Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands

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Tinian

Tinian on an area map, southwest of Saipan, showing waters around islands and deeper Pacific section.
Tinian
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	15°00′N 145°38′E / 15.000°N 145.633°E / 15.000; 145.633
Archipelago	Marianas
Area	101.22 km2 (39.08 sq mi)[1]
Highest elevation	187 m (614 ft)
Highest point	Mount Kastiyu
Administration
United States
Commonwealth	Northern Mariana Islands
Largest settlement	San Jose
Demographics
Population	2,044[2] (2020)

Tinian (/ˈtɪniən, ˌtiːniˈɑːn/) is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of the four constituent municipalities of the Northern Marianas. Tinian's largest village is San Jose. Tinian is just south of the Northern Marianas' most inhabited island, Saipan, but north of the populated Rota to the south. The island has many World War II historical sites, cattle ranches, and beaches. There was a 5-star casino that operated from 1998 to 2015; the remaining are other hotels/resorts and a golf course. The main Saipan access is a short airplane ride from the international airport or a charter boat.

Tinian is part of the United States and the CNMI. Along with Guam, it is the westernmost US island in the Pacific.

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The Mariana Islands, of which Tinian is one, were the first islands settled by humans in Remote Oceania. It was also the first and the longest of the ocean-crossing voyages of the Austronesian peoples and is separate from the later Polynesian settlement of the rest of Remote Oceania. They were settled around 1500 to 1400 BC by migrants departing from the Philippines. This was followed by a second migration from the Caroline Islands by the first millennium AD, and a third migration from Island Southeast Asia (likely the Philippines or eastern Indonesia) by 900 AD.^[3][4]

Thousands of years ago, the island was settled by a people who built stone structures all over Tinian called taga.^[5]

Tinian, together with Saipan, was possibly first sighted by Europeans of the Spanish expedition of Ferdinand Magellan when it made landfall in the southern Marianas on March 6, 1521.^[6] It was likely sighted next by Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa in 1522 on board the Spanish ship Trinidad, in an attempt to reach Panama after the death of Magellan.^[7] This would have happened after the sighting of the Maug Islands between the end of August and the end of September. Gonzalo de Vigo deserted in the Maugs from the Trinidad and in the next four years, living with the Chamorros, visited thirteen main islands in the Marianas and possibly Tinian among them.

The first clear evidence of European arrival was by the Manila galleon Santa Margarita commanded by Juan Martínez de Guillistegui, that wrecked in the southeast of Saipan in February 1600 and whose survivors stayed for two years till 250 were rescued by the Santo Tomas and the Jesus María.^[8] The Spanish formally occupied Tinian in 1669, with the missionary expedition of Diego Luis de San Vitores who named it Buenavista Mariana (Goodsight Mariana). From 1670, it became a port of call for Spanish and occasional English, Dutch, and French ships as a supply station for food and water.^{[citation needed]}

The native population, estimated at 40,000 at the time of the Spanish arrival, shrank to less than 1400 due to European-introduced diseases and conflicts over land. The survivors were forcibly relocated to Guam in 1720 for better control and assimilation. Under Spanish rule, the island was developed into ranches for raising cattle and pigs, which were used to provision Spanish galleons en route to Mexico.^{[citation needed]}

After the Spanish–American War of 1898, Tinian was sold by Spain to the German Empire in 1899. Germany administered the island as part of German New Guinea. During the German period, there was no attempt to develop or settle the island, which remained under the control of its Spanish and mestizo landowners.^{[citation needed]}

In 1914, during World War I, the island was captured by Japan, which was awarded formal control in 1918 by the League of Nations as part of the South Seas Mandate. The island was settled by ethnic Japanese, Koreans, and Okinawans, who developed large-scale sugar plantations.^[9] Under Japanese rule, extensive infrastructure development occurred, including the construction of port facilities, waterworks, power stations, paved roads and schools, along with entertainment facilities and Shinto shrines. Initial efforts to settle the island met with difficulties, including an infestation of scale insects, followed by a severe drought in 1919. Efforts were resumed under the aegis of the Nanyo Kohatsu Kabushiki Kaisha in 1926, with new settlers from Okinawa as well as Fukushima and Yamagata Prefectures, and the introduction of coffee and cotton as cash crops in addition to sugar, and the construction of a Katsuobushi processing plant. By June 1944, some 15,700 Japanese civilians resided on Tinian (including 2700 ethnic Koreans and 22 ethnic Chamorro).^{[citation needed]}

In the Japanese area, thousands of colonists arrived, and it was used for agriculture and military purposes.^[5]

The Japanese military did not garrison Tinian until the latter stages of World War II when the Japanese realized its strategic importance as a possible base for American Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers. The island was seized by the Allies during the Battle of Tinian from July 24 to August 1, 1944. Of the 8,500-man Japanese garrison, 313 survived the battle. At the time, there were an estimated 15,700 Japanese civilians (including 2,700 ethnic Koreans) on the island. Many hundreds were also killed in the crossfire, took their own lives, or were executed by the Japanese military to avoid capture by the Americans.^[10]

Tinian is approximately 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometres) from mainland Japan and was suitable as a staging base for continuous heavy bomber attacks on the Japanese Islands. Immediately after the island's seizure by the US, construction began on the largest airbase of WWII, which covered the entire island (except its three highland areas). The Tinian Naval Base was a 40,000-personnel installation. The Navy Seabees (110th NCB) laid out the base in a pattern of city streets resembling New York City's Manhattan Island and named the streets accordingly.

