"Goetzfridt’s work demonstrates the dynamics of history, each generation considering past events in light of current realities and contemporary understandings of the world. This volume, therefore, is important not simply because it provides us with an invaluable and substantial fount of references that will be supremely useful to teachers, scholars, and all enthusiasts of Mariana Islands history. Its importance lies also in its packaging as a resource for current and future generations to understand the changing face and contested space of Guam history." —from the Foreword by Anne Perez Hattori Blending bibliographic integrity with absorbing essays on a wide range of historical interpretations, Nicholas Goetzfridt offers a new approach to the history of Guam. Here is a treasure trove of ideas, historiographies, and opportunities that allows readers to reassess previously held notions and conclusions about Guam’s past and the heritage of the indigenous Chamorro people. Particular attention is given to Chamorro perspectives and the impact of more than four hundred years of colonial presences on Micronesia’s largest island. Extensive cross-references and generous but targeted samples of historical narratives compliment the bibliographic essays. Detailed Name and Subject Indexes to the book’s 326 entries cover accounts and interpretations of the island from Ferdinand Magellan’s "discovery" of Guahan ("Guam" in the Chamorro language) in 1521 to recent events, including the Japanese occupation and the American liberation of Guam in 1944. The indexes enable easy and extensive access to a bounty of information. The Place Index contains both large and localized geographic realms that are placed vividly in the context of these histories. An insightful Foreword by Chamorro scholar Anne Perez Hattori is included.

In the past decades historians have interpreted early modern Christian missions not simply as an adjunct to Western imperialism, but a privileged field for cross-cultural encounters. Placing the Jesuit missions into a global phenomenon that emphasizes economic and cultural relations between Europe and the East, this book analyzes the possibilities and limitations of the religious conversion in the Micronesian islands of Guåhan (or Guam) and the Northern Marianas. Frontiers are not rigid spatial lines separating culturally different groups of people, but rather active agents in the transformation of cultures. By bringing this local dimension to the fore, the book adheres to a process of missionary “glocalization” which allowed Chamorros to enter the international community as members of Spain’s regional empire and the global communion of the Roman Catholic Church.

An international review.

More than fifty Spanish officers served as governors during the 230 years that Spain administered the Mariana Islands, from 1668 to 1898. A dozen or so received six-year royal appointments, made in Madrid by the king, though the vast majority served three-year interim appointments, made in Manila by the Governor General or the Audiencia. In the nineteenth century, as the newly designated Province of the Mariana Islands, appointments to the governorship were often made by the Captaincy General of the Philippines. The source materials for this work are found primarily among the holdings of the Micronesian Area Research Center, Spanish Documents Collection, a secondary repository with copies of documentary materials concerning Micronesia from institutional collections in various parts of the world, though primarily Spain, Mexico, and the Philippines.

"This booklet is divided into several sections. The first provides an overview of Marianas prehistory and a physical description of Rota. This is followed by a section presenting a summary of archaeological research undertaken on Rota beginning with the observations of European visitors in the nineteenth century and concluding with the professionally-supervised archaeological projects completed between the 1970's and the mid-1990's. The final section presents a broad historical overview divided into periods corresponding with the various colonial regimes that administered the Marianas from the late seventeenth century until the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in the 1970's. Augmenting the main text is a relatively extensive bibliography of pertinent works"--P. ix.