Northern Mariana Islands
The Northern Mariana Islands, with full name of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands ( English Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands ), a subsection of the archipelago of the Mariana Islands, a nichtinkorporiertes outer area of the United States of America in the Pacific Ocean south of Japan and north of Guam are located.
Geography
The area consists of 16 islands, which extend over 500 km of which Saipan, Tinian and Rota are the greatest.
Population
86 percent of the population speak in the private sector a language other than English, including Micronesian and Polynesian languages. The population growth is 2.8 percent per year. The Northern Mariana Islands were formerly the basis of mostly female migrant workers in the textile sector with 1:0,77 the country with the largest relative overhang woman in the world, but there are after the collapse of the textile industry is no more. The population has plummeted to an estimated 45,000 in 2012.
History
1521 Ferdinand Magellan discovered the first European to the archipelago and named it Islas de Ladrones, or Ladrones Islands thief, because the local residents had stolen things from Magellan's ships to European opinion. In 1667 it was taken by Spain in possession and named after the Spanish Queen Mariana of Austria.
After the Spanish-American War, Spain ceded the southern part from the USA and sold to the German - Spanish Treaty of 1899 the northern part of the German Empire, which he was part of German New Guinea.
After the First World War, the Marianas were asked by the League of Nations to Japanese control, after the Second World War by the UN under U.S. control, as Northern Mariana confers on them in 1978 the status of associated with the U.S. state except Guam, which as a "dependent territory " is under direct colonial rule of the U.S. and only a certain internal autonomy has, as it serves as an important military stronghold of the United States.
Since 1975, the archipelago is Northern Mariana Islands in the Commonwealth with the U.S. with internal independence since 1986.
Policy
The Northern Mariana Islands are an " unincorporated, organized territory" of the United States with an inner independence since 1986 and with its own constitution since 1978, the political system consists of a bicameral parliament -. A Senate with nine and a House of Representatives with 18 members - and an elected governor. Head of state is the President of the United States, the current Head of Government Governor Eloy Inos. The citizens of the Mariana Islands are U.S. citizens, but have in the U.S. presidential elections and voting rights must therefore pay no federal taxes.
Official languages are English, Chamorro and Carolinian, also Korean and Japanese are spoken on the island.
Economy
The main source of income is tourism.
Statistical data on the islands
The Northern Mariana Islands consist of 14 major islands with a total area of 463.6 square kilometers. The following overview lists the islands from north to south:
The islands are divided into four communes ( municipalities ): The ten islands in the north form the community of the Northern Islands ( Northern Islands Municipality ). The other islands are collectively referred to as Southern Islands, consisting of the municipalities of Saipan, Tinian (including the island Aguijan ) and Rota. Only Saipan, Tinian and Rota have a port and are the only permanently inhabited islands in the Northern Mariana Islands.
Because of the threat of volcanic eruptions on several northern islands these were evacuated from the 1980s. Even the Mayor of the Northern Islands residing on Saipan. Traditional administrative headquarters of the Northern Islands Municipality is Shomushon on Pagan. Due to the complete evacuation of the island resides the Mayor ( Mayor ) until further notice, however, on Saipan.