The former Japanese town of Sunharon was nicknamed "The Village" because its location corresponded to that of Greenwich Village. A large square area between West and North Fields, used primarily for the location of the base hospitals and otherwise left undeveloped, was called Central Park.^[11] Some of the roads named from NYC include Broadway, 42nd Street, Lenox Avenue, Riverside Drive and Eighth Avenue.^[5]

Two runway complexes, West Field and North Field, having a combined total of six 8,500-foot (2,600-meter) runways, were constructed. Today, the four runways at North Field are overgrown and abandoned. A five-year, $409 million contract has been awarded in 2024 to upgrade the North Field. One of the two West Field runways remains in use as part of Tinian International Airport.^[12]

The Japanese originally built an airfield with two parallel runways. The Americans repaired it and then called it West Field.^[13] From here seven squadrons of the 58th Bombardment Wing flew combat and reconnaissance missions throughout Southeast Asia and finally into the Japanese home islands, as part of the bombing of Japan.^[13][14]

After WWII, West Field was Tinian's airport called Gurguan Point Airfield;^[13] and today is Tinian International Airport.

The Japanese had constructed three small fighter strips^[9] on Tinian, but none were suitable for bomber operations. Under the Americans, nearly the entire northern end of the island was occupied by the runways, almost 11 miles (18 km) of taxiways and the airfield area, designed to accommodate the entire 313th Bombardment Wing complement of Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers.^[9]

North Field was the departure point of the 509th Composite Group specialized Silverplate nuclear weapons delivery B-29 bombers Enola Gay and Bockscar, which respectively carried the two atomic bombs named Little Boy and Fat Man, that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.^[12]

Remains of the US bomber base and Atom Bomb Pits,^[12] and the remains of Japanese fortifications are located at North Field. A memorial on the old airfield at the loading pits is roofed with glazed panels in metal framing for safer viewing. Both pits were reopened in conjunction with the 60th Anniversary Commemoration of the Battles of Saipan and Tinian. The pits were originally constructed to load the bombs since they were too large to be loaded conventionally. The B-29s were maneuvered over a pit with their bomb bay doors open to facilitate loading.^[15]

After the end of World War II, Tinian became part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, controlled by the United States. The island continued to be dominated by the United States military and was administered as a sub-district of Saipan until 1962. Since 1978, it has been a municipality of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

During the 1980s, one of the runways on North Field was kept active to allow US Air Force C-130s to take off and land in support of U.S. Marine Corps training exercises in the island's north end. The two northern airstrips, Alpha and Bravo, were cleared of vegetation, and the limestone coral that had been disturbed by roots was excavated and replaced by Marines of the 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd FSSG, 3rd Marine Division then stationed at Camp Hansen, Okinawa in late 1981. That unit had been transported by sea aboard the USS Cayuga (LST-1186).^{[16][verification needed]} The military presence began to be replaced by tourism in the 1990s, but still plays an important role in the local economy.^{[citation needed]}

On November 4, 1986, the Northern Marianas, including Tinian, became a part of the United States, and the people there became US Citizens.^[17]

Primary business on the island in the postwar period included fishing,^[18] cattle, and tourism. In the 1990s, an ill-fated attempt at operating casinos began.^[19] There are still many ranches and some 1–2 thousand cattle on Tinian.^[19]

US Navy Seabees construct a road on Tinian in 2020

In 2009, STAR Marianas Air, based out of Tinian, was founded, and by the 2010s, small aircraft operated routes between Saipan, Guam, Tinian, and Rota, for example. The airline has fleet by 2016 consisting of 5 Piper Super-Chieftains and 6 Piper Cherokee Sixes.^[20]

The Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino shut down in 2016, with the company blaming Typhoon Souledor for a decrease in visitors.^[21][22] The Hong Kong-based company that operated what was the only casino on Tinian had its gambling license revoked and was going bankrupt.^[22][23]

On October 24, 2018, Typhoon Yutu made landfall on the island of Tinian as a Category 5-equivalent super typhoon, becoming the most powerful storm on record to hit the Northern Mariana Islands, and causing an extensive amount of damage.^[24][25]

