Guahan

Guåhan, the largest of the Mariana Islands, rises between the Philippine Sea and the Pacific. Chamorro communities lived in villages along its coasts and cultivated the island long before European ships arrived. The island was a stopping place in the chain linking Guam with the other Marianas. Their skilled sailors crossed the surrounding waters in swift outrigger canoes, while stone latte pillars supported important buildings in the villages.

In 1521 Magellan’s expedition reached Guam; Spanish galleons later stopped here on voyages from Mexico to the Philippines. In 1668 the Jesuit Diego Luis de San Vitores arrived with missionaries and soldiers and established a mission. Resistance to Spanish rule grew into warfare, and San Vitores was killed in 1672. Fighting, epidemics and the forced concentration of the population transformed Chamorro life over the following decades.

The later city of Hagåtña lies here.