rest of the Mariana and Caroline Islands, was treated by Spain as part of their colony in the Philippines. While Guam's Chamorro culture is unique, the cultures of both Guam and the Northern Marianas were heavily influenced by Spanish culture and traditions.

The United States took control of the island in the 1898 Spanish-American War. Guam came to serve as a station for American ships traveling to and from the Philippines, while the northern Mariana islands passed to Germany then Japan.

During World War II, Guam was attacked, and invaded, by the armed forces of Japan on December 8, 1941. Before the attack, most of the United States citizens were transported from the island and away from imminent danger. The Northern Mariana Islands had become a Japanese protectorate before the war. It was the Chamorros from the Northern Marianas who were brought to Guam to serve as interpreters and in other capacities for the occupying Japanese force. The Guamanian Chamorros were treated as an occupied enemy by the Japanese military. After the war, this would cause some resentment by the Guamanian Chamorros towards the Chamorros in the Northern Marianas. Guam's occupation lasted for approximately thirty-one months. During this period, the indigenous people of Guam were subjected to forced labor, family separation, incarceration, execution, concentration camps and prostitution. Approximately a thousand people died during the occupation according to Congressional Testimony in 2004. The United States returned and fought the Battle of Guam on July 21, 1944, to recapture the island from Japanese military occupation. The U.S. also captured and occupied the Northern Marianas. After the war, the Guam Organic Act of 1950, which established Guam as an unincorporated organized territory of the United States, provided for the structure of the island's government, and granted the people United States citizenship.

Geography

Guam is located at 13.5°N 144.5°E and has an area of  square miles ( km²). It is the southernmost island in the Mariana island chain and is the largest island in Micronesia. This island chain was created by the colliding Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates. The Marianas Trench, a deep subduction zone, lies beside the island chain to the east. Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth, is southwest of Guam at  feet ( m) deep. The highest point in Guam is Mount Lamlam, which is 1,332 feet (406 m). The island of Guam is  miles ( km) long and  mi ( km) to  mi ( km) wide. The island experiences occasional earthquakes due to it being on the western edge of the Pacific Plate and near the Philippine plate. In recent years, earthquakes with epicenters near Guam have had magnitudes ranging from 5.0 to 8.7. Unlike the Anatåhan volcano in the northern Marianas, Guam is not volcanically active. However, due to wind direction and proximity to Anatahan, volcanic ash activity does occasionally affect Guam.

The northern part of the island is a forested coralline limestone plateau 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. The island's population is most dense in the northern and central regions.

Climate

The climate is characterized as tropical marine. The weather is generally hot and very humid with little seasonal temperature variation. The mean high temperature is 86°F (30 °C) and mean low is 74°F (24 °C) with an average annual rainfall of 96 inches (2,180 mm). The dry season runs from December through June. The remaining months constitute the rainy season. The months of January and February are considered the coolest months of the year with night time temperatures in the mid to low 70's and generally lower humidity levels. The highest risk of typhoons is during October and November. They can occur, however, year-around.

An average of three tropical storms and one typhoon pass within 180 nautical miles (330 km) of Guam each year. The most intense typhoon to pass over Guam recently was Super Typhoon Pongsona, with sustained winds of 125 miles per hour, which slammed Guam on December 8, 2002, leaving massive destruction. Since Super Typhoon Pamela in 1976 wooden structures have been largely replaced by concrete structures. ^{[1] [2]} During the 1980s wooden utility poles began to be replaced by typhoon-resistant concrete and steel poles. In the 1990s many home and business owners installed typhoon shutters.

Demographics

According to the U.S. census conducted in 2000, the population of Guam was 154,805.^[3] The 2007 population estimate for Guam is 173,456. ^[4] As of 2005, the annual population growth is 1.76%.^[5] The largest ethnic group are the native Chamorros, accounting for 57% of the total population. Other ethnic groups include Filipino 25.5%, Caucasian 10%, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and others. Today, Roman Catholicism is the largest religion with 85% attesting to it. The official languages of the island are English and Chamorro.

