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Guam

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Countries; Geography of
Oceania (Australasia)

                      Territory of Guam
   Guåhån

   Flag of Guam Coat of arms of Guam
   Flag         Coat of arms
   Motto: Where America's Day Begins
   Anthem: Fanoghe Chamorro
   Location of Guam
          Capital        Hagåtña
       Largest city      Dededo
    Official languages   English, Chamorro
   Government            Territory of USA
    - President          George W. Bush (R)
    - Governor           Felix Perez Camacho (R)
       Independence      none (territory of the USA)
                            Area
    - Total              543.52 km² ( 192nd)
                         209.85 sq mi
    - Water (%)          negligible
                         Population
    - July 2006 estimate 170,000 ( 186th)
    - Density            307/km² ( 37th)
                         795/sq mi
        GDP ( PPP)       2000 estimate
    - Total              $3.2 billion ( 167th)
    - Per capita         $21,000 (2000 est.) ( 35th)
        HDI  (n/a)       n/a (n/a) ( n/a)
         Currency        United States dollar ( USD)
         Time zone       Chamorro Standard Time - ( UTC+10)
       Internet TLD      .gu
       Calling code      +1-671

   Guam ( Chamorro: Guåhån), officially the U.S. Territory of Guam, is an
   island in the Western Pacific Ocean and is an organized unincorporated
   territory of the United States. Its inhabitants are the Chamorros, who
   first populated the island approximately 4,000 years ago. Experts
   theorize that the first peoples migrated from origins involved in the
   early trading routes, however, others speculate that the peoples more
   likely originated from South East Asia including Indonesia, Malaysia,
   and the Philippines. Most early Chamorros take on the likeness of
   peoples from this origin, however, more and more, the people of Guam
   are becoming racially-mixed. It is the largest and southernmost of the
   Mariana Islands. The capital is Hagåtña, formerly Agana (pronounced
   Agaña). Guam's economy is mainly supported by tourism (particularly
   from Japan, Korea and the People's Republic of China) and United States
   armed forces bases. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization
   includes Guam on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing
   Territories.

Geography

   Map of Guam
   Enlarge
   Map of Guam

   Guam (or Guåhån in Chamorro) is located at 13.5°N 144.5°E and has an
   area of 210 square miles (544 km²). The northern part of the island is
   a forested coralline limestone plateau while the south contains
   volcanic peaks covered in forest and grassland. A coral reef surrounds
   most of the island, except in areas where bays exist that provide
   access to small rivers and streams that run down from the hills into
   the Pacific Ocean and Philippine Sea. The island's population is most
   dense in the northern and central regions. Guam is the southernmost
   island in the Mariana island chain and is the largest island in
   Micronesia. This island chain was created as a result of the colliding
   of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates. The Marianas Trench, a
   deep subduction zone, lies beside the island chain to the eastern part
   of the island. The Challenger Deep, the deepest point on earth, is
   southwest of Guam at 35,797  feet (10,911  m) deep. The island
   experiences occasional earthquakes due to being on the edge of the
   Pacific Plate. In recent years, quakes with epicenters near Guam have
   had magnitudes ranging from 5.0 to 8.2. Unlike the Anatahan volcano in
   the northern Marianas, Guam is not volcanically active. However, due to
   wind direction and proximity, volcanic ash activity does affect Guam
   from time to time, however, to a lesser degree.

     * Satellite images of southern and northern Guam.

History

   Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the island in 1521
   during his circumnavigation of the globe. General Miguel López de
   Legazpi claimed Guam for Spain in 1565. Spanish colonization commenced
   in 1668 with the arrival of Padre San Vitores, who established the
   first Catholic mission. The islands were then governed as part of the
   Spanish East Indies from the Philippines. Between 1668 and 1815, Guam
   was an important resting stop on the Spanish trade route between Mexico
   and the Philippines. Guam, along with the rest of the Mariana and
   Caroline islands, was treated by Spain as part of their colony in the
   Philippines. While Guam's Chamorro culture is unique, the cultures of
   both Guam and the Northern Marianas were heavily influenced by Spanish
   culture and traditions.

   The United States took control of the island in the 1898
   Spanish-American War. Guam came to serve as a way station for American
   ships traveling to and from the Philippines, while the northern Mariana
   islands passed to Germany then Japan.

