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Introduction
The North Korean government recently released a statement saying it was " examining " design for a strike on the U.S. dominion of Guam .
For many Americans , this is the first meter that Guam , a tiny island hidden in the remote stretches of the Western Pacific Ocean , has recruit their consciousness . But where is Guam , how did the United States acquire it and why would North Korea need to attack it ?
From its early history to its political implication , here are 10 fact about the tiny Micronesian island .
It’s a distant locale
Guam ride in an expanse of the Pacific Ocean that could reasonably be identify as " the centre of nowhere . "
It ’s located about 1,500 miles ( 2,490 kilometers ) from the Philippines and about 1,600 international mile ( 2,600 kilometre ) from Japan . It is part of the 500 - Swedish mile - long ( 800 klick ) volcanic archipelago known as the Mariana Islands , according to " Destiny ’s Landfall : A history of Guam " ( University of Hawaii Press , 2011 ) . Its nearest neighbor within the Mariana Islands is about 270 miles ( 436 km ) away .
It’s a tiny but beautiful island
Guam is the with child of the 15 island in the Marianas . Still , with just 210 hearty mile ( 543 square kilometer ) of res publica , it ’s about half the size of it of Los Angeles . The island had a population of about 162,000 in 2016 , according to the World Bank .
The island is cognize for its ashen - guts beach , andthe Mariana Trench , the deep ocean deep on the satellite , is n’t far away .
The island string was form along a subduction zona — where one architectonic plate is diving beneath another — around 60 million years ago . However , it has rise above and sink beneath the undulation several time over the course of those millennia , and has millions of limestone and reef shelf formed from the skeletons of mollusc and other calcium - rich sea wight , according to " Destiny ’s Landfall . "
The island is also home to several unequalled mintage , such as the flightless koko bird , the damselfish andthe Serianthes tree , harmonise to the University of Guam . During World War II , chocolate-brown tree diagram snakes somehow slither their way onto the island . The tree Snake River have become huge pests and have wiped out many of the local birds and reptiles , harmonize to the U.S. Department of Agriculture .
Humans have a long history here
The Chamorro the great unwashed , whose ascendent originally sailed from Southeast Asia , have engage the island mountain range for about 4,000 yr . " Chamorro , " which is actually the name the Spanish used to place the inhabitants when they first encounter them , is base on a edition of the local endemic universe ’s name for their gamy - caste member , the chamorri , according to " Destiny ’s Landfall . "
The original indigenous people of Guam are Austronesian . Linguistic clues suggest they are most closely related to tothe people of Taiwanand the Philippines , according to " Destiny ’s Landfall . " However , over years of compound convention , the Chamorro have mixed with people from Spain , Germany , the Philippines , America and many other country .
The first European contact was Magellan
Europeans first made physical contact with the great unwashed in this orbit of the Pacific in 1521 , when Portuguese explorerFerdinand Magellanfirst set foot on the island . Magellan had been searching for the spice islands of theMoluccas . He and his men were on poorly fitted out ships and were too ignorant of the sea ’s amplitude to fish for their meals , so they go on rats , sawdust and ox - hide tackle , according to " Destiny ’s Landfall . "
When the explorers made landfall on Guam , they were surround by proas , the sleek and nimble boat of the local Chamorro people , who begin to take items off the Lusitanian vessels . In retaliation , Magellan ’s man evoke crossbow and toss off several of the local Chamorro . The Chamorro managed to slip a skiff from the Europeans , who left and then returned the next day to take the skiff back . In the process , they burned several villages and proas and killed eight more Chamorro , before taking on more supply and maneuver out again , according to " Destiny ’s Landfall . "
For most of the next 100 long time , however , there were only intermittent liaison with European sailors , include Spanish ship that dock about once a yr before moving on to Acapulco , on Mexico ’s Pacific coast . However , in 1668 , the Spanish invaded and colonized the island . They also brought missionary , who would for the most part convert the island population toRoman Catholicism . [ The World ’s Catholic Population ]
Guam offers military advantages
For most of the last few century , Guam has been fill militarily by a parade of different alien power , from Spain to Germany to Japan to the United States . This changeless military domination is likely due , in part , to the island ’s unequaled geography and location . It is the largest land mass inMicronesiaand the highest island in the vicinity , and it also has several safe seaport and multiple strip , making it perfect for a military frontier settlement . Additionally , it sit down at the intersection ofthe barter windsand the equatorial current , meaning that for centuries , sailors could take advantage of the predominate winding and currents to land there for restocking or a prison-breaking on the way to other destinations , harmonize to " Destiny ’s Landfall . "
America has a long history with Guam
America first captured Guam during the Spanish - American War in 1898 . It was ab initio used as a way station en path tothe Philippines , but its military grandness grew as it became the main communication communication channel for a telegraphy argumentation that connected the United States mainland with Hawaii and the Philippines , according to " Destiny ’s Landfall . "
At the sentence , Japan was the rife nautical major power in the Pacific , and was rapidly expanding its influence in club to access more resources . Japan occupied the island of Saipan within the Mariana Islands , just 100 miles ( 161 km ) by , according to " Guam 1941 & 1944 : Loss and Reconquest " ( Bloomsbury , 2011 ) . American leaders were concerned about the possible action of a war with Japan and some military drawing card wanted to beef up military fortification on Guam , which would serve as a crucial link in their endeavor to hold the Philippines . However , support from Congress was minimal and intense military fortifications never occurred .
