What is the Capital of Guam
So what is the capital of Guam?Hagåtña, Guam: Ageless like the lifeblood itself
Haagåtña is deduced from the term "haga", which means inferior. Presumably, this settlement was created by the bloodline of the family that founded it. The carbon date indicates that the settlement was populated 2,630 years ago and possibly 3,020 years ago. This data suggests that Hagåtña was populated before the emergence of latte, rock columns and cup-shaped endstones about 1,100 years ago.
There is little known about the town during this period. On March 6, 1521 Ferdinand Magellan landed in Guam, but only in 1565 Miguel Lopez de Legazpi conquered the Marianas for Spain. "Between Magellan' s arrival and 1602, about seventy-four vessels with up to 300 passengers sailed through the island, mostly between Guam and Rota.
It is known during this era that for a long while, the Chamorro were inhabited by strangers, although there is little information about the town. Up to 1815 Spanish galleons traded between Rota and Guam between Manila and Acapulco. Only a few detailled reports about the town are known before the coming of the Roman Catholics in 1668 under the direction of Father Diego Luis de San Vitores.
Soon after his arrival on the Isle of Guam, he re-named the small hamlet of Hagåtña "San Ignacio de Agadña" in honour of his sacred priest and apostle. Originally, San Vitores was greeted by the island's nobility, especially by the chief of Hagåtña, the chief Quipuha (Kepuha). As a tribute to his grace, Chief Quipuha was christened the first mature Chamorro and re-named Juan in honour of St. John the Baptist, the island's protector.
It is said that Don Juan Quipuha, as he was then known, gave money to build the first Catholic church and the home of the Society of Jesus in Hagåtña. A number of people have challenged the reasons for setting up the Hagåtña missions. Fr Francisco Garcia, who recorded San Vitores in 1683, says that Father San Vitores was summoned back to Hagåtña after having visited several towns on the island:
Occasional battles in Guam lasted sixteen years with one last great rebellion in 1684, when the enemy Chamorro fraction tried to expel the Spaniards once and for all, although the rebellions in the north of Mariana Islands lasted until 1695. Hispanic forces, supported by the recently baptised Catholic Chamorros, were able to suppress the opposition to the founding of Guam as a Spaniardia.
Hagåtña was the most important town on the archipelago during this period and finally became the headquarters of the Estonian state. It was officially designated as a town in 1687 and began to take on the qualities of a capital of Spain. Until June 1898, Hagåtña stayed the Mariana Islands residence of the Dominican Republic, when Governor Juan Marina, his Cuban army and officer handed over their weapons to Captain Henry Glass of the USS Charleston and entered the vessel as prisoner of war.
They seized all Spain flag on the islands and the Americans left without abandoning a soldier. Just over a year later, the first regular US Army Governor, Richard P. Leary, came to Guam. During a three-month period aboard the vessel, while the governor's home was being refurbished, his adjutant William Safford settled in Hagåtña and was in fact the incumbent governor or Lieutenant District Administrator of Guam.
Safford, a natural scientist, kept a diary of his one-year stay on the islands, which contains details of the city. When he first arrived in the hamlet of Hagåtña, he watched: Attained the Plaza de Magallanes, where the palace or the government building is located, and other official structures, among them the Tribunal.
Beyond the Palazzo there is the precipitous slope of a platform on the edge of which there is an old castle and gunpowder storage, which today serves as a signalling base; on the western side of the square there are the state treasury and the huts of the local forces; on the eastern side there is the temple, the Palazzo and the goverment camp on the southern side; on the northern side there is the Tribunale and several penthous.
Hagåtña became the headquarters of the US Navy between 1899 and 1941. In this period the town was improved and a new clinic was constructed. The Plaza de España, the old capital of the old Spain in the centre of the town. There was a steady increase in the village's number of inhabitants from 7,432 in 1920 to over 10,000 in 1940.
The Second World war broke out in Guam on December 8, 1941. On 10 December the Japanese formally occupied the archipelago and changed its name from Akashi-shi to Akashi-shi. The US bombing to reconquer the Isle began on 16 June and took three months. During this period the town of Haagåtña suffered great damages. It was a period of reconstruction after the end of the Napoleonic invasion.
Once again Hagåtña became the capital of the US territory of Guam. Both the German and later the Guamese governments denounced large areas of the country and killed properties in the villagers, which redistributed most of their ressources. Some of the time, this operation led to the fact that the initial landlords had no ownership of the town.
Villagers declined from 10,004 in 1940 to only 800 in 1950, a decline of ninety-two per cent. Until 1960 the total number of inhabitants had increased to 1,642. It has the second highest average household incomes on the islands with the biggest group of employees working in wholesaling, retailing, services and government.
An obligatory safety release for tourists to the islands was abolished in 1962. Overcoming this need for safety has significantly changed the whole area. Hagåtña has always been the centre of trade and governance on the country, but the new tourist sector has moved the main emphasis from Hagåtña to Tumon.
