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Guam ( /'gw??m/ (help·info); Chamorro: Guåhån) is an island in the western Pacific Ocean and is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government.[3][4] The island's capital is Hagåtña (formerly Agana). Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands.
The Chamorros, Guam's indigenous people, first populated the island approximately 4,000 years ago.[5] The island has a long history of European colonialism beginning on March 6, 1521 with the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan and again in 1668, when the first Spanish colony was established following the arrival of settlers including Padre San Vitores, a Catholic missionary. The island was controlled by Spain until 1898, when it was surrendered to the United States as part of the Treaty of Paris following Spanish-American War.
As the largest island in Micronesia and the only American-held island in the region before World War II, Guam was captured by the Japanese on December 8, 1941, hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and was occupied for two and a half years.
During the occupation, the people of Guam suffered terrible atrocities[6], including torture, beheadings, and rape, and were forced to adopt the Japanese culture. The Japanese Occupant also imposed a new name to the island’s name to O-miya Jima or Great Shrine Island for that same purpose. Guam was subject to fierce fighting when American troops recaptured the island on July 21, 1944, a date commemorated every year as Liberation Day, in a celebration that lasts all month[citation needed]. Today, Guam's economy is supported by its principal industry, tourism, which is primarily composed of visitors from Japan. Guam’s second-largest source of income is the United States military.[7]