Northern Mariana Islands

The Northern Mariana Islands are a long chain of islands in the western Pacific, in Micronesia, north of Guam, with which they share history and people. They form a Commonwealth in political union with the United States, and their people are US citizens. About 47,000 people live there, nearly all on the three inhabited southern islands: Saipan, the capital, Tinian and Rota. Two Indigenous peoples form the core, the Chamorro, as on Guam, and the Carolinians, who arrived later from other Micronesian islands; there are also large Asian communities.

The Northern Marianas stretch for hundreds of kilometres: in the south, raised limestone islands where people live; in the north, active volcanoes, almost empty, some still smoking. Nearby lies the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in the world's oceans. Saipan has hills, cliffs and beaches around a large lagoon. The hot, humid tropical climate is swept by typhoons. The very clear waters, rich in reefs and wartime wrecks, draw divers.

Settled more than three thousand years ago by the Chamorro, Austronesian seafarers, the islands received Carolinians in the 19th century, who came by canoe from other Micronesian archipelagos and formed a second people. Spanish for more than two centuries, the islands were sold to Germany in 1899 and later run by Japan, which developed sugar cane and settled there in large numbers. In the Second World War, Saipan and Tinian saw some of the deadliest battles of the Pacific; the bombers that struck Hiroshima and Nagasaki took off from Tinian. Under American trusteeship after the war, the Northern Marianas chose in 1978 a lasting union with the United States.

The Northern Marianas have three official languages: Chamorro and Carolinian, the Austronesian languages of the two Indigenous peoples, and English. The islands are overwhelmingly Catholic, a legacy of long Spanish missionary work, and faith is central to social life, with parishes and village patron-saint fiestas. This Catholicism mixes with respect for ancestors and spirits, the taotaomo'na, in a society where the extended family and the clan remain pillars of identity.

The culture of the Northern Marianas combines two Oceanian heritages, Chamorro and Carolinian, with Spanish and American influences. Its values are mutual help and respect for elders. Traditional navigation is still alive among the Carolinians, known for their canoes and their knowledge of the stars; there are also the dances and songs of both peoples, weaving and big village fiestas. People eat kelaguen (meat or fish with lemon and coconut), red rice, fish and barbecue.