A new casino, called Tinian Diamond Casino, was in the final stages of completion by 2022 and was working to reestablish a ferry between Tinian and nearby Saipan.^[26] However, it never opened.^[27]

In late 2023, it was reported that the US House and Senate approved $79 million for Tinian's Divert Airfield in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024.^[28]

Tinian Municipality is one of the four constituent municipalities of the Northern Mariana Islands. It consists of Tinian and Aguiguan islands and their offshore islets. The municipality is the second southernmost in the Northern Marianas and has a land area of 108.1 km² (41.7 sq mi). The population of the 2000 census was 3,540 persons, all living on the island of Tinian (Aguijan is uninhabited). The municipal seat and main village of the island of Tinian is San Jose, situated on the southwest coast.^[29]

Tinian is about 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) southwest of Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 square miles (100 km²), with its highest elevation on the Kastiyu plateau at 187 meters (614 ft). It is considerably flatter than Saipan. The island has limestone cliffs and caves. There is a variety of marine life and coral reefs surrounding the island. Its clear, warm waters are ideal for snorkeling, scuba diving, and sport fishing.

Aguijan Island, a small island, lies to the south, and Tatsumi Bank, a fishing forum, lies to the southeast.^[30]

There is a variety of flora and fauna; the Tinian monarch is the island's only endemic bird species and is threatened by habitat loss. The island has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports populations of Micronesian megapodes, white-throated ground doves, Mariana fruit doves, Micronesian myzomelas, rufous fantails, Saipan white-eyes and Micronesian starlings.^[31]

Surveys of bird populations in 1982, 1996, and 2008 have found that the bird population, including native birds, is ok. Examples of native bird species on Tinian include Mariana Fruit-Dove (Ptilinopusroseicapilla), Micronesian Honeyeater (Myzomela rubratra), and Tinian Monarch (Monarcha takatsukasae).^[32]

The population of Tinian was 2,044 (as of 2020^[update]), which corresponds to less than 5% of all residents of the Northern Mariana Islands and a population density of 20 people per km².^[33] Most of the inhabitants are Chamorros (about 75%) and members of various other groups of islands in the Caroline Islands. There are also minorities of Filipino, Bangladeshi, East Asian, and European-descended people.

Tinians are United States citizens.^[34]

Much of the local economy of Tinian is dependent on tourism. However, tourist infrastructure is relatively poorly developed. The village of San Jose has several smaller hotels, restaurants, and bars. Agriculture is primarily on the subsistence level. The largest employers on the island are the government and the casino, which was legalized in 1989. As of March 2006, the island has plans to put in four new casinos. ^{[citation needed]} The 2010 census showed a population of 3,136^[35] for the island.^[36]

Tinian Airport (TIQ) is small and serviced by Star Marianas Air, which operates daily scheduled flights to Saipan. Freedom Air, which previously served the island, filed for bankruptcy in October 2013 and suspended all operations in March 2014.

The ferry boat service that operated twice daily between Tinian and Saipan ran at a loss estimated to be US$1 million a year and has since ceased.^{[citation needed]}

The local government is the Municipality of Tinian and Aguiguan, which also includes the uninhabited island Aguijan.^[37] The municipality has a land area of 108.1 km² (41.7 sq mi). The population of the 2000 census was 3,540 persons, all living on the island of Tinian (Aguijan is uninhabited). The municipal seat and main village of the island of Tinian is San Jose, situated on the southwest coast.^[29] Mayor Edwin P. Aldan was inaugurated in January 2019,^[38] succeeding Joey San Nicolas.

The House of Taga is a latte stone site, one of the most significant structures in the Marianas. The stones are quarried limestone, each approximately 20 feet (6.1 m) in length. Of the twelve large Latte structures, only one is still standing. The site is one of seven locations on Tinian on the National Register of Historic Places listings in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Major Beaches on Tinian include:^[39]

• Tachogna, near Taga beach
• Taga Beach is popular, with a small cliff where you can jump into the water.
• Chaga, a small beach in the NW of Tinian
• Unai Dankulu or Long Beach, actually a series of beaches on the North East

In 2022, Chiget Beach was reopened for use after being cleared. The issue was unexploded ordnance on the beach.^[40]

One of the unique natural wonders is called the blowhole, in which water gets shot up 10 meters.^[5] Snorkeling and scuba diving is a popular tourist activity in Tinian.^[5]

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Public School System operates public schools including Tinian Elementary School,^[41] and Tinian Jr./Sr. High School.

State Library of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands operates the Tinian Public Library in San Jose Village.^[42]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tinian.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Tinian.

• The Insular Empire: America in the Mariana Islands, PBS documentary film & website
• Pacific Wrecks: Tinian History
• Google Maps
• Pascal Horst Lehne and Christoph Gäbler: Über die Marianen. Lehne-Verlag, Wohldorf in Germany 1972. and Tinian