The Territory of Guam

An Overview

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Guam is the largest and southernmost island in the Marianas Archipelago. It has a land area of about 212 square miles, formed by an uplift of undersea volcanoes. It is, however, surrounded by coral reefs near the shore. Guam serves as a crosroads for Asian Pacific Rim countries and the islands of Micronesia. It is 1,500 miles from Tokyo, 3,400 miles from Honolulu, and 5,400 miles from San Francisco. Guam has a population of about 150,000, many of whom are Chamorros, descendants of the island's original inhabitants.

In 1521, Ferdinand Magellan visited Guam during his circumnavigation of the globe, introducing Guam to the Western world. Spain began colonizing Guam in earnest about 150 years later. Until 1815, it was a way station for Spanish galleons travelling between Acapulco and Manila. After the Spanish-American War, Spain ceded Guam to the United States. From 1899 to 1949, the U.S. Navy administered Guam, except during the period 1941 to 1944, when the island was held by Japanese forces.

Today, Guam is an unincorporated territory of the United States, meaning that some sections of the U.S. Constitution do not apply to Guam. In 1987, it's population voted to change Guam's relationship with the United States to that of a commonwealth, like the nearby Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, but that change has not yet become effective. The people of Guam have been U.S. citizens since 1950. They elect their own Governor and Lt. Governor and have had a non-voting representative in the U.S. Congress since 1973. The 21 members of the unicameral Guam Legislature serve 2-year terms. The local judiciary is composed of a Superior Court and a Supreme Court. The U.S. District Court also has jurisdiction over certain matters related to Federal law.

Guam's economy is based on two main elements: tourism and Federal spending. Until recently, the U.S. Navy and Air Force were the mainstays of the island's economy. Today, almost 1 million tourists visit the island each year, most from Japan. However, the number of visitors from South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and North America has been on the upswing. After extraordinary growth during 1988 to 1993, primarily because of increased interest from Japanese travelers, the tourist industry has settled to a more moderate level of growth.

The travel guide Micronesia (see bibliographical information below) describes Guam as a "little Hawaii." The guidebook says that:

Guam has traffic jams, fast food restaurants, large shopping centers, a university, busloads of package tourists, a line of resort hotels, and a substantial U.S. military presence. It also has tropical forests, sleepy villages, a mountainous interior, good sandy beaches, and an abudance of butterflies and rainbows.

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Last Updated: January 7, 2007