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Gadao
Gadao is a legendary chief of the village of Inarajan in southern Guam. In the Chamorro language of ancient Guam, he would have had the title maga'lahi as a high-ranking male. In addition to being featured in legend, he is the namesake of Inarajan's Chief Gadao's Cave containing ancient cave paintings. Some stories claim Gadao himself drew the figures. Legends Two legends featuring Chief Gadao include the Legend of the Three Feats of Strength and the Legend of the Battle Between Chiefs. The legends and their specifics vary. In the Legend of the Three Feats of Strength, Gadao traveled to Humatak to help its starving people. Some proposed that Gadao become their leader to protect them from foreign threats. For the villagers to accept him as their ruler, Gadao was given three impossible tasks: 1. to swim multiple times around the island without stopping, 2. to crack and grate coconuts with his bare hands, and 3. to level the highest peak on the island. Gadao succeeded and ordere ...
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Gadao Guam
Gadao is a legendary chief of the village of Inarajan in southern Guam. In the Chamorro language of ancient Guam, he would have had the title maga'lahi as a high-ranking male. In addition to being featured in legend, he is the namesake of Inarajan's Chief Gadao's Cave containing ancient cave paintings. Some stories claim Gadao himself drew the figures. Legends Two legends featuring Chief Gadao include the Legend of the Three Feats of Strength and the Legend of the Battle Between Chiefs. The legends and their specifics vary. In the Legend of the Three Feats of Strength, Gadao traveled to Humatak to help its starving people. Some proposed that Gadao become their leader to protect them from foreign threats. For the villagers to accept him as their ruler, Gadao was given three impossible tasks: 1. to swim multiple times around the island without stopping, 2. to crack and grate coconuts with his bare hands, and 3. to level the highest peak on the island. Gadao succeeded and ordere ...
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Gadao's Cave
Gadao's Cave, also known as Liyang Gadao, is a rock art site on the United States island of Guam. Located near the village of Inarajan, the cave is the site of a panel of approximately 50 Chamorro pictographs, painted with a mixture of coral lime and tree sap. The most unusual images are of two human stick figures that appear to be carrying things. It is not known who painted them or when, and what their significance is. The legendary chief of Inarajan Gadao is believed to be the creator of the cave's images. The cave was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Space The entrance to the cave is about 10-12 ft wide and about 10 ft high. The following chamber is about 8 ft deep, 5 ft wide, and 7 ft high and its highest point. A small slit between the walls at the chamber's ends opens into a small cavity about 3 ft deep, 2 ft wide, and 7 ft high. The outer chamber has the majority of images which sizes range from about 3 in to 1 ft. Documentation In 1901, ...
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Micronesian Mythology
Micronesian mythology comprises the traditional belief systems of the people of Micronesia. There is no single belief system in the islands of Micronesia, as each island region has its own mythological beings. Region Micronesia is a region in the southwest Pacific Ocean in a region known as Oceania. There are several island groups including the Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands, Mariana Islands, and Gilbert Islands. Traditional beliefs declined and changed with the arrival of Europeans, which occurred increasingly after the 1520s. In addition, the contact with European cultures led to changes in local myths and legends. Federated States of Micronesia mythology Anagumang was a (probably legendary) Yapese navigator who led an expedition in rafts and canoes five or six hundred years ago. On this expedition he discovered the islands of Palau, where he and his men first saw limestone. Anulap is a god of magic and knowledge in Truk Islands mythology an island group between Yap and ...
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Chief Kepuha
Kepuha (died 1669), also spelled Kipuhá or Quipuha, was the island of Guam's first Catholic chief. He granted land in the village of Hagåtña to Spanish missionaries, upon which was built the first Catholic church in the Mariana Islands. Biography Kepuha was a member of the Chamorro, the ruling caste of Chamorro society. As the elder ''maga'låhi'', or high-ranking male, he could make important decisions with the consent of his clan’s, ''maga'håga'', or highest-ranking females. His name translates in the Chamorro language as "try to turn over" or "to attempt to capsize. The Spanish mission led by Jesuit missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores arrived near Hagåtña on June 16, 1668, where about 200 Chamorro warriors gathered. San Vitores sent Father Luis de Medina and another priest to greet the Chamorros, who brought them to Kepuha's house, which was decorated with palm fronds. The priests gifted Kepuha, who they described as tall and robust, a velvet hat and iron hoops ...
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Matå'pang
Matå'pang (died 1680) was a Chamorro maga'låhi or chief of the ancient Chamorro village of Tomhom on the island of Guahan. His name meant "to be made pure by cleansing" in Chamorro. Matå'pang is best known for resisting the Spanish invasion during the Spanish-Chamorro Wars and for his conflict with a Spanish priest Diego de San Vitores, an early missionary of the colonial Spanish empire on Guam, and his Filipino associate, Pedro Calungsod, resulting in the deaths of the foreigners at the hands of Matå'pang and his companion Hurao. Today Matå'pang has become iconic among many activists for Chamorro self-determination. Biography Early in his life, Matå'pang converted to Christianity, but later renounced the faith after seeing the Spaniards use it to suppress Chamorro culture. However, in an attempt to draw Matå'pang back to the church, Diego de San Vitores covertly baptized Matå'pang's infant daughter in 1672. This action infuriated Matå'pang, not just because of ...
