As anyone who knows me can attest, I am a Guamanian at heart. I grew up a service brat and when I was 14 my family transferred to Guam where I quickly fell in love with the island and its people. If you are like most folks, you've either never heard of it or you have no idea where it is. If you fall into either of these categories boy is it your lucky day! Read on to learn ten fascinating facts about this little gem of an island.
1. The island of Guam is 30 miles long and 12 miles across at it's widest point. It sits on top of a mountain next to the Mariana Trench, the deepest surveyed point in any of the world's oceans (35,797 feet deep).
2. The world's largest KMart is located on Guam.
3. The average temperature is 86 degrees F., and average rainfall is 96 inches.
4. Ann Curry (NBC News & the Today show) was born on Guam.
5. Guam is located in the Pacific Ocean, 6,000 miles from the U.S. mainland in what is called Typhoon Alley.
6. Guam is a US territory (yea, you knew that), but did you know that it was controlled by Spain until 1898 when it was surrendered to the US during the Spanish-American War?
7. Guam was captured by the Japanese and occupied for two and a half years during World War II during which time the local inhabitants were subjected to forced labor, execution and concentration camps. The last Japanese soldier "surrendered" on Guam in 1972!
8. The official languages of the island are Chamorro and English.
9. Military bases cover approximately 29% of the island's total land area.
10. Guam is governed by a popularly elected governor and a 15 member legislature.
Hafa Adai Bro!
I thought this most interesting as I have never heard much written about Guam. I was also surprised to read that it was controlled by Spain.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Yvonne.
Thanks for reading my post and your comments, I really appreciate them.
DeleteThanks for this Vicki - I am intrigued and will find the time to place it on the map/atlas. Is it down south of the US? West or east side .. or even further down south?
ReplyDeleteAmazing that it has the largest KMart! It sounds idyllic - NOT because of he KMart but because of your lovely description thank you!
It's west of Hawaii approximately 3/4 of the way to the Phillipines.. Very small dot on the map so you'll probably need your reading glasses to find it:)
ReplyDeleteI remember hearing about Guam when I was young. A friend from school was born there (yep, her dad was in the military) and our teacher took the time to do several lessons on it. It always sounded like such a lovely place!
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