The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is a chain of 14 islands in political union with the United States. Although the usual water sports are all certainly possible it is the diving that draws most due to the variety and number of locations. These include Eagle Ray City, Lau Lau beach, Banzai Cliff, Tinian Grotto and Fleming. There are World War II relics at Banadero's Cave, super views from Laderan Banadero, Puntan Sabaneta and Mount Tapochau and wondrous beauty of Islan Maigo Fahang with its green bay.
Greater knowledge of the islands and their inhabitants, human and otherwise can be gained at the CNMI Museum of History and Culture, the Rota and Saipan Zoos, Taiscana's Botanical and Nature Trail and the Saipan Botanical Garden.
The earliest settlers in the Marianas chain are thought to have descended from the Malay race and to have migrated from the Malay peninsula via Indonesia or the Philippines. Early Chamorros were farmers, fishermen, hunters, and built their houses on large stone pillars known today as "latte stones" (a few of which still exist on Tinian and Rota). The first European in these waters was Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, who landed on nearby Guam and claimed the islands for Spain. Not content to claim the land, the Spanish also helped themselves to whatever else happened to be lying around. The natives responded in kind, helping themselves to tools and other items from Magellan's ships. Angry at this, Magellan first dubbed the islands "Las Islas de los Ladrones", (The Islands of the Thieves), but in 1668 their name was changed to Las Marianas after Maria Anna of Austria, widow of Spain's Philip IV. Nearly all of the islands' native population died out during Spanish rule, but new settlers from modern-day Micronesia repopulated them to some extent. Sold to Germany from 1899, the Japanese took over in 1914 and turned the island into a military garrison. During World War II, the Marines landed on June 15, 1944 and eventually won the bitterly fought three-week Battle of Saipan. Under US administration as part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific, the people of the Northern Mariana Islands decided in the...more
