Aguiguan (also Aguigan and Aguihan, based on the Spanish rendition of the native name, Aguijan, which is still used) is a small bean-shaped

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

line island in the

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonw ...

chain in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. It is situated south-west of

Tinian Tinian ( or ; old Japanese name: 天仁安島, ''Tenian-shima'') is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of the ...

, from which it is separated by the

Tinian Channel The Tinian Channel is an eight kilometre-wide channel in the Northern Mariana Islands. It lies to the south of the island of Tinian(15°00'N., 145°38'E.) is northeast of Aguijan Island, separating it from the island of Aguijan. Together, the two i ...

. Aguiguan and neighboring

Island together form

Tinian Municipality Tinian Municipality is one of the four constituent municipalities of the Northern Mariana Islands. It consists of the islands of Tinian and Aguijan Aguiguan (also Aguigan and Aguihan, based on the Spanish rendition of the native name, Aguijan, wh ...

, one of the four main political divisions that comprise the Northern Marianas.

History

It is likely that first sighting by Europeans occurred during the Spanish expedition of

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the Eas ...

, or by its continuation by Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa being charted as ''Santo Ángel''. It was visited by the Spanish missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores in 1669. Aguiguan was administered as part of the Spanish Mariana Islands from the 16th century to 1899, when the Northern Marianas were sold by Spain to the German Empire. Under Germany, it administered as part of

German New Guinea German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Aguiguan came under the control of the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...

and was administered as part of the South Seas Mandate. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

maintained a garrison on Aguigan. This garrison is noteworthy because of its surrender to Allied forces September 4, 1945, two days after the surrender of Japan. The surrender was unique as it was the only surrender hosted by a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter, the '' USCG 83525''.

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Admiral Marshall R. Greer received the surrender of the Japanese Second Lieutenant Kinichi Yamada. Following World War II, Aguiguan came under the control of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and was administered as part of the

Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was a United Nations trust territory in Micronesia administered by the United States from 1947 to 1994. History Spain initially claimed the islands that later composed the territory of the Trus ...

. Since 1978, the island has been part of the

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonwea ...

Geography

Txu-pclmaps-oclc-22834566 k-13b (Tinian Channel crop)

Aguiguan is only in size, with a length of and a width of . It is nicknamed “Goat Island” due to the large number of

feral A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...

goats present there. Much of the native vegetation on Aguigan has been destroyed by goats. Aguiguan is uninhabited and is seldom visited because it is surrounded by sheer steep cliffs. However, a 2002 survey of the island did find a handful of native species there, including the

Mariana fruit bat The Mariana fruit bat (''Pteropus mariannus''), also known as the Mariana flying fox, and the ''fanihi'' in Chamorro, is a megabat found only in the Mariana Islands and Ulithi (an atoll in the Caroline Islands). Habitat loss has driven it to enda ...

, the Polynesian

sheath-tailed bat Emballonuridae is a family of microbats, many of which are referred to as sac-winged or sheath-tailed bats. They are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. The earliest fossil records are from the Eocene. Descr ...

and the

Micronesian megapode The Micronesian megapode or Micronesian scrubfowl (''Megapodius laperouse'') is an endangered megapode which inhabits islands of the Western Pacific Ocean. Description The Micronesian megapode is a stocky medium-sized bird that is mostly dark b ...

''Megapodius laperouse''.

Naftan Rock

Approximately off the south-west shore of Aguiguan is Naftan Rock, in elevation.

Important Bird Area

Aguigan and Naftan Rock have been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because they support populations of

white-throated ground dove The white-throated ground dove (''Pampusana xanthonura'') is a species of ground dove in the genus ''Gallicolumba''. It is classified as near-threatened. This species was formerly in the genus ''Alopecoenas'' Sharpe, 1899, but the name of the ...

s, Mariana fruit doves,

Mariana swiftlet The Mariana swiftlet or Guam swiftlet (''Aerodramus bartschi'') is a species of swiftlet in the family Apodidae. Taxonomy It was formerly lumped with the island swiftlet (''Aerodramus inquietus''). Description The swiftlet is about 11 cm ...

Micronesian myzomela The Micronesian myzomela (''Myzomela rubratra'') is a species of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. The species forms a superspecies with a number of related and similar looking island and mainland myzomelas across the Pacific and Austra ...

rufous fantail The rufous fantail (''Rhipidura rufifrons'') is a small passerine bird, most commonly known also as the black-breasted rufous-fantail or rufous-fronted fantail, which can be found in Australia, Indonesia, Micronesia, New Guinea and the Solomon I ...

s, Aguiguan reed warblers,

golden Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall * Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershi ...

and Saipan white-eyes, and

Micronesian starling The Micronesian starling (''Aplonis opaca'') is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is found in Micronesia, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropical or tro ...

s. Aguigan also supports

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

breeding colonies, with 120 pairs of

brown boobies The brown booby (''Sula leucogaster'') is a large seabird of the booby family Sulidae, of which it is perhaps the most common and widespread species. It has a pantropical range, which overlaps with that of other booby species. The gregarious brow ...

and 450 pairs of brown noddies reported, while Naftan Rock is home to several thousand seabirds.

References

* Russell E. Brainard et al.
''Coral reef ecosystem monitoring report of the Mariana Archipelago: 2003–2007''
NOAA Fisheries, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (2012).

References

External links

U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, Daily Chronology of Coast Guard History
(Entry for 4 September)
archive

and ttps://web.archive.org/web/20140427193501/http://gaebler.info/sonstiges/marianen.htm#aguijan Aguijan
Google: Aguijan
From the website https://web.archive.org/web/20110728145947/http://www.uscg83footers.org/new_page_8.htm - Vessel corrected to be the Coast Guard Cutter 83525 Researched by Larry Richter, USCG Ret {{Northern Mariana Islands Former German colonies Islands of the Northern Mariana Islands Coral islands Uninhabited islands of the Northern Mariana Islands Important Bird Areas of the Northern Mariana Islands Seabird colonies

History

Geography

Naftan Rock

Important Bird Area

See also

References

References

External links