Guam History

The indigenous people of Guam, the Chamorro, have inhabited the island for over 3000 years.

Historians hypothesize that strong currents and trade winds blew voyaging canoes from Malaysia and Indonesia into Guam, where the settlers lived undisturbed until the 16th century.

In the early 1500's European explorers, beginning with Magellan, arrived on Guam. The ensuing three hundred years as a Spanish colony left a deep impact on the island.

With the arrival of Jesuit missionaries in the 1600's, Catholicism became an integral part of Guam's culture and today each village honors a patron saint.

As with all indigenous cultures, the Chamorro population was decimated by disease carried by the Europeans - it declined from an estimated 100,000 to only 5,000 by the late 1600's, leaving primarily women who intermarried with Spanish and Filipinos.

Chamorro language, primarily spoken by the elderly, is now peppered with words derived from Spanish. There is a movement afoot today to save the Chamorro language and culture by teaching the children about their heritage. Visitors can enjoy the results of this effort at the Gef Pago cultural center in Inarajan.

In 1898, as a result of the Spanish-American war, Guam came under the control and protection of the U.S. In 1941 the Japanese launched a coordinated attack on Pearl Harbor and Guam. They managed to hold the island for 31 months, until U.S. forces were able to recapture the island. There are many interesting WWII sites on Guam that illustrate the heroic battles of The War in the Pacific.

The island remains a strategic territory for the U.S. military and an American base occupies a large chunk of the Northern part of the island. Technically, Guam is an "unincorporated territory" of the U.S. Guamanian's became American citizens in 1950, but the island's population is still an interesting medley, primarily made up of native Chamorro, Filipino, Micronesian islanders and "mainlanders" who have settled here.

See also: The Island of Guam
See also: Get your bearings in Guam
See also: Get your kicks in Guam
See also: Culture in Guam

For more information on Guam:
Visit Guam

www.guampedia.org

www.magnificientmicronesia.com