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Guam
 Apra Harbor from the air   The Territory of Guam (Guåhån in Chamorro) is an island in the Western Pacific Ocean and is an organized unincorporated territory of the United States. Its indigenous people are the Chamorros, who first inhabited the island approximately 3,500 years ago. The capital is Hagåtña, formerly Agana (pronounced Agaña). Guam's economy is mainly supported by tourism (particularly from Japan) and its United States armed forces bases. The latter takes up one-third of the entire land mass of the island. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes Guam on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
History of Guam
The United States took control of the island in 1898 after the Battle of Guam of 1898 in the Spanish-American War. Guam came to serve as a way station for American ships traveling to and from the Philippines. During World War II, Guam was attacked and invaded by the Japanese armed forces in 1941. The United States came back in the Battle of Guam in 1944 to recapture the island from Japanese military occupation. In the early 1960s, the United States granted U.S. citizenship to the Chamorro people and gradually the island obtained semi-autonomous status through the Organic Act. Politics of GuamThe population of Guam is largely proud of its US connection, and its economy is greatly dependent on the US military base. The Guamian population is generally culturally sympathetic toward the U.S., based especially in common tribulations during WWII, and on good relations with the US military since. Maintenance of the status quo vis à vis the current political relationship between the territory and the US is, however, not without controversy. There is a significant movement in favor of Guam becoming a commonwealth in political union with the US (i.e., the political status of Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas Islands). Competing movements with less significant influence exist, one of which advocates political independence from the United States, while another movement advocates statehood. In whatever form it takes, most people on Guam favor a modified version of the current territorial status, involving both greater autonomy from Washington (similar to the autonomy of individual states), and also greater rights and freedoms as Americans. Perceived indifference by the US Congress regarding a change-of-status petition submitted by Guam, has led many to feel that the territory is being unjustly deprived of the benefits of a richer and more equitable union with the US. Conversely, members in the US Congress have shown growing concern with the seemingly rampant political corruption within the local Government of Guam. Investigations into the expenditure of Federal grants have frequently revealed waste, fraud, and abuse throughout all levels of the Guam Government bureaucracy. There are also grievances against political and economic racism; particularly that of native Chamorro possessing more "rights" than other American citizens in a multitude of matters. See: List of Guam Governors Transportation and Communications in Guam
Guam is served by Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport. As travel restrictions eased and the Japanese economy grew, Guam became a favorite destination for Japanese tourists. Guam is a relatively short flight from Japan compared to Hawaii, and a series of tourist hotels and golf courses were built to cater to the tourists. Today, about 90 percent of tourists to Guam are Japanese. The main tourist beach, Tumon Bay has beautiful white sand, and Tumon Bay is now a marine preserve, teeming with fish. Recently completed infrastucture projects have brought underground fiber-optics and new roads to the busy Tumon area. Miscellaneous The island is also known as a prominent example for the disastrous effects of bioinvasion: A stowaway on U.S. military transport at the end of World War II, the slightly venomous, but rather harmless, brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) came north to Guam and killed almost the entire native bird population on the previously snake-free island. This snake has no natural predators on the island; nowadays, Guam is one of the areas with the highest snake density in the world (an estimated 2,000 snakes/km²). Even so, residents rarely see these snakes. They curl up and hide during the day, and move about on trees and fences at night. As prodigious tree climbers, the snakes caused frequent blackouts in neigborhoods across the Island. Now all power poles have a slick metal sheath that prevent the snakes from climbing up. Guam lies along the Marianas Trench, a deep subduction zone at the edge of the Pacific plate. The Challenger Deep, the deepest point on earth, is just southwest of Guam at 35,838 ft (10,923 meters) deep.
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