Anatahan

Anatahan rises from the Pacific about 120 kilometres north of Saipan as an elliptical volcanic island roughly nine kilometres long and four kilometres wide. Its 33.9 square kilometres form the summit of a stratovolcano reaching 790 metres. A caldera 2.3 kilometres across is divided into western and eastern basins, with the eastern portion about 250 metres lower.

The island was first charted by Europeans in late October 1543 by the Spanish navigator Bernardo de la Torre aboard the San Juan de Letrán, and at that time it was settled by Chamorros. In 1695 the Spanish forcibly removed the islanders to Saipan, and three years later to Guam. The island’s steep slopes, volcanic soil and small coast shaped what could be grown and where people could land.