Overview
The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), is an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States located in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of the 14 northern islands of the Mariana Archipelago, with Guam—a separate U.S. territory—comprising the southernmost island of the chain. The territory covers an area of 183.5 square miles (475.26 km²) and had a population of 47,329 in 2020, with the vast majority residing on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.
Government and Administration
The administrative center of the CNMI is Capital Hill, a village in northwestern Saipan. The territory's government includes a governor, a nine-member Senate, and a 20-member House of Representatives. In 2009, the Northern Marianas elected a non-voting delegate to the U.S. Congress. Residents of the CNMI have been U.S. citizens since the territory formally joined the United States in 1986.
Early Settlement and Indigenous History
The Mariana Islands were the first islands settled by humans in Remote Oceania, with the first settlements dating to around 1500 to 1400 BC by people from the Philippines. In 2013, archaeologists suggested that these early settlers may have made what was at that point the longest uninterrupted ocean-crossing voyage in human history. A second migration from the Caroline Islands occurred by the first millennium AD, followed by a third migration from Maritime Southeast Asia around 900 AD.
The indigenous people of the Marianas became known as the Chamorros following their first contact with Spanish explorers. The ancient Chamorros built distinctive megalithic-capped pillars called latte stones upon which they constructed their homes. According to Spanish reports, the Chamorros believed their ancestors—who had erected these pillars—lived in an era when people possessed supernatural abilities.
Spanish Colonial Period
Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, sailing under the Spanish flag, arrived in the Mariana Islands in 1521, making first European contact with the Chamorros. He landed on Guam and claimed the archipelago for Spain. In 1668, Father Diego Luis de San Vitores renamed the islands Las Marianas in honor of Mariana of Austria, the widow of Spanish King Felipe IV.
Spanish colonization had devastating demographic effects. Between 90 and 95 percent of the islands' native population died from European diseases or through intermarriage with non-Chamorro settlers under Spanish rule. To repopulate the islands, new settlers were brought from the Philippines and the Caroline Islands. During the 17th century, Spanish colonists forcibly relocated Chamorros to Guam to encourage assimilation and conversion to Roman Catholicism. By 1720, the Spanish moved the remaining islanders from the Northern Marianas to Guam, and by 1741, approximately 5,000 Chamorros remained.
During the 19th century, the Northern Marianas experienced significant immigration from the Caroline Islands. These Carolinian immigrants maintained their language, cultural distinctions, and traditions and continue to be represented in the islands' demographics and culture today.
German and Japanese Administration
Following Spain's loss in the Spanish–American War of 1898, Spain ceded Guam to the United States and sold the Northern Marianas, along with the Caroline Islands, to Germany under the German–Spanish Treaty of 1899. Germany administered the islands as part of German New Guinea, focusing on economic development through road construction, a public school system, and copra production, though development efforts were limited overall.
Early in World War I, Japan declared war on Germany and invaded the Northern Marianas. After the war's conclusion, the League of Nations awarded Germany's Pacific islands north of the Equator—including the Northern Marianas—to Japan under mandate. Japan administered the islands as part of the South Seas Mandate, during which time sugar cane became the primary industry.
American Territory and Statehood
The Northern Mariana Islands were liberated from Japanese control during the Battle of Saipan in 1944. Following World War II, the islands became part of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI). Over subsequent decades, proposals for integration with Guam were rejected. Eventually, the islands left the TTPI and formally joined the United States in 1986 as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, with residents gaining U.S. citizenship. The United Nations listed the Northern Mariana Islands as a non-self-governing territory until 1990.
Population and Languages
The Northern Marianas is home to multiple ethnic groups and languages. The Chamorro, Carolinian, and English languages are all official in the commonwealth, reflecting the territory's complex colonial history and immigration patterns. The vast majority of the population resides on the three main islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, while other islands remain sparsely inhabited. Pagan, one of the more notable outer islands, has been largely uninhabited since a volcanic eruption in 1981.