Welcome to collection of Guam Photos

About Guam

Guam 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. 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.

Guam's first contact with the west was in the 1600's when Spanish ships stopped there on their way from New Spain (Mexico) to The Philippines. Jesuit Priests soon followed. The island has a long history of European colonialism. First discovered by Europeans on March 6, 1521, by Ferdinand Magellan, the first colony was established in 1668 by Spain with 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 the 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.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.

Today Guam is a Commonwealth within the USA. It is a popular diving and tourism destination for people in the Pacific and Asia.