Northern Mariana Islands: A Historical Timeline

PRIOR TO 1521 PRE-EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT
2000 BCE	The Chamorro, of Malay origin, are the first inhabitants of the Marianas. They are seafaring people who migrate from southeastern Indonesia to Saipan, Rota, and Tinian, and to a lesser extent the smaller islands northward.
1500	When Europeans first arrive, Chamorro society is divided roughly into three classes: matao (upper class), achaot(middle class), and mana’chang (lower class). The matao live in the coastal villages with access to the best fishing grounds, while the mana’chang live inland. Early Europeans note the Chamarro’s fast sailing vessels, which are used for trading with other islands of Micronesia.
1521–1700 EARLY EUROPEAN EXPLORATION
1521	(March 6) Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrives and anchors his three-ship fleet in Umatac Bay. Not sharing the European concept of ownership, the native Chamorro help themselves to everything on the ship. Magellan brands them as thieves as names the region "Islas de los Ladrones" ("Islands of Thieves").
1524	The first European to arrive on Rota, the southernmost island of the Northern Marianas, is Spanish navigator Juan Sebastian Elcano. Elcano annexes it, along with the rest of the Marianas archipelago, on behalf of the Crown of Spain.
1564	Spain claims sovereignty over all the Mariana Islands. The islands are governed from the Philippines as part of the Spanish East Indies.
1667	Spain establishes a regular colony on the islands and gives them the official title of "Las Marianas" in honor of Spanish Queen Marian of Austria, the widow of Philip IV of Spain.
1688	Spanish governors reporting to Mexico begin ruling the Mariana Islands.
1700–1900 THE SPANISH ERA
1700s	Most of the islands’ native population dies out or intermarries with non-Chamorro settlers during Spanish rule. New settlers, primarily from the Philippines and the Caroline Islands, are brought in to repopulate the islands.
1720	The Spanish forcibly evacuate all the Chamorro on Saipan and the other Northern Marianas to Guam.
1742	(August) British Admiral George Anson lands on the island of Tinian to conduct research in the archipelago. He rests there before making his way to Macau in November.
1810	A typhoon devastates the eastern Caroline Islands, 500 miles south of the Marianas. The survivors sail to Guam, and Spanish authorities send them to Saipan and Tinian to manage Spanish cattle herds.
1815	With the Chamorro still imprisoned on Guam, many Carolinians from Satawal settle Saipan during this time. This results in a significant loss of land and rights for the Chamorro natives.
1817	Spain transfers rule of the Mariana Islands from the Viceroy of Mexico to the Captain General of the Philippines.
1880	The Spanish allow the Chamorro to return to the islands from their exile in Guam. Today, approximately 19,000 people of Chamorro ancestry live in the Northern Marianas.
1885	Pope Leo XIII confirms Spanish possession of the Marianas.
1899	Following the Spanish-American War, Spain sells the Northern Mariana Islands and Caroline Islands to Germany for about $4 million. The islands are incorporated as the German Protectorate of New Guinea.
1900–1929 WORLD WAR I AND JAPANESE OCCUPATION
1901	The U.S. Supreme Court addresses the applicability of the U.S. Constitution in areas acquired as a result of the Spanish-American War in the first of the Insular Cases. The cases establish that only "fundamental" constitutional rights, are enjoyed by inhabitants of U.S. territories not "incorporated" in the U.S.
1914	The Japanese take seize the region, establishing a military garrison on Guam and occupying the Northern Marianas. During Japan’s occupation, sugar cane becomes the main industry of the islands. Labor is imported from Japan and its colonies, especially Okinawa and Korea.
1920	(December 17) The League of Nations entrusts the Northern Marianas, the Carolinas, the Marshall Islands, and the Palau Islands to Japan as mandated territory.
1930–1950 WORLD WAR II
1935	Japan withdraws from the League of Nations and de facto annexes the islands. Japan heavily garrisons Saipan, resulting in nearly 30,000 troops on the island by 1941.
1936	A thriving fishing industry has developed on the islands, as well as a sugar industry that occupies 68 percent of all arable land on Saipan, 80 percent on Tinian, and 33 percent on Rota.
1941	(December 8-10) Japanese armed forces based on Saipan and Rota attack and occupy Guam. Japan places the Mariana Islands under martial law.