Culture

Traditional Chamorro culture is visually manifested in dance, sea navigation, unique cuisine, fishing, games (such as batu, chonka, estuleks, and bayogu), songs and fashion influenced by the immigration of peoples from other lands. Spanish policy during colonial rule (1668-1898) was one of conquest and conversion to Roman Catholicism. This led to the gradual elimination of Guam's male warriors and displacement of the Chamorro people from their lands. In spite of the social upheavals, Guam's matriarchs—known as "I Maga'håga"—continued the indigenous culture, language, and traditions.

Historian Lawrence Cunningham in 1992 wrote, "In a Chamorro sense, the land and its produce belong to everyone. Inafa'maolek, or interdependence, is the key, or central value, in Chamorro culture ... Inafa'maolek depends on a spirit of cooperation. This is the armature, or core, that everything in Chamorro culture revolves around. It is a powerful concern for mutuality rather than individualism and private property rights."

The core culture or Pengngan Chamorro is comprised of complex social protocol centered upon respect: From the kissing of the hands of the elders (inspired by the kissing of a Roman Catholic bishop's ring by those whom he oversees), passing of legends, chants, and courtship rituals, to a person requesting forgiveness from spiritual ancestors when entering a jungle. Other practices predating Spanish conquest include galaide' canoe-making, making of the belembaotuyan (a string musical instrument), fashioning of åcho' atupat slings and slingstones, tool manufacture, Måtan Guma' burial rituals and preparation of herbal medicines by Suruhanu.

Master craftsmen and women specialize in weavings, including plaited work (niyok- and åkgak-leaf baskets, mats, bags, hats, and food containments), loom-woven material (kalachucha-hibiscus and banana fiber skirts, belts and burial shrouds), and body ornamentation (bead and shell necklaces, bracelets, earrings, belts and combs made from tortoise shells). Today only few masters exist to continue these traditional art forms.

Government and politics

Main article: Politics of Guam

See also: List of Guam Governors

Guam is governed by a popularly elected governor and a unicameral 15 member legislature. Guam elects one non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives, currently Madeleine Bordallo. During U.S. Presidential elections, citizens in Guam vote in a straw poll for their choice of president, which doesn't count toward the general election results.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, there was a significant movement in favor of the territory becoming a commonwealth, which would give it a political status similar to Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands. However, the federal government gave no response to Guam's request for commonwealth status for a decade before Guam leaders gave up the quest in the late 1990s. Competing movements with less significant influence exist, which advocate political independence from the United States, statehood, or a combination with the Northern Mariana Islands as a single commonwealth. These proposals however, are not seen as favorable or realistic within the U.S. federal government, which argues Guam does not have the financial stability or self sufficiency to warrant such status. The same sources quickly provide evidence of Guam’s increasing reliance on federal spending, and question how commonwealth status or statehood would benefit the United States as a whole.^[6]

Villages

Main article: Villages of Guam

Guam is divided into 19 villages, Dededo being the highest populated one.

The U.S. military maintains jurisdiction over bases comprising approximately one quarter of the island's area:

• Andersen Air Force Base – Yigo
• Naval Air Station – Tiyan (now administered by the government of Guam)
• Apra Harbor – Orote peninsula
• Ordnance Annex – South Central Highlands (formerly known as Naval Magazine)
• Naval communications station – Barrigada and Finegayan

Economy

Guam's economy depends primarily on tourism, the United States military base presence, and other federal spending. Although Guam receives no foreign aid, it does receive large transfer payments from the general revenues of the U.S. federal treasury into which Guam pays no income or excise taxes; under the provisions of a special law of Congress, the Guam treasury, rather than the U.S. treasury, receives federal income taxes paid by military and civilian federal employees stationed in Guam.

Sometimes called "America in Asia," Guam is a popular destination for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese tourists, and with over 20 large hotels, a DFS Galleria, Pleasure Island aquarium, SandCastle Las Vegas shows and other shopping and entertainment features in its chief tourism city of Tumon. It is a relatively short flight from Asia compared to Hawaii, with hotels and golf courses catering to tourists. About 90 percent of tourists to Guam are Japanese. Significant sources of revenue include duty-free designer shopping outlets, and the American-style malls: Micronesia Mall, Guam Premium Outlets, and the Agana Shopping Center.

