Saipan, along with neighboring Guam, Rota/Luta, Tinian, and to a lesser extent smaller islands northward, was first inhabited around 2000 BC.The Spanish were the first Europeans to encounter the Chamorros and Spain eventually annexed Saipan as part of its claim to the Mariana Islands. Around 1815, many Carolinians from Satawal settled Saipan during a period when the Chamorros were imprisoned on Guam, which resulted in a significant loss of land and rights for the Chamorro natives. Germany ruled Saipan from 1899 until World War I, when the Empire of Japan took over the island, governing it under a League of Nations mandate from 1922. The Japanese developed both fishing and sugar industries, and in the 1930s garrisoned Saipan heavily, resulting in nearly 30,000 troops on the island by 1941. By December 1941, Saipan had a population of more than 30,000 people, including 25,000 Japanese settlers.

For more information about our islands, please click on the links below.
Visit Tinian | Rota