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Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands
Insular Area Summary for the Northern Mariana IslandsHistory & Political StatusThe Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) emerged from the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) which the United States administered on behalf of the United Nations from 1947 until Palau, the last member of the TTPI to choose its own political future, became an independent country 1994. The Federal law (the Covenant) making the CNMI a U.S. territory passed in 1975. The CNMI adopted its constitution in 1977, and its first constitutional government took office in 1978. The CNMI came under Federal minimum wage regulations in 2007 and immigration law in 2008. In June 2009, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security takes over the CNMI’s immigration and border controls. Elected LeadersGovernor: Benigno R. Fitial Distances from placesWashington DC: 8,950 miles Population & DemographyTotal population: 65,927 (2005 estimate) Economy & Income SourcesEstimated GDP: $1.48 billion (2005) Labor Force & EmploymentTotal labor force: 38,935 (2005) Government FinancesTotal gov’t. revenues: $244.3 million (FY 07) OIA ContactsJeffrey Schorr Keith Aughenbaugh Office of Insular
Affairs Francisco Taitano Historical OverviewPolitical Status
The first people to come to the Marianas arrived over 3500 years ago, probably from Southeast Asia through the Philippines. The south islands were occupied early, the north later. The ancient people evolved into Chamorro people. An ancient trading route between the central Carolinian islands brought ancestors of the Carolinians to Saipan. The first European to arrive in these islands was the Portuguese navigator, Ferdinand Magellan, who came to Guam and Rota in 1521 during his circumnavigation of the world in an attempt to find a route across the Pacific. Spain took possession of the archipelago in 1565 and ruled it for more than 300 years. The first permanent Spanish colony was established in 1668. Spain ceded Guam to the United States following the Spanish-American War, then sold the Northern Mariana Islands to Germany in 1899. Germany acquired these islands primarily to increase their international prestige. German economic development was based on the copra industry. Japan took control of the Northern Mariana Islands in 1914, the first year of World War I. By ratification of the League of Nations in 1920, Japan received a mandate over the islands. This mandate lasted until 1945 with 30,000 Japanese nationals residing on Saipan. The Japanese developed the island largely for sugar production and processing.World War II came to the Marianas in 1941. Major American battles occurred in the Northern Marianas in 1944, including the pivotal Marianas campaign which signaled the end of the War in the Pacific. The Emperor of Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces on August 15, 1945, ending World War II, and a U.S. military government was instituted in the Northern Mariana Islands.
On December 22, 1990, the Security Council of the United Nations terminated the TTPI as it applied to the CNMI and five other [the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap)] of the TTPI's original seven districts. Under the Covenant, in general, Federal law applies to CNMI. However, the CNMI is outside the customs territory of the United States and, although the internal revenue code does apply in the form of a local income tax, the income tax system is largely locally determined. According to the Covenant, the federal minimum wage and federal immigration laws " will not apply to the Northern Mariana Islands except in the manner and to the extent made applicable to them by the Congress by law after termination of the Trusteeship Agreement. Public Law 110-229, that was signed by President Bush, on May 8, 2008, now places CNMI Immigration under federal control. November 28, 2009 is the target date for federalization. " GovernmentThe CNMI constitution provides for a governor, a lieutenant governor, a bicameral legislature (20 members in the House of Representatives and 9 members in the Senate), and a local court system including Superior and Supreme Courts. The U.S. District Court for the District of the Northern Mariana Islands operates in the CNMI with the Honorable Alex Munson presiding. On May 8, 2008, President Bush signed into law, Senate Bill 2739 (H.R. 3079) which included the provision for having a member of congress from the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. This bill, which became Public Law 110-229, created a Delegate seat in Congress for the CNMI. The CNMI now joins the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in the House of Representatives. For the first time in history, the CNMI elected a Representative to the United States Congress. On January 6, 2009, T.H. Gregorio Camacho Sablan was sworn in as the first congressman from the CNMI to the U.S. House of Representatives. He will serve a two years term. He replaces the former CNMI Resident Representative T.H. Pete A. Tenorio. Geography
Located just north of Guam, the CNMI is a three-hundred mile archipelago consisting of 14 islands, with a total land area of 183.5 square miles. The principal inhabited islands are Saipan, Rota and Tinian. The northern, largely uninhabited islands are Farallon de Medinilla, Anatahan, Sariguan, Gudgeon, Alamagan, Pagan, Agrihan, Asuncion, Maug Islands, and Farallon de Pajaro. Saipan is 3,300 miles from Honolulu; 5,625 from San Francisco; 1,272 miles from Tokyo; and 3,090 miles from Sydney. The Mariana Islands are on the edge of the Philippine Plate. They were formed by underwater volcanoes along the Marianas Trench. The northern islands are high volcanic islands and the southern islands are raised limestone. Anatahan is currently an active volcano with the first recorded volcanic eruption on May 10, 2003. Click here to visit the Anatahan Volcano home page. PopulationAccording to the 2000 census, the population was about 69,000, an increase of about 80 percent since 1990 and about 4.7 times the 1980 population of 16,780. The majority of the population increase is accounted for by non-resident workers and their families. Non-US citizens now comprise slightly over half of the population.
Culture
The U.S. citizen population of the Northern Marianas is predominantly of Chamorro cultural extraction, although a number of Carolinians (Chuukese, Kosraeans, Pohnpeians and Yapese) and immigrants from other areas of East Asia and Micronesia have also settled in the islands. English is the official language of the CNMI, but Chamorro and Carolinian are the spoken native tongues. The Spanish culture, which influenced the Chamorro culture for nearly four centuries, is still present today. Japanese is also spoken in many of the hotels and shops, reflecting the heavy tourism industry. The non-citizen population is made up primarily of Filipino and Chinese, with some representation from several other Asian countries.
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In 1947, the Northern Mariana Islands became part of
the post-World War II United Nations'Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
(TTPI). The United States became the TTPI's administering authority under the
terms of a trusteeship agreement. In 1976, Congress approved the mutually negotiated Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)
in Political Union with the United States. The CNMI Government adopted its
own constitution in 1977, and the constitutional government took office in January1978.
The Covenant was fully implemented on November 3, 1986, pursuant to Presidential
Proclamation no. 5564, which conferred United States citizenship on legally
qualified CNMI residents. 