The economy had been stable since 2000 due to increased tourism, mainly from Japan, but took a recent downturn along with the rest of Asia. It is expected to stabilize when U.S. Marine personnel and operations currently in Okinawa (appr. 8000, along with their 10,000 dependents) will transfer to Guam sometime in 2007-2008. Guam has a 14% unemployment rate, and the government suffered a $314 million shortfall in 2003.^[7]

The Compact of Free Association between the United States, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands was signed in 1982, and ratified in 1986. It accorded the former entities of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands a political status of "free association" with the United States. The Compact was an agreement to which Guam was not a party. Over the years, it was claimed by some in Guam that the territory has had to bear the brunt of this agreement in the form of public assistance programs and public education for those from the regions involved, but was never compensated by the federal government for its expenditures.

Transportation and communications

Main articles: Communications in Guam and Transportation in Guam

Most of the island has mobile phone service and high speed internet is now widely available through cable or DSL. Cell phones are used by a majority of residents, and the telephone service is extremely reliable, as compared to 20-25 years ago when phone outages were common. Guam was added to the North American Numbering Plan in 1997, removing the barrier of high cost international long-distance calls to the U.S. Mainland.

As Guam is also part of the U.S. Postal System (the postal code is GU), mail to Guam from the mainland is considered domestic and no additional charges are required. Private shipping companies such as UPS, DHL or FedEx also regard Guam as domestic, although this is often not reflected in the shipping charges of many mail-order companies or websites. Mail takes approximately 1-2 weeks to travel between Guam and California. Express mail and Fedex takes a minimum of three to four days to reach the U.S. Most residents use post office boxes, though home delivery is becoming increasingly available.

Guam is served by the Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, which is a hub for Continental Airlines. There is one direct flight (through Philippine Airlines) to Guam from the U.S. Mainland originating in Los Angeles; this flight takes almost exactly 12 hours. Other flights to Guam go through Hawaii, Japan, or Korea first and generally requires a layover and a plane transfer. Flying to Guam from the mainland, through Hawaii, requires a 5-hour flight from San Francisco or Los Angeles, and another 7.5-hour flight from Hawaii to Guam. To fly to Guam from the mainland, through Japan or Korea, requires a 10-12-hour flight from the mainland to Korea or Japan, and another 3-4-hour flight to Guam. There are two direct flights a day to Manila, Philippines. US Customs and Border Protection screen all incoming flights.

Most residents travel in Guam using personally owned vehicles. A limited bus system for residents exists but is relatively unused.

Ecological issues

Guam exemplifies the effects of bioinvasion.

The brown tree snake

Thought to be a stowaway on a U.S. military transport near the end of World War II, the slightly venomous—but rather harmless—brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) came to Guam and killed virtually all of the native bird population on an island that has no native species of snake; this snake has no natural predators on the island. Although some studies have suggested a high density of the brown tree snake, residents rarely see these nocturnal snakes. Prodigious climbers, the snakes cause frequent blackouts by shorting across lines and transformers.^[8]

Other invasive animal species

From the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, the Spanish introduced pigs, dogs, chickens, the Philippine deer (Cervus mariannus), black francolins, and water buffalo. Water buffalo, known as carabao locally, have cultural significance. Herds of these animals obstruct military base operations and harm native ecosystems. After birth control and adoption efforts were ineffective, the U.S. military began euthanizing the herds leading to organized protests from island residents.^[9]

Other introduced species include cane toads imported in 1937, the giant African Snail (an agricultural pest introduced during WWII by Japanese occupation troops) and more recently frog species which could threaten crops in addition to providing additional food for the brown tree snake population. Reports of loud chirping frogs, known as coquí, that may have arrived from Hawaii have led to fears that the noise could even threaten Guam's tourism.^[10]

Introduced feral pigs and deer, over-hunting, and habitat loss from human development are also major factors in the decline and loss of Guam's native plants and animals.