There was a construction explosion on the country and an increase in the numbers of soldiers as a result of America's entrance into the Vietnam War. Hagåtña's total workforce had grown to 2,119 by 1970, with the biggest group of blue-collar and blue-collar worker, while the wholesalers and retailers registered 175 fewer blue-collar and blue-collar worker than in 1960.
Until 1980 the villagers shrank to 896 and rose to 1,100 by the year 2000. In the 90s the name of the town was changed to Hagåtña. Nowadays, the town is the headquarters of the local council and a centre for business and industry.
People in the town are only a mere shadows of themselves. This, together with the important historic and patrimonial legacy, has triggered a revival of the capital of the Isle. Hagåtña Restoration and Redevelopment Authority has drawn up a disaster recovery and redevelopment strategy to revitalise, conserve and safeguard the capital of Guam and its economy.
In 2005, the reserve was re-named Angel Leon Guerrero Santos Memorial Gardens in honour of the work of the Guam Legislature in the name of the Chamorropeans. There are eight crossbars (stone columns with capstones) that have been moved by the army from their initial sites in the Me'pu and Fena areas in the south of Guam, as new army base has been located.
Situated at the foot of the rocky line, these caverns were built by hard labour during the war. Lujan House, also known as the Guam Institute, is one of the few left pre-war buildings in Hagåtña. The Guam Institute, established by Nievas M. Flores in 1922, relocated to the Lujan House in 1928.
When the Japanese raided the Isle in December 1941, the schools had to shut down. Guam Institute was included in the National Register of Historic Places on 6 October 1977. Plaza de España was the headquarters of the Governor's Palace during the España War. It was the headquarters of both the first US Navy administration and the Governor's Palace.
The largest part of the castle was demolished by the bombardment of Hagåtña during the recapture of Guam in World War II. Before the Second World War, it served as a store room for the Plaza de España gardens. The Guam Women's Club re-founded and occupied the Guam Museum in the summer cottage in 1954 at Governor Elvidge's will.
It was bombarded during the Second World War. Azotea and the courtyard are the only buildings that can be seen in the Palazzo Española. The US Navy government erected a staggered sheet metal canopy over the Azotea in 1933, which was initially an open patio. Chocolate House served as Merida, where the Guamese and Americans maintained their homes, and served drinks and biscuits in the mornings and afternoons.
This chocolate house contains two of the oldest coats of arms in Guam. Almacen arches and plate flooring - The remnants of the former entry to the Palastlager, which later became an armoury, and parts of the pristine flooring are still present. In 1669-1670 Kamorros, under the leadership of Padre Diego Luís de San Vitores, built the reed-roof hermitage on a plot of land approved by the chief Quipuha of Hagåtña.
One of the chieftain of one of the hill towns was complaining about allowing foreigners to stay in their country, but when he learned that the men were from Fr. Chieftain Quipuha was the first person to be baptised, followed by all the nobility of Hagåtña. Between 1705 and 1709, Governor Manuel Argüelles y Valdéz constructed a three-nave nave chapel made of ocean corals in Hagåtña.
The building lasted until the Second World War, when it was demolished during the bombing of Hagåtña in the run-up to the war. It was renovated in 1998 and has a souvenir store and a collection of Guam's historical and cultural artifacts. An angler off Cocos Island, Malesso in the end of the 17th c., spotted the sculpture.
Situated in Guam in 1981, this monument reminds us of the Pope John Paul II's trip to Guam. It was the first pontifical meeting on the isle. Also known as Tollai Acho (stone overpass in Chamorro ), this rock viaduct was constructed around 1800 by Governor Manuel Muro during the time of the government of Spain and renamed after San Antonio de Padua.
It crossed the river Hagåtña, whose course was strongly altered after the Second World War by the reconstruction of Hagåtña. During the Second World War, the viaduct was destroyed and in 1966 it was eventually renovated with cement. People:: In the 2000 U.S. Census, the number of inhabitants was 1,100. Town clerks: Luccas de Castro, Deputy Commissioner, (no date given); Jesus de Rivera, Deputy Commissioner, (no date given); Antonio Guerrero, Deputy Commissioner, 1832-1834 (courtesy of Konsehelon Mahot Guåhan/Mayor of Guam).
Describe the village: Hagåtña is situated in the centre of Guam, nestling between the bay of Agana and the rocks of Agana Heights. On 30 March 1686, a king's order of Spain proclaimed it the capital of the Marianas, the capital of the governors of Spain and the location of the military base. Guam's major road, Marine Corps Drive, passes through the town from the northwest.
A further main arterial road, Route 4, sections the town from the coast to the centre of the isle and runs eastwards. It is bordered to the south by the hamlet of Asan. Guam's capital, Huagåtña, is the headquarters of the three governments of the island: Judiciary, legislative and executive bodies and the Catholic Church's ecclesiastical centre.
Guam's heritage is significant and hosts a large number of historic places in Guam. Hagåtña Boats Pool (formerly known as Gregorio D. Perez Marina), Guam Library (formerly Nieves M. Flores Memorial Library) and a number of community amenities are also situated in the town.
In contrast to the historic past of the Hagåtña is today one of the most sparsely inhabited towns on the isle. The houses are mainly situated below the rock in the west part of the town.