The United States’ most recent addition to its territories lies in the Central Pacific Ocean. A remote archipelago, the Northern Mariana Islands has a tumultuous history and a relatively unstable future outlook.
Early History – A Spanish Stopover
The Northern Mariana Islands (NMI) are part of the Mariana Islands archipelago, which includes the entire territory of the NMI as well as the U.S. Territory of Guam. The NMI were claimed by Spain, as was Guam, in 1521 by the Spanish Empire in a voyage led by Ferdinand Magellan. The islands became part of the Spanish East Indies in 1565. The islands then became a stopover between Mexico and the Philippines. Between European disease killing the native Chamorro people, as well as inter-marrying, removal of the Chamorros to Guam for Catholic conversion, and substitution by islanders from the Philippines and Micronesia, the NMI became much more culturally blended over the next couple hundred years.
By 1741, only 5,000 Chamorros remained in the Marianas, with most having died or been moved to Guam by the Spanish. The NMI continued to be used mainly as a stopover for the Spanish Empire.
After Spain’s loss in the Spanish-American War in 1898, the NMI and Guam were ceded to the U.S., along with the Caroline Islands, which were then sold to Germany in the German-Spanish Treaty of 1899. The large swath of islands became known as German New Guinea and their central administrative office was located on the island of Saipan. Germany established a homesteading program as well as public schools, agriculture, infrastructure, and trades. The islands of Pagan and Alamagan were used for the farming of copra, the white flesh of the coconut, but the industry suffered due to the massive typhoons that frequently hit the area. Eight islands were leased to bird hunters.
Twentieth Century History & Politics –
A Crucial WWII Battleground
Perhaps the single-most important event in the history of the Northern Mariana Islands is also one that set the stage for the Pacific Theater of WWII. Japan would declare war on Germany and invade the NMI in WWI. In 1919, the League of Nations would award Germany’s Pacific islands to Japan, which would jumpstart the islands’ economies and regional presence. Japan would make sugar cane farming a top industry and would establish the city of Garapan on the island of Saipan as a de facto capital of its South Seas territories. Japanese people would move to the islands and the population of the NMI overall would begin to grow.
Immediately after its 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan would use the NMI as a launchpad to invade Guam, then owned by the U.S. June 15, 1944, would see the U.S. invade the Marianas, starting the month-long Battle of Saipan. The Japanese would wage their notorious brutality on the Chamorro people, mainly by subscripting them to the war effort. NMI Chamorros were tasked with cooperating in the harsh treatment of the Guam Chamorros, creating a schism between the territories that would result in Guam’s rejection of a reunification with the NMI in the 1960s.
In addition, Japan’s authoritarian tactics of the islands had the natives convinced that the U.S. would take no prisoners. Most civilians on the island were collateral damage in the war, or died of disease or starvation. However, Japan’s “death before dishonor” mantra led many of them to commit suicide as U.S. takeover was imminent. With many Japanese soldier Chamorros believing Japan’s propaganda against the U.S., hundreds threw themselves off a northern cliff on Saipan. Today, this cliff is known as Suicide Cliff and is one of the island’s most significant landmarks.
The island of Tinian was subsequently taken over by the U.S. Tinian would play outsized influence in WWII, as it became the takeoff point for the Enola Gay, the plane that would drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
After the war, the NMI entered a trusteeship of the United Nations administered by the U.S., the period during which civilians were allowed to return to the war-ravaged islands.
The 1960s and 1970s saw agriculture and ranching make a comeback in the NMI, with cattle, dairy, and pineapple becoming key products. Four referenda were held from 1958 to 1969 to reintegrate with Guam, and although Guam rejected them, the NMI were in favor of reintegration.
Negotiations for commonwealth status with the U.S. started in 1972 and culminated in the June 17, 1975, referendum, which was approved by nearly 80% of the islands’ residents. The islands were now referred to as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), the title they retain today. Over 93% of residents approved the CNMI constitution in 1977, and on November 4, 1986, the CNMI officially came under U.S. sovereignty, giving Islanders’ U.S. citizenship and rendering the Islands’ constitution effective.