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Hurao
Hurao was a Chamorro chief on the island of Guam who led resistance against Spanish during the Spanish-Chamorro Wars. The chief's name means "emotion, caring, attention, heed". Hurao may be best remembered for his 1671 speech to Chamorro warriors opposing the Spanish presence on Guam. He organized a 40-day siege of the Spanish Mission in Agana that was finally broken by Spanish soldiers. Hurao was captured, but released by Father San Vitores. According to Russell's account of Father San Vitores' death, however, Hurao was in fact an accomplice to Matapang's 1672 murder of the priest.Russell, S. (1998). ''Tiempon i manmofo'na: Ancient Chamorro culture and history of the Northern Mariana Islands.'' Micronesian Archaeological Survey: Division of Historical Preservation. Hurao was a member of the Matao/Chamorri, the highest caste in Chamorro society and held the title maga'lahi. See also * Chief Kepuha Kepuha (died 1669), also spelled Kipuhá or Quipuha, was the island of Guam ...
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Villages Of Guam
The United States territory of Guam is divided into nineteen municipalities, called villages. Each village is governed by an elected mayor. Village populations range in size from under 1,000 to over 40,000. In the 2020 census, the total population of Guam was 153,836.Population of Guam: 2010 and 2020
U.S. Census Bureau.
Each village is counted as a county equivalent by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes.


History

Many villages have rich histories reaching back thousands of years. Artifacts from ancient Chamorro people, Chamorro settlements can be found in every village of Guam. When the Spanish Empire colonized the Marianas Islands as part of Spanish East Indies, its Pac ...
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Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic center of the U.S.); its capital Hagåtña (144°45'00"E) lies further west than Melbourne, Australia (144°57'47"E). In Oceania, Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and the largest island in Micronesia. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, and the most populous village is Dededo. People born on Guam are American citizens but have no vote in the United States presidential elections while residing on Guam and Guam delegates to the United States House of Representatives have no vote on the floor. Indigenous Guamanians are the Chamoru, historically known as the Chamorro, who are related to the Austronesian peoples of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Micronesia, and Polynesia. As of 2022, Guam's population is 168, ...
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Chamorro Language
Chamorro (; ch, Finuʼ Chamorro, links=no (CNMI), (Guam)) is an Austronesian language spoken by about 58,000 people (about 25,800 people on Guam and about 32,200 in the rest of the Mariana Islands and elsewhere). It is the native and spoken language of the Chamorro people, the indigenous people of the Marianas (Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Guam is a US territory while the CNMI has greater autonomy as a US commonwealth). There are three different dialects of Chamorro — Guamanian, Rotanese, and the general NMI (Saipan and Tinian) dialects. Classification Unlike most of its neighbors, Chamorro is not classified as a Micronesian or Polynesian language. Rather, like Palauan, it possibly constitutes an independent branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language family. At the time the Spanish rule over Guam ended, it was thought that Chamorro was a semi-creole language, with a substantial amount of the vocabulary of Spanish origin and beginning to hav ...
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Cave Paintings
In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric art, prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 years old (art of the Upper Paleolithic), found in the caves in the district of Maros (Sulawesi, Indonesia). The oldest are often constructed from hand stencils and simple geometric shapes.M. Aubert et al., "Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia", ''Nature'' volume 514, pages 223–227 (09 October 2014). "using uranium-series dating of coralloid speleothems directly associated with 12 human hand stencils and two figurative animal depictions from seven cave sites in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, we show that rock art traditions on this Indonesian island are at least compatible in age with the oldest European art. The earliest dated image from Maros, with a minimum age of 39.9 kyr, is now the oldest known hand stencil in ...
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Humåtak, Guam
Humåtak (formerly Umatac) is a village on the southwestern coast of the United States territory of Guam. The month of March in the Chamorro language is "Umatalaf," or "to catch guatafi," which is believed to be the root word of Umatac. The village's population has decreased since the island's 2010 census, and it is by far the least populated village on the island. Mount Bolanos, at an elevation of , is the 3rd highest peak of Guam and lies away. History Prior to Spanish arrival on the island, an annual celebration was held north of the village at Fouha Rock where the first humans were created according to the legends of the Chamorro people, the native people of Guam. In 1521, the Portuguese Explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived on Guam while circumnavigating the globe. Umatac Bay is traditionally cited as the location of the Spanish landing. Another explorer, Miguel López de Legazpi, arrived in Umatac in 1565 and claimed the island of Guam for Spain. When Guam was coloniz ...
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