Land and People

Northern Mariana Islands (märēä'nä) , commonwealth associated with the United States (2005 est. pop. 80,400), c.185 sq mi (479 sq km), comprising 16 islands (6 inhabited) of the Marianas chain (all except Guam), in the W Pacific Ocean; formerly part of the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The islands lie E of the Philippines and S of Japan and extend 350 mi (563 km) from north to south. The most important are Saipan (capital), Rota, and Tinian. The northern islands are composed of volcanic rock, the southern islands of madrepore limestone covering a volcanic base. All the islands are mountainous, with the highest peak (3,166 ft/965 m) on Agrihan; there are active volcanoes on the islands. The islands are subject to typhoons. Most of the inhabitants are Chamorro, but there are some Carolinians and other Micronesians.
Livestock, sugarcane, coffee, coconuts, and citrus fruits are the chief agricultural products. There are deposits of phosphate, sulfur, manganese ore, and pozzuolana. Tourism, especially from Japan, is a major industry, employing roughly 10% of the workforce. Garment manufacturing and construction are also critical to the economy; clothing is the major export. The Northern Marianas receive substantial financial assistance from the United States.
The islands were explored in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan, who named them the Ladrones Islands (Thieves Islands). They were renamed the Marianas by Spanish Jesuits who arrived in 1668. Nominally a possession of Spain until 1898, the islands were sold to Germany in 1899, except for Guam, which was ceded to the United States. The islands belonging to Germany were seized by Japan in 1914 and were mandated to Japan by the League of Nations in 1920. U.S. forces occupied the Marianas (1944) during World War II, and in 1947 the group (exclusive of Guam) was included in the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
Residents approved separate status for the islands as a U.S. commonwealth in 1975. They became internally self-governing under U.S. military protection in 1978, and trust territory status was officially ended in 1986. The islands are governed by an elected governor and lieutenant governor, both serving four-year terms, and a bicameral legislature consisting of a 9-member Senate and a 15-member House of Representatives. Benigno Fitial became governor in Jan., 2006. Residents are U.S. citizens but do not vote in U.S. presidential elections.

Economy

The economy of the Northern Mariana Islands depends primarily on tourism, especially, from Japan, and the rapidly dwindling garment manufacturing sector. The Commonwealth also benefits from substantial subsidies and development assistance from the federal government of the United States.
The Northern Mariana Islands had successfully exploited its position as a free trade area with the US, while at the same time not being subject to the same labor laws as it: The minimum wage in the Commonwealth is lower than in the US and some other worker protections are weaker leading to lower production costs. This allows garments to be labelled "Made in USA" while being produced under sweatshop conditions. A separate immigration system outside of federal U.S. control has resulted in a large number of Chinese migrant workers employed in the Islands' garment trade. However, the lifting of World Trade Organisation restrictions on Chinese imports to the US has put the Commonwealth-based trade under severe pressure, leading to a number of recent factory closures.
Agricultural production, primarily of tapioca, cattle, coconuts, breadfruit, tomatoes and melons exists, but is of relatively minor economic import.

History

The first European in these waters was Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, who landed on nearby Guam and claimed the islands for Spain. After being met offshore and accepting the refreshments offered to them by the native Chamorros, the latter then in exchange helped themselves to a small boat belonging to Magellan's fleet. Due to this cultural misunderstanding, over half a dozen locals were killed and a village of 40 homes burned before the boat was retrieved, and the archipelago subsequently gained the ignominious name Islas de los Ladrones ("Islands of the Thieves"). Three days after he had arrived, Magellan fled the archipelago under attack--a portentous beginning to its relationship with the Spanish. In 1668 their name was changed to Las Marianas after Mariana of Austria, widow of Spain's Philip IV. Nearly all of the islands' native population (90%-95%) died out under Spanish rule, but new settlers, primarily from the Philippines and the Carolines were brought in to repopulate them. Sold to Germany in 1899, the Japanese took over in 1914 and turned the island into a military garrison. On June 15, 1944, during World War II, U.S. Marines landed on the islands and eventually won the bitterly fought three-week Battle of Saipan.
After Japan's defeat, the islands were administered by the United States as part of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; thus, defense and foreign affairs are the responsibility of the U.S. The people of the Northern Mariana Islands decided in the 1970s not to seek independence, but instead to forge closer links with the U.S. Negotiations for territorial status began in 1972. A covenant to establish a commonwealth in political union with the U.S. was approved in 1975. A new government and constitution went into effect in 1978.