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[7] [8] The Chamorro people settled Guam and the Mariana islands approximately 3,500 years ago. Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, while in the service of Spain, was the first European to visit and claim the island on March 6, 1521. Guam was fully colonized by Spain in 1668.
The history of Guam starts with the early arrival around 2000 BC of Austronesian people known today as the Chamorro Peoples. The Chamorus then developed a "pre-contact" society, that was colonized by the Spanish in the 17th century. The present American rule of the island began with the 1898 Spanish–American War.
The island was a major stopover for Manila Galleons sailing from Acapulco, until 1815. Guam was taken over from Spain by the United States during the Spanish–American War in 1898. As the largest island in Micronesia and the only American-held island in the region before World War II, Guam was occupied by the Japanese between December 1941 and ...
The north of Guam is a result of this base being covered with layers of coral reef, turning into limestone, and then being thrust by tectonic activity to create a plateau. The rugged south of the island is a result of more recent volcanic activity. Cocos Island off the southern tip of Guam is the largest of the many small islets along the ...
The island was officially claimed by Spain in 1565. It was the first island as well as the Mariana Islands, inhabited by humans in Remote Oceania. [2] Guam has since been occupied by outside entities for over 330 years. [2] Magellan arrived on the shores of Guam with three ships, the Trinidad, the Conception and the Victoria. [2]
The islands going from north to south comprise 14 main islands, but some smaller islands are often grouped together. Also, Zealandia Bank can sometimes be an island, depending on the tide. In terms of area, it is smaller than Guam; however, as an island chain, it spans hundreds of kilometers/miles from the northernmost to the southernmost.
Many villages have rich histories reaching back thousands of years. Artifacts from ancient Chamorro settlements can be found in every village of Guam. When the Spanish Empire colonized the Marianas Islands as part of its Pacific possessions in the 16th and 17th centuries, the island was divided into separate districts with each district consisting of a parish with a village center governed by ...
The island's original community is of Chamorro natives who have inhabited Guam for almost 4000 years. [2] They had their own language related to the languages of Indonesia and southeast Asia. The Spanish later called them Chamorros, a derivative of the local word Chamurre (meaning of Chamorri is "noble race").