America institutedJim Crow lawson the island in 1907 , segregate topical anesthetic from American enlisted men in terms of housing and schooling . practice of law preventing endogamy between the locals and most Navy enlisted men also take event around this clip . Guam started using American currency in 1909 and also start observe all United States federal holiday around that time . However , none of the local anesthetic could vote . But under American pattern , the local people gradually did have an addition in their standard of living , with fewer disease eruption and great educational chance , grant to " Destiny ’s Landfall . "
Japan controlled Guam during World War II
Japan encroach upon Guam on Dec. 8 , 1941 , just a few day after its attack on Pearl Harbor . [ Secret Spies , Sunken Ships : 8 Pearl Harbor Mysteries ]
At the time , about 700 citizenry defended the island , which had relatively little other military fortifications . After a token resistance , the American forces gave up . The Japanese now rename the island , and would defend it for another two - and - a - half years .
Over the next few years , American forces devised an luxuriant multistep plan for capture islands , include Guam , in the Pacific . This plan was first set in motion in January 1944 , with the initial seduction of the Kwajalein Atoll . Guam ’s recapture was part of a serial of steps designed to retake island in the South Pacific from Nipponese forces , include the recapture of Saipan and Tinian , in the Mariana Islands , on the path to the Philippines . The American military retook the island of Guam fromJapanese forcesin the Second Battle of Guam , which lasted for about two months and cease in August 1944 .
The plan anticipate for heavy melody bombardment by planes station at the Marshall Islands , then outpouring by ship , concord to " Guam 1941 & 1944 : Loss and Reconquest . " American forces landed on the island in late July , and by Aug. 8 , the Japanese had given up their electrical resistance . ( One Nipponese holdout , Shōichi Yokoi , was found hiding in the island ’s jungles 28 year later , however , the New York Times reported . )
Guam residents are ambivalent about independence
Despite more than 100 years of American occupation , the territory of Guam has continued to be in a kind of oblivion : While it ’s not considered to be an independent nation , and its occupants are U.S. citizens with U.S. passports , they can not vote in general elections for President of the United States . Guam has a delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives , but the soul can not vote . ( If the inhabitants of Guam move to the United States , they can vote . )
In 1950 , President Harry Truman signed theGuam Organic Act of 1950 , which allows native people on the island some degree of ego - administration , with their own elected regulator , royal court system and legislative assembly , anda bill of rights(which is skimpier than the one open Americans on the mainland , but it does allow for rights such as separation of church building and state ) . Union taxes would also go back to Guam ’s coffers , according to that enactment .
However , many hoi polloi in Guam still chafe over this in - between status . Guam is presently an unincorporated territory , but in theory it could vote for full - fledge statehood or for full sovereignty . In several referenda over the years , however , people in Guam have systematically vote to keep the status quo , with some improvement .
Why North Korea singled out Guam
So why didNorth Koreasingle out Guam as a probable place of attack ? away from being a strategical hub for centuries , Guam has the reward of being able to chop-chop ramp up its military protection for U.S. friend ( and North Korean enemies ) such as South Korea and Japan . Guam is home to about 6,000 troops and several huge military outposts , including Andersen Air Force Base and the Naval Base Guam , and is home to a nuclear submarine home place for the United States .
In addition , Guam is home to the last gamey - ALT orbit defense battery ( THAAD ) , which is designed toshoot down missilesas they reenter the atmosphere . ( A second THAAD system is placed in South Korea ) .
primitively published onLive Science .
