 Depiction of latte stone colonnades on the island of Tinian.
 Location of the Marina Islands. Chamorros or Chamorus are the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands, which include the American territory of Guam and the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia. Today, Significant Chamoru populations also exist in several U.S. states including Hawaii, California, Washington, Texas and Nevada. According to the 2000 Census, approximately 65,000 people of Chamoru ancestry live on Guam and another 19,000 live in the Northern Marianas. Another 93,000 live outside the Marianas in the United States Mainland. Image File history File links Latte_stones_2. ...
Image File history File links Latte_stones_2. ...
Latte Stones, are large limestone pillars found on the Mariana Islands built by the ancient Chamorro people. ...
Chamorro, or Chamoru, is the native language of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
This article considers Catholicism in the broadest ecclesiastical sense. ...
locator map for the Northern Marianas - made for Wikipedia File links The following pages link to this file: Northern Mariana Islands User:DanielZm/test Roman Catholic Diocese of Chalan Kanoa Categories: Country locator maps | Northern Mariana Islands | GFDL images ...
locator map for the Northern Marianas - made for Wikipedia File links The following pages link to this file: Northern Mariana Islands User:DanielZm/test Roman Catholic Diocese of Chalan Kanoa Categories: Country locator maps | Northern Mariana Islands | GFDL images ...
Indigenous peoples are: Peoples living in an area prior to colonization by a state Peoples living in an area within a nation-state, prior to the formation of a nation-state, but who do not identify with the dominant nation. ...
The Mariana Islands (also the Marianas; up to the early 20th century sometimes called Islas de los Ladrones meaning Islands of Thieves) are a group of islands made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the western Pacific Ocean. ...
Official language(s) Hawaiian and English Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 43rd 28,337 km² n/a km 2,450 km 41. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 3rd 158,302 sq mi 410,000 km² 250 miles 402. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Olympia Largest city Seattle Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 18th 184,824 km² 385 km 580 km 6. ...
Official language(s) None. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Carson City Largest city Las Vegas Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 7th 286,367 km² 519 km 788 km 0. ...
Most Chamorus are Roman Catholic, but many in the Marianas maintain some customs and beliefs from time before the first European conquests. Some residents of the Marianas will still ask permission from ancestral spirits before entering parts of jungles. Traditional healers called suruhanas are still greatly respected for their knowledge of herbal treatments and spirits. Before Spanish colonization, Chamoru life centered on one's clan. Today, large extended families remain central to life in the Marinas. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...
A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by perceived descent from a common ancestor. ...
The Chamorro language - Main article: Chamorro language
The Chamorro language is included in Malayo-Polynesian languages of the Austronesian family. Many words derive from Spanish, Tagalog, American English, and Japanese, with a few from other Asian languages, like Chinese, and Austronesian languages, such as Hawaiian. Among numerous lingual similarities were the numbers used by the Chamoru, several of which bear a distinct resemblance to those used by other Oceanic cultures such as the Māori and Hawaiians. Chamoru is often spoken in many homes, but is becoming less common. Chamorro, or Chamoru, is the native language of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. ...
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages and comprise at least 351 million speakers. ...
The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia. ...
Tagálog is one of the major languages of the Republic of the Philippines. ...
American English (AmE) is the dialect of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. ...
Hawaiian is the ancestral language of the indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands, the Hawaiians, a Polynesian people. ...
A Pacific Islander or Pacific Person (plural: Pacific People) is a term used in several places, such as New Zealand and the United States, to describe people of a certain heritage. ...
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In April of 1990, Daniel K. Akaka became the first native Hawaiian and Chinese American to serve in the United States Congress as a Senator from the State of Hawaii. ...
The ancient Chamorus The Chamoru are commonly believed to have come from Southeast Asia at around 2000 Common Era|BCE. Based on appearance and culture, they are most closely related to the natives of the Philippines to the west, and the Carolines to the south. They were expert seafarers and skilled craftspeople familiar with intricate weaving and detailed pottery making. Early European explorers noted their unique houses and proa|canoes. The latte stone, a megalithic rock pillar topped with a hemispherical capstone, was the foundation of ancient Chamoru architecture and is a "national" symbol. Chamoru society was based on what sociologist Dr. Lawrence J. Cunningham termed the "matrilineal avuncuclan", one characteristic of which was that the brothers of the female parents played more of a "father" role than the actual biological male parents.
Ancient Chamorus believed that the world was created by a twin brother and sister, Puntan and Fu'uña. Upon dying, Puntan instructed his sister to make his body the ingredients for the universe. She used his eyes to create the sun and moon, his eyebrows to make rainbows, and most of the rest of his parts for various features of the Earth. After she was done, she turned herself into a rock on the island of Guahan/Guam, and from this rock emerged human beings. Some believe that the rock was once located at the site of an Agat, Guam|Agat Church, while others believe it is the phallic-shaped "Laso de Fua" located in Fouha Bay in Umatac. Ancient Chamorus engaged in ancestor veneration, but did not practice "religion" in the sense that they worshipped deities. However, there is at least one account, provided by Christoph Carl Fernberger in 1623, that human sacrifice was practiced to curry the favor of a "great fish".