1944	(February 17) The U.S. begins night bombing of Truk in the Mariana Islands. On February 23, American bombers strike the Marianas Islands bases, destroying 135 planes in the Marianas and Guam. The U.S. hopes to capture the islands for use as a bombing base to raid the Japanese mainland. (June 15) The Battle of Saipan. U.S. Marines land on the beaches of southwestern Saipan and spend more than three weeks fighting to wrest it from the Japanese. On July 8, Japanese kamikaze pilots stage the largest Japanese suicide attack in the Pacific War. The Battle of Saipan ends on July 9 with the Japanese commander committing seppuku, the traditional Japanese form of ritual suicide. Approximately, 23,000 Japanese and 3,500 American troops lose their lives over the course of the battle. (June 19) The Battle of the Philippine Sea, also called the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," begins when Japanese naval forces attack the stronger U.S. naval forces. U.S. planes shoot down 220 Japanese planes. (August 8) U.S. forces complete the capture of the Mariana Islands. Hundreds of natives, 5,000 Americans, and 40,000 Japanese die during the U.S. invasion. Once captured, the islands of Saipan and Tinian are used extensively by the U.S. military since they put mainland Japan within round-trip range of American bombers.
1945	(August 6–9) The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, are launched from airplanes based on Tinian’s North Field. The Enola Gay is the B-29 bomber that drops the first atomic bomb, "Little Boy" on Hiroshima August 6, and the Bockscar drops "Fat Man" on Nagasaki August 9. The dropping of the bombs leads to the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan on September 2 and the end of the Pacific War.
1946	(July 4) Inhabitants of the Northern Mariana Islands are permitted to reside outside centralized camps for the first time since the U.S. invasion of the islands.
1947	(July 18) Along with the Caroline and Marshall Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands becomes a Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands under jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Navy. In 1951 administration is transferred to the Department of the Interior.
1950–PRESENT MODERN NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
1952	With the signing of the Treaty of Peace with Japan in San Francisco, Japan legally gives up all claims to the Mariana Islands and acknowledges the United Nations Agreement establishing the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
1953	The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency establishes a secret base on Saipan, known as the Saipan Training Station of the Naval Technical Training Unit. Security clearance is required to even enter the island. The C.I.A. base is closed in 1962, and Saipan is re-opened to tourists. (July 17) President Dwight Eisenhower returns the administration of islands north of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands to the U.S. Department of the Navy, leaving only Rota under U.S. Department of Interior administration.
1975	Rather than seek independence, the population of the Northern Mariana Islands votes to become a U.S. Commonwealth.
1978	(January) The U.S. government signs a covenant whereby the Northern Marianas are separated from the Caroline and Marshall Islands, and Saipan becomes the capital of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. All 34,000 permanent residents become U.S. citizens but cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections. The Northern Marianas become self-governing in union with the U.S.
1980s	Tourism and apparel manufacturing become major industries on Saipan. Foreign contract workers, particularly from Asia, begin to outnumber the locals.
1984	President Ronald Reagan extends all civil and political rights to residents of the Northern Marianas.
1986	The Chamorro and Carolinians of the Northern Marianas are given U.S. citizenship as the territory acquires U.S. Commonwealth status.
1990	The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas is established and trusteeship of the islands is terminated.
1999	(January) Class-action lawsuits are filed against American corporations for sweatshop working conditions in Saipan. Nordstrom, J. Crew, Cutter & Buck, and Gymboree agree to pay $1.25 million to reimburse workers for recruitment fees and to set up a program to monitor island contractors. Five other clothing designers agree to settle, including Ralph Lauren, Van Heusen, and Dress Barn. (March) Recessions in Japan and South Korea result in a sever drop in tourism. Many large apparel corporations cancel their contracts, and some major airlines cease regular service to the islands.
2002	(December 8) Typhoon Pongsona becomes the costliest U.S. disaster in 2002. It passes through Guam and the Northern Marianas with peak wind gusts of 173 miles per hour.
2004	Gregorio C. Sablan becomes the Northern Mariana Islands' first (non-voting) member of the U.S. House of Representatives. A Garment Oversight Board is formed in response to the long and expensive class action lawsuits against the apparel industry. Its purpose is to protect workers’ rights and lead to improved conditions. However, as manufacturing costs became more expensive in the Marianas and trade restrictions are lifted on Chinese imports, many of the garment factories close.
2009	(February) The last garment factory on the island of Saipan closes. (September 17) For the first time, a representative from the Northern Mariana Islands presides over the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union during debate and voting. (November 28) The federal government assumes control of immigration to the Northern Mariana Islands.