GUAM. – The southernmost and largest (534 sq. km.) of the Mariana Islands, ceded by Spain to the United States in 1898, which in 1922 pledged not to fortify it given the threat it might pose to Japan (2,400 km. in a straight line).
The island’s population (60,000 in 1947, of whom 24,000 were indigenous Chamorros) is engaged in tropical agriculture (bananas, citrus fruits, sugarcane) and increasingly in maize cultivation; livestock farming is also of some importance. The capital, Agaña (10,000 inhabitants), suffered greatly during the recent war (the island was occupied by the Japanese in December 1941 and retaken by the Americans in August 1944). There is a large naval base in Apra Harbor, overseen by the governor, who also serves as naval commander of the western Pacific sector. Guam is directly connected by air to the United States (42 hours), the Philippines, and Japan. For a map of ecclesiastical jurisdictions, V. OCEANIA.
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**APOSTOLIC VICARIATE** of G. – Comprises all the Mariana or Ladrones Islands. The first missionary to reach this archipelago was the Jesuit Diego Sanvitores, who was killed by natives in 1672.
The Jesuit missionaries’ evangelization efforts continued with difficulty until 1767, when the Augustinian Recollects took over. They remained until 1 October 1906, when the Apostolic Prefecture of the Mariana Islands was established and entrusted to the Capuchins of the Rhineland-Westphalian province. On 1 March 1911, with the union of the Mariana and Caroline Islands, the Vicariate of the Mariana and Caroline Islands was created, later becoming the Vicariate of the Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall Islands. At the same time, the island of Guam was detached from the Marianas and erected as a separate vicariate. In 1915, the mission was entrusted to the Capuchins of the province of Navarre-Cantabria-Aragon, later assisted by about ten American Capuchins from the St. Joseph province. In 1942, all missionaries, both American and Spanish, were deported to Japan. During the war, only two indigenous priests remained on Guam.
Finally, on 4 July 1946, the archipelago of the Marianas and the Caroline Islands were detached from the jurisdiction of the Vicariate of Guam.