Guam

Guam Guåhan
Flag
Capital	Hagåtña
Largest city	Dededo
Official languages	Chamorro English
Dominant mode of production	Capitalism
Government	U.S. military occupation
Area
• Total	540 km²
Population
• 2021 estimate	168,801

Guam is a U.S. colony in the western Pacific Ocean. It is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands chain.

27% of Guam's land is occupied by the US military and Guam is sometimes referred to as the "tip of the spear" of US military presence in the Pacific. In January 2023, the U.S. Marines opened a new base on the island that will contain 5,000 Marines to be used against China.

History

The first humans arrived in Guam between 2000 and 1500 BCE. CHamoru (also spelled Chamorro) society developed with a matrilineal kinship and inheritance system, with the population organized into clans, as well as developing at least two social castes. The ancient people of Guam engaged in fishing and horticulture and lived both on the coasts and inland areas, cultivating yam, taro, breadfruit, banana, coconut, and rice, and catching a wide variety of fish. They passed down their history, genealogy, and legends through oral traditions such as songs, stories, and chants. CHamoru construction methods included building atop rows of large stone pillars known as latte. CHamoru people also built outrigger sailboats, known as proas, used for inter-island transportation and fishing.

Spanish colonizers first arrived in 1521 and took over in the 1550s. Guam became a stop for provisions for Spanish ships travelling across the Pacific, and eventually, Jesuit missionaries began attempting religious conversions of the native CHamoru people in 1668. The CHamoru resisted the colonizers, to which the Spanish responded by stationing soldiers on Guam under a military governor.

A map showing several U.S. Military installations in Guam.

In the period of the Spanish-American War, the United States under President William McKinley invaded and occupied Guam in 1898 shortly after the invasion of Hawaii, beginning the US Naval era, during which the people of Guam lived under strict executive orders by the Naval government which significantly impacted culture, social and economic life, and placed strict limitations on political participation. During this time, the people of Guam continuously petitioned for more rights.

US Naval rule was interrupted when Guam was occupied by Japan during the Second World War. After being re-occupied by the US, the Marianas islands were used for launching the air assault against Japan. The US continued to rule by mandate until 1950, when the Organic Act granted the people of Guam some limited aspects of self-government, though still remaining a US colonial possession without national sovereignty.

Throughout the following years, the US occupiers continued to use Guam as a strategic base for its imperialist endeavors, using Guam to harbor nuclear missile submarines, long-range bombers, satellite and underwater cable communications centers, large facilities for electronic intelligence gathering, and stockpiles of conventional and nuclear weapons, as well as using Guam as a support base during the Korean War, a base for B-52 bombers in the Vietnam War, and as a logistical link to the U.S. base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War.