   During World War II, Guam was attacked and invaded by the Japanese
   armed forces on December 8, 1941. The Northern Mariana Islands had
   become a Japanese protectorate before the war. It was the Chamorros
   from the Northern Marianas who were brought to Guam to serve as
   interpreters and in other capacities for the occupying Japanese force.
   The Guamanian Chamorros were treated as an occupied enemy by the
   Japanese military. After the war, this would cause some resentment by
   the Guamanian Chamorros towards the Chamorros in the Northern Marianas.
   To this day, Guam remains the only U.S. soil, with a sizeable
   population, that suffered under foreign military power occupation.
   Guam's occupation lasted for approximately thirty-one months. During
   this period, the indigenous people of Guam were subjected to forced
   labor, family separation, incarceration, execution, concentration camps
   and prostitution. The United States returned and fought the Battle of
   Guam in July 21, 1944 to recapture the island from Japanese military
   occupation. The U.S. also captured and occupied the Northern Marianas.
   After the war, The Guam Organic Act of 1950, which established Guam as
   an unincorporated organized territory of the United States, provided
   for the structure of the island's government, and granted the people
   United States citizenship.

Government and politics

   War in the Pacific National Historical Park, Asan, Guam
   Enlarge
   War in the Pacific National Historical Park, Asan, Guam

   Guam is governed by a popularly elected governor and a unicameral 15
   member legislature. Guam elects one non-voting delegate to the US House
   of Representatives, currently Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo. During
   U.S. Presidential elections, citizens in Guam vote in a straw poll for
   their choice of president, but it doesn't count toward the general
   election results.

   In the 1980s and early 1990s, there was a significant movement in
   favour of the Territory becoming a commonwealth, which would give it a
   political status similar to Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana
   Islands. However, the Federal government gave no response to Guam's
   request for Commonwealth status for a decade before Guam leaders gave
   up the quest in the late 1990s. Competing movements with less
   significant influence exist, which advocate political independence from
   the United States, statehood, or a combination with the Northern
   Mariana Islands as a single commonwealth. These proposals however, are
   not seen as favorable or realistic within the U.S. federal government,
   which argues Guam does not have the financial stability or self
   sufficiency to warrant such status. The same sources quickly provide
   evidence of Guam’s increasing reliance on Federal spending, and
   question how commonwealth status or statehood would benefit the United
   States as a greater whole.

Administrative divisions

   Guam is divided into nineteen villages: Agana Heights, Agat, Asan,
   Barrigada, Chalan Pago-Ordot, Dededo, Hagatna, Inarajan, Mangilao,
   Merizo, Mongmong-Toto-Maite, Piti, Santa Rita, Sinajana, Talafofo,
   Tamuning, Umatac, Yigo and Yona.

   The U.S. military maintains jurisdiction over bases comprising
   approximately one quarter of the island's area:
     * Andersen Air Force Base, Yigo
     * Naval Air Station, Tiyan (now administered by the government of
       Guam)
     * Naval Base Guam, Orote peninsula
     * Ordnance Annex, South Central Highlands (formerly known as Naval
       Magazine)
     * Naval communications station, Barrigada and Finegayan

Economy

   Guam's economy depends primarily on tourism, the United States military
   base presence, and other federal spending. Although Guam receives no
   foreign aid, it does receive large transfer payments from the general
   revenues of the U.S. Federal Treasury into which Guam pays no income or
   excise taxes; under the provisions of a special law of Congress, the
   Guam Treasury, rather than the US Treasury, receives federal income
   taxes paid by military and civilian Federal employees stationed in
   Guam.

   Sometimes called "America in Asia," Guam is a popular destination for
   Japanese, Korean, and Chinese tourists, and with over 20 large hotels,
   a DFS Galleria, Pleasure Island aquarium, SandCastle Las Vegas shows
   and other shopping and entertainment features in its chief tourism city
   of Tumon, the island's economy has grown dramatically. It is a
   relatively short flight from Asia compared to Hawaii, and a series of
   hotels and golf courses were built to cater to tourists. Today, about
   90 percent of tourists to Guam are Japanese. Significant sources of
   revenue include duty-free designer shopping outlets, and the
   American-style malls: Micronesia Mall, Guam Premium Outlets, and the
   Agana Shopping Centre and various businesses catering to tourists in
   Tumon.

   The economy had been stable since 2000 due to increased tourism, mainly
   from Japan, but took a more recent downturn along with the rest of
   Asia. It is expected to stabilize with the recent news that all US
   Marine personnel and operations currently in Okinawa (appr.5000) will
   transfer to Guam sometime in 2007-2008. Guam has a 14% unemployment
   rate, and the government suffered a $314 million shortfall in 2003.