The CNMI is a distinctly Republican-leaning territory, but not prohibitively so. Political party strength relies more on retail politics and chairmanship than the typical left-right divide we see in the rest of the country. The Covenant Party was founded in 2001 on populist ideals, advocating for fiscal conservatism and government and financial reform. The party has been considered dissolved since leader Eloy Inos, who served as the seventh governor of the CNMI from 2013 to 2015, left the party to join the GOP, allowing the Covenant Party and the GOP to formally merge in 2013.
Carlos Camacho (D) served as the CNMI’s first governor from 1978 to 1981, while Republicans held both chambers of the Commonwealth Legislature for the first two years of their existence. Edward Pangelinan (D) served as the Islands’ first Resident Representative to the U.S. House from 1978 to 1983, switching to the GOP in 1982. Democrats have only held the Commonwealth House for four terms since 1978, and have only held the Senate for just 1990 and 1991 since its formation in 1978.
Since CNMI political strength is owed primarily to leadership, the CNMI Democratic Party is not as strong as it probably could be. Early political formation rallied around GOP politics and leaders, giving the party an invaluable foothold it still retains today, albeit by not as much as it once did.
Geography – America’s Best Kept Secret
The Northern Mariana Islands consist of fourteen main islands, six of which are inhabited, that span in a north-south layout:
- Saipan – The main island home to 90% of the CNMI population. Saipan serves as the capital of the CNMI. Home to tourist towns of Garapan, Susupe, and Capitol Hill, as well as WWII monuments and sites, American Memorial Park, the International Airport, and Mt. Tapochau – the highest peak across the CNMI. Generally more aligned with the GOP and Covenant parties.
- Tinian – The second-most populated island in the CNMI, at about 3,500 people. Home to quiet, rural villages and ranches, as well as the historic launch site of the Enola Gay aircraft. The island is just south of Saipan. Notably more Republican-leaning than Saipan.
- Rota – The third-most populated island at about 3,200 people. Rota is sixty-three miles south of Tinian. Remote and home to a vibrant tourist industry and many endangered species of flora and fauna.
- Agrihan and Alamagan – Two sparsely-inhabited islands in the center of the island chain. In 2018, repopulation efforts for the islands were launched. As of 2020, Agrihan has four people and Alamagan has just one.
- Pagan – North-central part of the archipelago, Pagan faced a devastating volcanic eruption in 1981, forcing most of its fifty residents to leave the island. The volcano is still active and Pagan is home to just seven people, as of 2018.
- Aguijan, Anatahan, Farallon de Medinilla, Sarigan, Guguan – Uninhabited islands making up the south-central part of the island chain. Aguijan is called “Goat Island” for its large population of goats.
- Asuncion Island, Farallon de Pajaros, Maug Islands – Uninhabited islands that makeup the northernmost part of the chain.
Current Political Leanings – A Sad Picture
Arnold Palacios (I) is the current governor, having served since 2023. Democrats have not won a gubernatorial election since 1994. In 2022, then-Governor Ralph Torres (R) took Tinian and the minor outlying islands, while Palacios won Saipan and Rota.
The GOP holds a nominal majority in the Senate, as three Independents and two Democrats prevent the GOP from taking an outright majority. The House has thirteen Independents, four Democrats, and three Republicans.
The CNMI had a Resident Representative to Congress from 1978 until the office of U.S. House Delegate was formed in 2008. The office functions exactly like that of the other four territories’ delegates, in that the Representative can sit on committees and propose legislation, but cannot cast floor votes. Gregorio Sablan (D) has represented the office since its inception in 2008, with only his first election being close. He was unopposed for re-election in 2022. Sablan was an Independent his entire career, but ran as a Democrat for the first time in 2022.
The CNMI, especially Saipan, were forever changed by a series of typhoons and the COVID-19 Pandemic. As tourism to the CNMI is light due to its remoteness, COVID did much worse damage to the local economy. Petty crime and prostitution are common problems, while much of Saipan’s infrastructure is dated by twenty or thirty years. Two main roads of Beach Road and Middle Road connect much of the activity on the island, but dirt roads and gravel paths connect most of the island.
It’s uncertain just how the Northern Mariana Islands will fare in the near future, but their complex political picture likely creates more problems than answers.
