Northern Mariana Islands

World War II history remains deeply significant across the Northern Mariana Islands, and many residents carry family connections to that history through memorial sites like American Memorial Park on Saipan. As a U.S. Commonwealth, residents are U.S. citizens, though they do not vote in presidential elections.

Chamorro, Carolinian, and centuries of Spanish, German, Japanese, and American rule all shape daily language and tradition here, seen in the huge limestone Latte Stones on Tinian that predate European contact.

Rota, known as the “Friendly Island,” offers a quieter, more traditional pace of life, while Saipan’s Mount Tapochau and the Grotto round out the islands’ natural beauty.