Saipan
Saipan[2] (/saɪˈpæn/) is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Census Bureau, the population of Saipan was 43,385, a decline of 10% from its 2010 count of 48,220.[3]
For other uses, see Saipan (disambiguation).Geography
Pacific Ocean
118.98 km2 (45.94 sq mi)[1]
12 mi (19 km)
5.6 mi (9 km)
1,560 ft (475 m)
Ramon Camacho
Saipanese
43,385 (2020)
- 50.9% Asian
- 33.6% Pacific Islander
- 2.1% White
- 0.2% others
96950
580
The legislative and executive branches of Commonwealth government are located in the village of Capitol Hill on the island while the judicial branch is headquartered in the village of Susupe. Since the entire island is organized as a single municipality, most publications designate Saipan as the Commonwealth's capital.
As of 2023, Saipan's mayor is Ramon Camacho and the governor of the Northern Mariana Islands is Arnold Palacios.
The island is home to the majority of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas population, and home to many resorts, golf courses, beaches, nature sites, and WW2 historical sites. The people here are United States citizens since the 1980s, uniquely they had never been a part of the US before this, with about 400 years of Spanish rule, then about 15 years of German rule, and then 30 years of Japanese rule. The island after WW2 was put in United Nations Trust to determine its fate, along with rest of the Northern Marianas. After failing to reunify with Guam, which was also home to the Chamorro people, the islands joined the United States as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana islands.
Saipan was hit by one of the strongest hurricane/typhoons ever to hit the United States in 2018, Typhoon Yutu, causing widespread damage.
History[edit]
Prehistory[edit]
Traces of human settlements on Saipan have been found by archaeologists ranging over 4,000 years, including petroglyphs, ancient Latte Stones, and other artifacts pointing to cultural affinities with Melanesia and with similar stone monuments in Micronesia and Palau.
Spanish colonial period[edit]
Saipan, together with Tinian, was possibly first sighted by Europeans by the Spanish expedition of Ferdinand Magellan, when it made a landing in the southern Marianas on March 6, 1521.[4] It is likely Saipan was sighted by Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa in 1522 on board of Spanish ship Trinidad, which he commanded after the death of Ferdinand Magellan who died in the Battle of Mactan in Cebu, Philippines. [5] This is likely to have occurred after the sighting of the Maug Islands between the end of August and the end of September 1522.
Gonzalo de Vigo deserted in the Maugs from Gomez de Espinosa's Trinidad and during the next four years, living with the local indigenous Chamorro people, visited thirteen main islands in the Marianas and possibly Saipan among them. The first clear evidence of Europeans arriving to Saipan was by the Manila galleon Santa Margarita commanded by Juan Martínez de Guillistegui, that wrecked on the island in February 1600 and whose survivors stayed on it for two years, until 250 were rescued by the Santo Tomas and the Jesus María.[6]
The Spanish formally occupied the island in 1668, with the missionary expedition of Diego Luis de San Vitores who named it San José. After 1670, it became a port of call for Portuguese, Spanish, occasional English, Dutch and French ships as a supply station for food and water.[7] The native population shrank dramatically due to European-introduced diseases and conflicts over land. The Chamorros were forcibly relocated to Guam fearing the spread of leprosy in 1720 for better control and assimilation. Under Spanish rule, the island was developed into ranches for raising cattle and pigs, which were used as provision for Spanish galleons originating from the Philippines on their way to Mexico vice versa.
Around 1815, many Carolinians[8][9] from Satawal settled Saipan during a period when the Chamorros were imprisoned on Guam, which resulted in a significant loss of land and rights for the Chamorro natives. The Caroline Islands suffered from a devastating typhoon destroying crops. initial leader of this company was an individual named "Chief Aghurubw" their leader sailed to Guam and asked the Spanish governor permission to settle on the islands. The Spaniards allowed Chief Aghurubw to settle on the island of Saipan The Marianas archipelago was under the protectorate of Spanish General Government of the Philippines, which the Guardia Civil and Macabebe soldiers of the Province of Pampanga frequently made port calls to the islands ensuring law and order.
German colonial period[edit]
After the Spanish–American War of 1898, Saipan was occupied by the United States. However, it was then sold by Spain to the German Empire in 1899.
The island was administered by Germany as part of German New Guinea, but during the German period, there was no attempt to develop or settle the island, which remained under the control of its Spanish and mestizo landowners.
