Mariana Islands

The Mariana Islands (also the Marianas; up to the early 20th century sometimes called Islas de los Ladrones meaning "Islands of Thieves") are a group of islands made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the western Pacific Ocean.

They are the southern part of a seamount range that goes on for 1,565 miles (2,519 km) from Guam to near Japan. The Marianas are the northernmost islands of a larger island group called Micronesia. The Marianas have a total land area of 396 square miles (1026 km²) and are composed of two administrative units:

• Guam is a US territory
• the Northern Mariana Islands (including the islands of Saipan, Tinian and Rota) comprise a Commonwealth of the United States .

The first European to discover the island group was Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. In 1667 Spain formally claimed them, and named them after Spanish queen consort and later regent Mariana of Austria.

Mariana Islands Media

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  Geology of the west Pacific in the area of the Mariana Islands. The Mariana Islands are at map-right, east of the Philippine Sea and just west of the Mariana Trench in the ocean floor.

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  Reception of the Manila Galleon by the Chamorro in the Ladrones Islands, c. 1590 Boxer Codex

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  A stamp from the Marianas' late Spanish colonial period, 1898–1899

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  A 1901 stamp from the German-era Marianas

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  A U.S. Marine talks a terrified Chamorro woman and her children into abandoning their refuge. Battle of Saipan, 1944.

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  Chamorro red rice