The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), is an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States consisting of 14 islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The CNMI includes the 14 northernmost islands in the Mariana Archipelago; the southernmost island, Guam is a U.S. territory. The Northern Mariana Islands were listed by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory until 1990.
Saipan is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Census Bureau, the population of Saipan was 43,385. Its people have been United States citizens since the 1980s. Saipan is one of the main homes of the Chamorro, the Indigenous people of the Mariana Islands.
Garapan is the largest village and the center of the tourism industry on the island of Saipan, which is a part of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Garapan, as a census-designated place, has an area of 1.2 km2 (0.46 sq mi) and a population of 3,588.
Saipan Sucks is a politically and socially critical website about the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), particularly its principal island and seat of government, Saipan. The website brings attention to what it alleges as systemic societal corruption in the CNMI. SaipanSucks.com held its own domain between 2001 and September 2014 but later moved to a subdomain.
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Public School System is a school district serving the Northern Mariana Islands, a United States territory.
Haruji Matsue was a Japanese entrepreneur and the first person to manufacture the sugar cube in Japan. His brother, Major General Toyohisa Matsue, was commandant of the Bandō prisoner-of-war camp in World War I.
The economy of the Northern Mariana Islands benefits substantially from financial assistance from the United States and tourism. The rate of funding has declined as locally generated government revenues have grown. An agreement for the years 1986 to 1992 entitled the islands to $228 million for capital development, government operations, and special programs. Since 1992, funding has been extended one year at a time. The Commonwealth received funding of $11 million for infrastructure, for FY96/97 through FY02/03, with an equal local match.
General elections were held in the Northern Mariana Islands on Saturday, November 7, 2009. Voters in the Northern Mariana Islands voted for the Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands, 6 seats in the Northern Mariana Islands Senate, all twenty seats in the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives, 4 mayors, seats for the municipal council, and seats for the board of education. Additionally, a referendum was held.
Pedro "Teno" Pangelinan Tenorio was a Northern Mariana Islander politician who served as the second and fifth governor of the Northern Mariana Islands from January 11, 1982, to January 8, 1990, and then from January 12, 1998, to January 14, 2002.
Francisco Castro Ada was a Northern Mariana Islander politician who served as the first lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands from January 9, 1978 to January 11, 1982, under Carlos S. Camacho, the territory's first governor.
The Japanese Lighthouse is an old lighthouse situated atop Navy Hill in Garapan, Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The lighthouse is one of the few surviving pre-World War II, civilian structures originally built by the Japanese.
Juan Borja Tudela was a Northern Mariana Islander politician and community leader. Tudela was a member of the 14th session of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives and two-term mayor for the island of Saipan, the capital and largest municipality in the Northern Mariana Islands, serving from January 2002 to January 2010.
The Hachiman Jinja (彩帆八幡神社) is a derelict Shinto shrine off Kagman Road on the island Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, and one of the few on those islands to survive relatively intact. The shrine, dedicated to the kami Hachiman, was probably built in the 1930s by the Japanese administration of the South Seas Mandate as part of a program to Japanize the large number of Ryukyuan and Korean workers on the island. The shrine survived the World War II Battle of Saipan in remarkably good condition, although its main torii fell, and two komainu were lost. The main honden received some maintenance in the 1970s, and the property has received some maintenance from a local landholder. As of 2019, it is in total disrepair.
The Nan'yō Kōhatsu Kabushiki Kaisha Sugar Mill is a former industrial facility in the village of Songsong on the island of Rota in the Northern Mariana Islands. Its ruins are a significant reminder of the South Seas Mandate period, when Imperial Japan engaged in large-scale sugar cane farming in the Northern Marianas, and are the only brick structure in the Northern Marianas. The sugar mill on Rota was one of the major installations of the Nan'yō Kōhatsu Kabushiki Kaisha, the Japanese company responsible for economic development of the mandate area. Its executive director turned board chairman, Haruji Matsue, considered the Northern Mariana Islands the best place to establish the sugar industry, and more especially since previous Japanese commercial enterprises tried their hand at growing and processing sugar cane, but failed. The Nan'yō Kōhatsu Kabushiki Kaisha, was the most dominant economic force and being the largest Japanese Corporation, came to the Northern Marianas in 1921. Not unlike its predecessors, the NKK experienced a very tough few years, which almost forced the company to cease operations. Things started to take a turn for the better in 1926. By the early 1930s, Matsue proceeded to expand the company's landholdings and operations to Tinian and Rota, respectively. Rota had one mill and 38% of the farmlands had sugar cane growing. The remnants of this sugar mill, all that survived the Allied capture of Rota during World War II, are located on the north side of the peninsula that projects southwest from Songsong, and consist of fragments of brick and concrete structures. The most impressive single element is a brick and concrete tunnel 42.5 metres (139 ft) long, from which openings lead to the locations of other parts of the once-extensive complex.
Rail transport on the Mariana Islands was mainly related to the transport of sugar cane and military supplies by narrow gauge railways.
The NMI Museum of History and Culture, also known as the NMI Museum, is a museum in Garapan, Saipan hosting exhibitions about the Chamorro and Carolinian people and also displays artifacts, documents, textiles, and photographs from the Spanish, German, Japanese, and American periods in the Northern Mariana Islands. The museum has repatriated a significant number of historic objects from the Marianas that were held nationally and internationally in private collections and by foreign museums, companies, and militaries. More than one million dollars has been invested in its collections. The historical buildings on the grounds have been renovated to preserve them, prevent further deterioration, and safeguard visitors. The museum is located across from Sugar King Park.
The Garapan Heritage Trail is located in Garapan, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. The cultural heritage trail project is supported through grants awarded to the Northern Marianas Humanities Council by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Office of Insular Affairs, United States Department of the Interior.
The Saipan Katori Shrine is a Shintō shrine in Sugar King Park, Garapan, Saipan. The main festival of the shrine is held annually in October. Ceremonies are conducted by the Japanese Society of Northern Marianas and presided over by priests of the Katori Shrine in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The shrine is a place of prayer for peace and prosperity. It is listed on the Garapan Heritage Trail, a project of the Northern Marianas Humanities Council with financial support by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Office of Insular Affairs, United States Department of the Interior.
The Sugar Dock is a structure at the edge of Chalan Kanoa, Saipan, extending out from the western shore of the island into the Philippine Sea in the western North Pacific Ocean. Aquatic plants, including sea grass, grow around the dock. The dock was built by the South Seas Development Company to support the sugar industry during the Japanese period in the Northern Mariana Islands. American forces captured the dock during the Battle of Saipan and used it for logistics during and after the Asia-Pacific War.
The 2022 Northern Mariana gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of the Northern Mariana Islands and the lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands to a four-year term in office. Because no candidate received 50% of the vote in the general election, the two highest-placing candidates advanced to a runoff election on November 25, 2022.