"Jeune Fille de Saipan et Fleurs d'Hibiscus (Young Saipanese Girl and Hibiscus Flowers)" by Paul Jacoulet. Chamoru society was divided into 2 main castes and continued to be so for well over a century after the Spanish first arrived. According to the historical records provided by Europeans such as Father Charles Le Gobien, there appeared to be racial differences between the subservient Manachang caste, and the higher Chamori/Chamurre, the Manachang being described as shorter, darker-skinned, and physically less hardy than the Chamori. The Chamori cast was subdivided into the upper-middle class Achoti/Acha'ot and the highest, administrative Matua/Matao class. Achoti could graduate to Matua, and Matua could be reduced to Achoti, but Manachang were born and died as such and had no recourse to improve their status. Members of the Manachang and the Chamori were not permitted to intermingle. All three classes performed physical labor, but had different specified duties. Le Gobien theorized that Chamoru society was comprised of the geographical convergence of peoples of different ethnic origins. This idea may be supportable by the evidence of linguistic characteristics of the Chamorro language and social customs. Father Pierre Coomans wrote of the practice among Chamoru women of teeth blackening/dental lacquering (also a custom among the Japanese and Vietnamese), which they considered beautiful. Fernberger wrote in his account of the Chamoru that "penis pins" were employed as a chastity measure for young males, a practice similarly employed by inhabitants at least as far south as Indonesia. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (505x651, 87 KB) Summary Jeune Fille de Saipan et Fleurs dHibiscus (Young Saipanese Girl and Hibiscus Flowers) by Paul Jacoulet. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (505x651, 87 KB) Summary Jeune Fille de Saipan et Fleurs dHibiscus (Young Saipanese Girl and Hibiscus Flowers) by Paul Jacoulet. ...
The word Caste is derived from the Portuguese word casta, meaning lineage, breed or race. ...
Matua is another name for the island of Matsuwa located in the Kurilian archipelago northeast of Japan between Hokkaido and the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia. ...
Matua is another name for the island of Matsuwa located in the Kurilian archipelago northeast of Japan between Hokkaido and the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia. ...
Chamorro, or Chamoru, is the native language of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. ...
Foreign rule Over the centuries, the Marianas have been occupied by several foreign countries, and present-day Chamoru society is almost entirely racially mixed, with the inhabitants of Luta/Rota being the least so. The Chamoru are primarily of Austronesian stock, but began to significantly intermingle with Spain|Spanish and Filipinos during the Spanish Colonial Era (1600-1898 AD). Primarily since the late 19th century onward, many Chamorus have intermarried with other Pacific Islanders, Mainland Americans, Polynesians, China|Chinese, and Japanese.
During the Spanish Colonial Era, the Chamoru population was greatly reduced by the introduction of European diseases and changes in society under Spanish rule. The Spanish killed many Chamoru men and relocated most others to Guam where they lived in several parishes to prevent rebellion. Some estimate that as many as 100,000 Chamorus may have populated the Marianas when Europeans first arrived in the 17th century. By 1800, there were under 10,000. Within the parishes, the Spanish eventually focused their efforts on converting the natives to Catholicism. Father Frances X. Hezel stated that Chamorus caught or reported engaging in pagan "sorcery" were publicly punished.
Due to the fact that the Marianas are a part of the United States, the Chamoru people enjoy greater economic opportunities than many other Micronesian peoples. "Cosmopolitan" Guam, where Chamorus make up approximately 40% of the island's population, poses particular challenges for Chamorus struggling to preserve their culture and identity in the face of acculturation. The increasing numbers of Chamorus, especially Chamoru youth, relocating to the U.S. Mainland, has further complicated both definition and preservation of Chamoru identity. On Guam a Chamoru rights movement has developed since the United States gained control of the island. Leaders of the movement seek to return ancestral lands to the Chamoru people, and attain self-determination.
The remaining islands of the Mariana Islands|Northern Marianas, comprise the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and have many economic privileges (such as being exempt from federal income tax) while maintaining rights to control much of their own immigration, trade, and domestic policies. While this has led to controversy over some of the commonwealth's labor practices, it has provided rights to Chamoru people that residents of Guam do not enjoy.
See also The history of Guam involves phases including the early arrival of people known today as the ancient Chamorros, the development of pre-contact society, Spanish colonization, and the present American rule of the island. ...
History of islands in the Pacific Ocean. ...
History of Australia History of New Zealand History of the Pacific Islands See also history, history of present-day nations and states. ...
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