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Maug Islands

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Maug Islands
Map
Geography
LocationPacific Ocean
Coordinates20°2′N 145°13′E / 20.033°N 145.217°E / 20.033; 145.217
ArchipelagoNorthern Mariana Islands
Area2.13 km2 (0.82 sq mi)
Highest elevation227 m (745 ft)
Administration
United States
Demographics
Population- uninhabited -

Maug (from the Chamorro name for the islands, Ma'ok, meaning "steadfast" or "everlasting") consists of a group of three small uninhabited islands. This island group is part of the Northern Islands Municipality of the Northern Mariana Islands chain in the Pacific Ocean.

Geography

The Maug Islands lie about 70 kilometers (43 mi) south of Farallon de Pajaros and 37 km (23 mi) north of Asuncion. The archipelago consists of three islands, the eroded exposed outer rim of a submerged volcano with a caldera with a diameter of approximately 2.2 km (1.4 mi). The floor of the caldera is around 225 meters (738 ft) below sea level, and in the middle is a mountain whose summit is only 22 m (72 ft) below sea level. The total area of the islands combined is 2.13 square kilometers (0.82 sq mi), and the highest point is 227 m (745 ft) above sea level.

Island Length (km) Width (km) Area (km²) Height (m)
North Island 1.5 0.5 0.47 227
East Island 2.25 0.5 0.95 215
West Island 2.0 0.75 0.71 178
Maug Islands 3.1 3.0 2.13 227

The islands are overgrown with savannah grass. On East Island are Pandanus trees and Coconut Palms (Cocos nucifera), near the former settlement.

About 10 km (6.2 mi) northwest of the Maug Islands is Supply Reef, a submarine volcano whose summit is 8 m (26 ft) below sea level. The Maug Islands and the Supply Reef are part of the same volcanic massif, and are connected by a saddle about 1,800 feet (550 m) below sea level.

History

From a European perspective, the Maug Islands were discovered on 22 August 1522 by Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa, who named it Las Monjas (The Nuns in Spanish). Gómez de Espinosa was a member of Ferdinand Magellan‘s attempted circumnavigation of the globe, and after Magellan’s death unsuccessfully attempted to navigate the ship Trinidad across the Pacific Ocean to Mexico. Gomez de Espinosa found the largest island of the Maug Islands settled by Chamorros, who called the island Mao or Pamo. Gómez de Espinosa freed the Chamorro whom he had kidnapped on Agrihan and three of his crewmen deserted the Trinidad on the island. Two of the deserters were killed by the Chamorro, but the third, Gonzalo Alvarez de Vigo, later came to Guam.[1] In 1669, the Spanish missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores visited the Maug Islands and named it San Lorenzo (St. Lawrence). In 1695, all of the inhabitants were forcibly deported to Saipan, and three years later, to Guam. Since that time, the islands have been uninhabited.[2]

Following the sale of the Northern Marianas by Spain to the German Empire in 1899, the Maug islands were administered as part of German New Guinea. In 1903, the island was leased to a Japanese company, who hunted birds for feathers for export to Japan, and from there to Paris.[3]

During World War I, the Maug Islands came under the control of the Empire of Japan and were administered as part of the South Pacific Mandate. The Japanese established a weather station on the islands, and a fish processing plant. During World War II, the German auxiliary cruiser Orion rendezvoused with supply ships in January–February 1941 at the caldera of the Maug Islands.

Following World War II, the island came under the control of the United States and was administered as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Since 1978, the island has been part of the Northern Islands Municipality of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

In 1985, per the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the islands were designated as a wilderness area for the protection and conservation of natural resources. Since 2009, the island has been part of Marianas Trench Marine National Monument of the United States.[4]

  • Perspective view of central cone within caldera. Colors indicate depth.
    Perspective view of central cone within caldera. Colors indicate depth.
  • Maug's East Island taken from USCGC Sequoia.
    Maug's East Island taken from USCGC Sequoia.

See also

References

  1. ^ Robert F. Rogers: Destiny's landfall. A history of Guam. University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu 1995, ISBN 0824816781, S. 10.
  2. ^ Sharp, Andrew The discovery of the Pacific Islands, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1960, p.11
  3. ^ Gerd Hardach: König Kopra. Die Marianen unter deutscher Herrschaft 1899–1914. Steiner, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3515057625, S. 133f.
  4. ^ Brainard, Coral reef ecosystem monitoring report, S. 4.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maug Islands.
  • Pascal Horst Lehne and Christoph Gäbler: Über die Marianen. Lehne-Verlag, Wohldorf in Germany 1972.
  • "Maug Islands". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.
  • Archived 2010-12-23 at the Wayback Machine
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