Villages of Guam

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Politics of GuamThe territory of Guam is divided into 19 municipalities more commonly called villages. Each municipality is governed by an elected mayor. Village populations range in size from under 1,000 to over 40,000. As of the 2000 census, the total population of Guam was 154,805.

History

Many villages have rich histories reaching back thousands of years. Artifacts from ancient Chamorro settlements can be found in every village of Guam. When Spain colonized Guam, the island was divided into separate districts. Each district consisted of a parish with a village center governed by an alcalde, appointed by the island's governor.

Many Chamorros, the indigenous people of Guam, were forced to live in the new villages, each centered on a church, so they could learn Christianity. In the 18th century, there were six parishes on Guam: Agana, Agat, Umatac, Merizo, Inarajan, and Pago.

Prior to Spanish colonization, Chamorros regularly held village celebrations. After adopting Christianity, these celebrations became fiestas in honor of the patron saint of each village. Annual village fiestas are still held throughout Guam every year.

The current division of Guam into municipalities took place in the 1920s under U.S. Navy administration.

List of villages

References

*Rogers, Robert F (1995). Destiny's Landfall: A History of Guam: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 0-8248-1678-1
*Carter, Lee D; Carter, Rosa Roberto; Wuerch, William L (1997). Guam History: Perspectives Volume One: MARC. ISBN 1-878453-28-9
*Sanchez, Pedro C. Guahan, Guam: The History of our Island: Sanchez Publishing House.
* [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-show_geoid=Y&-tree_id=405&-_caller=geoselect&-context=dt&-errMsg=&-all_geo_types=N&-mt_name=DEC_2000_IAGU_P001&-redoLog=true&-transpose=N&-search_map_config=|b=50|l=en|t=4001|zf=0.0|ms=sel_00dec|dw=0.9528487917191559|dh=0.6838460131961157|dt=gov.census.aff.domain.map.EnglishMapExtent|if=gif|cx=-67.48042614595042|cy=18.385966173167105|zl=6|pz=6|bo=318:317:316:314:313:323:319|bl=362:393:358:357:356:355:354|ft=350:349:335:389:388:332:331|fl=381:403:204:380:369:379:368|g=04000US72&-PANEL_ID=p_dt_geo_map&-_lang=en&-geo_id=06000US6601004650&-geo_id=06000US6601007250&-geo_id=06000US6601013100&-geo_id=06000US6601017650&-geo_id=06000US6601026100&-geo_id=06000US6601028050&-geo_id=06000US6601034800&-geo_id=06000US6601036500&-geo_id=06000US6601046250&-geo_id=06000US6601050150&-geo_id=06000US6601051450&-geo_id=06000US6601059250&-geo_id=06000US6601062500&-geo_id=06000US6601065750&-geo_id=06000US6601069650&-geo_id=06000US6601071600&-geo_id=06000US6601078750&-geo_id=06000US6601083300&-geo_id=06000US6601084600&-CONTEXT=dt&-format=&-search_results=05000US66010&-ds_name=DEC_2000_IAGU Districts of Guam, United States Census Bureau]

See also

*List of villages in the Northern Mariana Islands

External links

* [http://www.guampdn.com/communities/maps/index.html PDN Village Maps]
*statoids|id=ugu|title=Municipalities of Guam