Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government.[4][5] Guam is listed as one of seventeen Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United Nations.[6] The island's capital is Hagåtña (formerly named Agana). Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands.
The Chamorros, Guam's indigenous people, first inhabited the island approximately 4,000 years ago. The island has a long history ofEuropean colonialism, beginning with Ferdinand Magellan's Spanish expedition landing on March 6, 1521. The first colony was established in 1668 by Spain with the arrival of settlers including Padre San Vitores, a Catholic missionary. For more than two centuries Guam was an important stopover for the Spanish Manila Galleons that crossed the Pacific annually. The island was controlled by Spainuntil 1898, when it was surrendered to the United States during the Spanish–American War and later formally ceded as part of the Treaty of Paris.
Guam is the largest island in Micronesia and was the only U.S.-held island in the region before World War II. Guam was captured by theJapanese on December 8, 1941, just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and was occupied for two and a half years. During the occupation, the people of Guam were subjected to acts that included forced labor, torture, beheadings, and rape, and were forced to adopt the Japanese culture. Guam was subject to fierce fighting when U.S. troops recaptured the island on July 21, 1944, a date commemorated every year as Liberation Day.
Today, Guam's economy is supported by its principal industry, tourism, which is composed primarily of visitors from Japan. Guam's second largest source of income is the United States Armed Forces.
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| Capital | Hagåtña | |
| Largest village | Dededo | |
|---|---|---|
| Official languages |
| |
| Ethnic groups(2012[1]) | ||
| Demonym | Guamanian | |
| Government | Representative democracy | |
| - | President | Barack Obama (D) |
| - | Governor | Eddie Calvo (R) |
| - | Lt. Governor | Raymond Tenorio (R) |
| - | Delegate | Madeleine Bordallo (D) |
| Legislature | Legislature of Guam | |
| Area | ||
| - | Total | 541.3 km2 (190th) 209 sq mi |
| - | Water (%) | negligible |
| Population | ||
| - | 2010 census | 159,358[2] |
| - | Density | 320/km2 (37th) 830/sq mi |
| GDP (PPP) | 2000 estimate | |
| - | Total | $2.5 billiona (167th) |
| - | Per capita | $15,000a |