   The following is the amount in billion of dollars, that the Government
   of Guam has spent in Federal grants for various government and economic
   expenditures minus those of the United States Armed Forces:

                1993 - $1.004
                1994 - $1.061
                1995 - $0.809
                1996 - $0.829
                1997 - $0.846
                1998 - $0.998
                1999 - $0.844
                2000 - $0.841
                2001 - $0.907
                2002 - $1.113
                2003 - $1.538

   "The Compact of Free Association between the United States of America,
   the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall
   Islands was signed in 1982, and ratified in 1986. It accorded the
   former entities of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands a
   political status of 'free association'" with the United States. The
   Compact was an agreement to which Guam was not a party. Over the years,
   it was claimed by some in Guam that Guam has had to bear the brunt of
   this agreement in the form of public assistance programs and public
   education for those from the regions involved, but was never
   compensated by the federal government for its expenditures.
   Apra Harbor from the air
   Enlarge
   Apra Harbour from the air

Transportation and communications

   Most of the island has mobile phone service and high speed internet is
   now widely available through cable or DSL. Cell phones are used by a
   majority of residents, and the telephone service is extremely reliable,
   as compared to 20-25 years ago when phone outages were common. Guam was
   added to the North American Numbering Plan in 1997, removing barriers
   of high costs of international long-distance calls to the mainland.

   As Guam is also part of the U.S. Postal System (the postal code is GU),
   mail to Guam from the mainland is considered domestic and no additional
   charges are required. Private shipping companies such as UPS, DHL or
   FedEx also regard Guam is domestic, although this is often not
   reflected in the shipping charges for many mail-order companies or
   websites. Mail will take approximately 1-2 weeks to travel between Guam
   and California. Express mail and Fedex takes a minimum of three to four
   days to reach the U.S. Most of the residents use post office boxes to
   receive their mail and as their mailing addresses, though home delivery
   is becoming increasingly available.

   Guam is served by the Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport. There
   are no direct flights to Guam from the U.S. Mainland. Flights to Guam
   go through Hawaii, Japan, or Korea first and generally requires a
   layover and a plane transfer. To fly to Guam from the mainland, through
   Hawaii, requires a five-hour flight from San Francisco or Los Angeles,
   for example, and another 7.5-hour flight from Hawaii to Guam. To fly to
   Guam from the mainland, through Japan or Korea, requires a 10-12-hour
   flight from the mainland to Korea or Japan, and another 3-4-hour flight
   to Guam.

   Most residents travel in Guam using personally owned cars. A limited
   bus system for residents exists but is relatively unused.

Climate

   The climate is characterized as tropical marine. The weather is
   generally warm and humid with little seasonal temperature variation.
   The mean high temperature is 86° F (30 ° C) and mean low is 76° F (24 °
   C) with an average annual rainfall of 86 inches (2,180  mm). The dry
   season runs from December through June. The remaining months constitute
   the rainy season. The highest risk of typhoons is during October and
   November.

   An average of three tropical storms and one typhoon pass within 180
   nautical miles (330 km) of Guam each year. The most intense typhoon to
   pass over Guam recently was Super Typhoon Pongsona, with sustained
   winds of 180 miles per hour, which slammed Guam on December 8, 2002,
   leaving massive destruction. After Super Typhoon Pamela in 1976 wooden
   structures began to be replaced by concrete. (See 1976 Pacific typhoon
   season, ) By the 1980s many homes were concrete and "Typhoon proof".
   Since the 1980s wooden utility poles were slowly replaced by typhoon
   resistant concrete and steel poles. In the 1990s many home and
   bussiness owners installed typhoon shutters.

Ecological issues

The brown tree snake

   Brown Tree Snake
   Enlarge
   Brown Tree Snake

   This island also exemplifies the effects of bioinvasion: Thought to be
   a stowaway on a U.S. military transport near the end of World War II,
   the slightly venomous, but rather harmless, brown tree snake (Boiga
   irregularis) came to Guam and killed a large percentage of the native
   bird population on the previously snake-free island. This snake has no
   natural predators on the island. Although some studies have suggested a
   high density of the brown tree snake, residents rarely see these
   snakes. As prodigious climbers, the snakes were blamed for frequent
   blackouts in the 1980s by shorting across lines and transformers. Many
   power poles now have a slick metal sheath to prevent the snakes from
   climbing and such blackouts are now rare.