Music[edit]
Music on Saipan can generally be broken down into three categories: local, mainland American, and Asian. Local consists of Chamorro, Carolinian, Micronesian Hawaiian Reggae and Palauan music, often with traditional dance for many occasions. Mainland American consists of much of the same music that can be found on U.S. radio. Asian consists of Japanese, Korean, Thai and Philippine music, among others. There are seven radio stations on Saipan, which play mainly popular and classic English-language songs as well as local and Philippine music.[29]
In 2017, an album called Music Of The Marianas: Made In Saipan Vol.1, featured 20 songs from a diverse collection of CNMI artists, released by 11th World Productions.[30] The CD features artists ranging from Church choral works, to mellow acoustic works, and underground island hip-hop.[30]
Local television stations on Saipan are the following:
Economy[edit]
Tourism had traditionally been a vital source of the island's revenue and economic activities. But in the 1980s, garment manufacturing became one of the main economic driving forces in Saipan when the U.S. government agreed that the CNMI would be exempted from certain federal minimum wage and immigration laws. While one result of these changes was an increase in hotels and tourism, the main consequence was that dozens of garment factories opened and clothing manufacturing became the island's chief economic force, employing thousands of foreign contract laborers (mostly young Chinese women) at low wages. The manufacturers could legally label these low cost garments "Made in the U.S.A." and the clothing shipped to the U.S. market was also exempt from U.S. tariffs. By 1998, the island's garment industry exported close to $1 billion worth of apparel products to the mainland. The working conditions and treatment experienced by employees in these factories were the subject of controversy and criticism.[36]
When the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) expired in 2005, thus eliminating quotas on textile exports to the United States, Saipan's garment factories started closing one after another. From a high of 34 garment factories in the late 1990s, By March 2007,[37] 19 companies manufactured garments on Saipan. In addition to many foreign-owned and run companies, many well-known U.S. brands also operated garment factories in Saipan for much of the last three decades. Brands included Gap,[38] Levi Strauss,[39] Phillips-Van Heusen,[40] Abercrombie & Fitch,[41] L'Oreal subsidiary Ralph Lauren (Polo),[42] Lord & Taylor,[43] Tommy Hilfiger, and Walmart.[44] By January 15, 2009, the island's last garment factory shuttered their doors.[45] On November 28, 2009, the federal government took control of immigration to the Northern Mariana Islands.[46]
More recently, casino gaming has come to Saipan with at least five casinos now operating on the island. As of 2016, Imperial Pacific International Holdings, a Chinese company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (but majority owned by billionaire businesswoman Cui Lijie), which develops and operates casinos, hotels, and restaurants in CNMI, was reportedly the largest taxpayer in Saipan. In 2014, Imperial Pacific was granted a 25-year license to build and operate casinos on Saipan with an option to extend the license for another 15 years. The Imperial Pacific Resort, still unfinished as of June 2019, is set to include a luxury hotel, casino, restaurants, retail space, and leisure facilities. The complex was supposed to be completed by August 2018. The existing casinos are already handling over $2 billion monthly in VIP bets, more than the largest casinos in Macau, leading to accusations of money laundering.[47] There has been criticism by local doctors after dead and seriously injured Chinese workers have appeared at the hospital, often illegally working under tourist visas.[33]
Other local issues[edit]
Despite an annual rainfall of 80 to 100 inches (2,000 to 2,500 mm), the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation (CUC), the local government-run water utility company on Saipan, is unable to deliver 24-hour-a-day potable water to its customers in certain areas. As a result, several large hotels use reverse osmosis to produce fresh water for their customers. In addition, many homes and small businesses augment the sporadic and sometimes brackish water provided by CUC with rainwater collected and stored in cisterns. Most locals buy drinking water from water distributors and use tap water only for bathing or washing as it has a strong sulfur taste.
On October 18, 2018, Typhoon Yutu, the second strongest typhoon to have ever made impact on U.S. territory, made landfall on Saipan. With sustained winds of 130 mph and gusts up to 190 mph, it caused significant damage.
Religion[edit]
The majority of the native Chamorro and Carolinian population are Roman Catholic. About half of the general population on the island are foreign contract workers, mainly Catholics of Filipino descent.
Numerous Christian churches are active in Saipan, providing services in various languages including English, Chamorro, Tagalog, Korean and Chinese.
In conjunction to the rest of the Northern Mariana Islands, there are Chinese and Filipino Protestant and Catholic churches, a Korean Protestant church, three mosques for the Bangladeshi community and a Buddhist temple.[64]
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Public School System serves Saipan. Public high schools:
There are many private schools on Saipan, including:
Northern Marianas College is a two-year community college serving the Northern Mariana Islands. Eucon International College is a four-year college that offers degrees in Bible and Education.
Joeten-Kiyu Public Library (JKPL) of the State Library of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is in Susupe, Saipan.[74]
Japanese Community School of Saipan (サイパン日本人補習校 Saipan Nihonjin Hoshūkō), a supplementary Japanese school operated by the Japanese Society of the Northern Marianas (北マリアナ日本人会) Educational Department, is in Saipan. Classes are on the second floor of the USL Building in Gualo Rai. It was established on November 5, 1983 (Shōwa 58).[75][76]