Guam

Official name Guåhan (Chamorro); Territory of Guam (English)
Political status self-governing, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States with one legislative house (Guam Legislature [15])
Head of state President of the United States: Barack Obama
Head of government Governor: Eddie Calvo
Capital Hagåtña (formerly Agana)
Official languages Chamorro; English
Official religion none
Monetary unit United States dollar (U.S.$)
Population (2013 est.) 161,000COLLAPSE
Total area (sq mi) 217
Total area (sq km) 561
Urban-rural population Urban: (2011) 93.4%
Rural: (2011) 6.6%
Life expectancy at birth Male: (2012) 75.7 years
Female: (2012) 81.7 years
Literacy: percentage of population age 15 and over literate Male: 100%
Female: 100%
GNI per capita (U.S.$) (2009) 24,446

About Guam

Spain ceded Guam to the US in 1898. Captured by the Japanese in 1941, it was retaken by the US three years later. The military installation on the island is one of the most strategically important US bases in the Pacific.

Also Guam, island and unincorporated territory of the United States in the north Pacific Ocean, the largest, most populous, and southernmost of the Mariana Islands. It lies about 5,800 miles (9,300 km) west of San Francisco and 1,600 miles (2,600 km) east of Manila. Hagåtña (Agana) is the capital. Major settlements are Dededo, in the north-central part of the island, Machanao, in the north, and Apotgan, on the west coast.

Geography of Guam

The Land

The island is sharply divided into a northern limestone plateau with a general elevation of about 500 feet (150 metres) and a higher area of volcanic hills to the south. The plateau is covered with a thick growth of jungle; the volcanic hills support mainly sword grass. The hills rise to an elevation of more than 1,000 feet (300 metres); their lower slopes to the east (and also, in part, to the west) are covered with younger limestones, generally similar to those of the northern limestone plateau. The island rises to 1,332 feet (406 metres) at Mount Lamlam, the highest point. Other major hills are Mount Bolanos (1,207 feet [368 metres]) and Mount Sasalaguan (1,086 feet [331 metres]).

Guam has a pleasant tropical climate tempered by the northeast trade winds and the north equatorial ocean current that flows west across the Pacific. Temperatures range between approximately 70 and 90 °F (20 and 30 °C) and are fairly even throughout the year. Average annual precipitation is about 95 inches (2,400 mm), three-fourths of which falls in storms during the wet season, generally starting in May or June and lasting through November. The evenness of the climate is punctuated by destructive typhoons (tropical cyclones) that occur at irregular intervals.

Palm trees, ferns, and other tropical plants abound. Many types of marine life and insects are also found. However, as a result of the accidental introduction in the 1940s of the brown tree snake, an invasive species from New Guinea, indigenous bird life on Guam has been devastated. At least a dozen bird species have become extinct, and several more are endangered. The abundant snakes have also caused numerous power outages by climbing poles and wires and crawling into transmission equipment, and they have killed small mammals.

Demography of Guam

The People

Native Guamanians, ethnically called Chamorros, are of basically Malayo-Indonesian descent with a considerable admixture of Spanish, Filipino, Mexican, and other European and Asian ancestries. Chamorros and other Micronesians constitute about half the population. Nearly one-third of the people are Asians, notably Filipinos and Koreans, and there is a small minority of people of European ancestry. About three-fourths of the people are Roman Catholic, and one-eighth are Protestant.

The Chamorro language is an Austronesian language that has, over time, come to incorporate many Spanish words. The word Chamorro is derived from Chamorri, or Chamoli, meaning “noble.” English and Chamorro are the official languages; although Chamorro is still used in many homes, English is the language of education and commerce. Because of the number of tourists and investors from Japan, Japanese is increasingly also used.

The island’s rate of natural increase, although about average for the region, is high compared with that of the United States, partly because of a low death rate. There are large numbers of migrants from the Philippines and South Korea, as well as from neighbouring states such as the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Disclaimer

This is not the official site of this country. Most of the information in this site were taken from the U.S. Department of State, The Central Intelligence Agency, The United Nations, [1],[2], [3], [4], [5],[6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14],[15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24],[25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30],[31], [32], [33], [34], and the [35].

Other sources of information will be mentioned as they are posted.