   Many Guam residents feel that nationwide publicity concerning the brown
   tree snake and references to this species "hanging on trees like
   spaghetti" has caused much misinformation concerning the actual extent
   of the problem. While most residents acknowledge that the brown tree
   snake is somewhat of problem, they don't feel that it is to the extent
   portrayed by shows such as ABC's 20/20 in the 1990s.

Other invasive animal species

   A Guam toad.
   Enlarge
   A Guam toad.

   From the 17th through 19th centuries, the Spanish introduced pigs,
   dogs, chickens, the Philippine deer (Cervus mariannus), black
   francolins, and water buffalo. Water buffalo, known as carabao locally,
   have cultural significance. Herds of these animals obstruct military
   base operations and harm native ecosystems. After birth control and
   adoption efforts were ineffective, the U.S. military began euthanizing
   the herds leading to organized protests from island residents.

   Other introduced species include cane toads imported in 1937, the giant
   African Snail—an agricultural pest introduced during WWII—and more
   recently frog species which could threaten crops in addition to
   providing additional food for the brown tree snake population. Reports
   of loud chirping frogs that may have arrived from Hawaii have led to
   fears that the noise could even threaten Guam's tourism. Introduced
   feral pigs and deer, over-hunting, and habitat loss from human
   development are also major factors in the decline and loss of Guam's
   native plants and animals.

Threats to indigenous plants

   Invading animal species are not the only threat to Guam's native flora.
   Tinangaja, a virus affecting coconut palms, was first observed on the
   island in 1917 when copra production was still a major part of Guam's
   economy. Though coconut plantations no longer exist on the island, the
   dead and infected trees that have resulted from the epidemic are seen
   throughout the forests of Guam. Also during the past century, the dense
   forests of northern Guam have been largely replaced by thick tangan
   tangan brush ( Leucaena-native to the Americas). Much of Guam and
   Saipan's folliage was lost during World War II. In 1947, the U.S.
   military introduced tangan tangan by seeding the island from the air to
   prevent erosion. In southern Guam, non-native grass species also
   dominate much of the landscape.
   Enlarge

Wildfires

   Wildfires plague the forested ("boonie" or "jungle") areas of Guam
   every dry season despite the island's humid climate. Most fires are
   man-caused with 80 percent resulting from arson. (See Territory of Guam
   Fire Assessment January 2004, Pgs. 6-7) Poachers often start fires to
   attract deer to the new growth. Invasive grass species that rely on
   fire as part of their natural life cycle grow in many regularly burned
   areas. Grasslands and "barrens" have replaced previously forested areas
   leading to greater soil erosion. During the rainy season sediment is
   carried by the heavy rains into the Fena Lake Resevoir and Ugum River
   leading to water quality problems for southern Guam. Eroded silt also
   destroys the marine life in reefs around the island. Soil stabilization
   efforts by volunteers and forestry workers to plant trees have had
   little success in preserving natural habitats.

Aquatic preserves

   As a vacation spot for scuba divers, efforts have been made to protect
   Guam's coral reef habitats from pollution, eroded silt, and overfishing
   that have led to decreased fish populations. In recent years the
   Department of Agriculture, Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources
   has established several new marine preserves where fish populations are
   monitored by biologists. A federal Guam National Wildlife Refuge in
   northern Guam protects the decimated sea turtle population in addition
   to a small colony of Mariana fruit bats.

                             Reef fish of Guam.

   In the 1990s, as hotels filled up the beachfront property along Tumon
   Bay, the bay was dredged by the hotel community to remove the seaweed
   and rocks that "despoiled the beauty" of the beach and provided
   hazards. Though Tumon Bay is a protected reserve, it will take many
   years for the seaweed and fish to return.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

   The Guam Public School System serves the entire island of Guam. In
   2000, 32,000 students attended Guam's public schools. Guam's public
   school system has been criticized for having poor management and
   inadequate facilities. Lack of funding and corruption are often cited
   as the causes. Recent losses in federal funding may lead to further
   problems. Private schools had a total attendance of 6,000 in 2000,
   though attendance has increased in recent years.

   In 1998 the U.S. Department of Defense opened schools for children of
   American military personnel. DODEA schools had an attendance of 2,500
   in 2000. The schools are Andersen Elementary School, Andersen Middle
   School, McCool Elementary/Middle School, and Guam High School.

Colleges and universities

   The University of Guam and Guam Community College offer courses in
   higher education.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guam"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