Threats to indigenous plants

Invading animal species are not the only threat to Guam's native flora. Tinangaja, a virus affecting coconut palms, was first observed on the island in 1917 when copra production was still a major part of Guam's economy. Though coconut plantations no longer exist on the island, the dead and infected trees that have resulted from the epidemic are seen throughout the forests of Guam.^[11] Also during the past century, the dense forests of northern Guam have been largely replaced by thick tangan tangan brush (Leucaena-native to the Americas). Much of Guam's foliage was lost during World War II. In 1947, the U.S. military introduced tangan tangan by seeding the island from the air to prevent erosion. In southern Guam, non-native grass species also dominate much of the landscape.

Wildfires

Wildfires plague the forested ("boonie" or "jungle") areas of Guam every dry season despite the island's humid climate. Most fires are man-caused with 80 percent resulting from arson.^[12] Poachers often start fires to attract deer to the new growth. Invasive grass species that rely on fire as part of their natural life cycle grow in many regularly burned areas. Grasslands and "barrens" have replaced previously forested areas leading to greater soil erosion. During the rainy season sediment is carried by the heavy rains into the Fena Lake Reservoir and Ugum River leading to water quality problems for southern Guam. Eroded silt also destroys the marine life in reefs around the island. Soil stabilization efforts by volunteers and forestry workers to plant trees have had little success in preserving natural habitats.^[13]

Aquatic preserves

As a vacation spot for scuba divers, efforts have been made to protect Guam's coral reef habitats from pollution, eroded silt, and overfishing that have led to decreased fish populations. In recent years the Department of Agriculture, Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources has established several new marine preserves where fish populations are monitored by biologists.^[14] Prior to adopting USEPA standards, portions of Tumon bay were dredged by the hotel chains in order to provide a better experience for hotel guests.^[15][16] Tumon Bay has since been made into a preserve. A federal Guam National Wildlife Refuge in northern Guam protects the decimated sea turtle population in addition to a small colony of Mariana fruit bats.^[17]

Whitespotted boxfish (Ostracion meleagris) Royal angelfish (Pygoplites diacanthus)
Reef fish of Guam

Education

Primary and secondary schools

See also: List of schools in Guam

The Guam Public School System [1] serves the entire island of Guam. In 2000, 32,000 students attended Guam's public schools.

In 1998, the U.S. Department of Defense opened schools for children of American military personnel. DoDEA schools had an attendance of 2,500 in 2000. The four schools operated by DoDEA are Andersen Elementary School, Andersen Middle School, McCool Elementary/Middle School, and Guam High School. [2]

Colleges and universities

The University of Guam, Guam Community College, and Pacific Islands Bible College offer courses in higher education.^[1]

See also

• U.S. Government disenfranchisement of U.S. citizens residing in U.S. territories
• List of radio stations in Guam
• Scouting in Guam
• Guam Police Department
• History of Guam

References

External links

Government

• Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo, Delegate, U.S. Congress
• Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency
• Guam Election Commission
• Guam Code Annotated
• Guam Department of Revenue and Taxation

News

• Marianas Variety "Guam's only true independent news source"
• Pacific Daily News, A Gannett Newspaper
• KUAM, Guam's Primary News Channel
• "Pacific News Center - News You Can Trust

Overviews

• allthingsguam A Guam History resource--virtual textbook, virtual workbook and more
• Guampedia from the Guam Humanities Council and the University of Guam
• Open Directory Project - Guam directory category
• U.S. Library of Congress - Portals to the World: Guam
• The World Factbook on Guam
• Guam Connection - Guam directory and internet portal.

Military

• Commander, Naval Forces Marianas (COMNAVMAR) Guam
• Andersen Air Force Base (AAFB) Guam
• War in the Pacific - Liberation of Guam
• Congressional Testimony - Guam War Claims

Tourism

• Wikitravel's Guide to Guam
• Guam Visitors Bureau
• Guam Portal

Others

• Guam Chamber of Commerce
• Maps - Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection

	Territory of Guam Hagåtña (capital)
Topics	Geography | Economy | Demographics | Communications | Transportation
Islands	Cocos Island | Guam
Villages	Agana Heights | Agat | Asan‑Maina | Barrigada | Chalan‑Pago‑Ordot | Dededo | Hagåtña | Inarajan | Mangilao | Merizo | Mongmong‑Toto‑Maite | Piti | Santa Rita | Sinajana | Talofofo | Tamuning | Umatac | Yigo | Yona

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