Guguan

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Guguan
Aerial photo of Guguan, view from the northwest (January 1992)
Aerial photo of Guguan, view from the northwest (January 1992)
Waters Pacific Ocean
Archipelago Mariana Islands
Geographical location 17 ° 18 ′ 39 "  N , 145 ° 50 ′ 30"  E Coordinates: 17 ° 18 ′ 39 "  N , 145 ° 50 ′ 30"  E
Location of Guguan
length 2.8 km
width 2.3 km
surface 3.87 km²
Highest elevation 287  m
Residents uninhabited

Guguan (also San Felipe or Farallon de Torres ) is a small volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean . It belongs geographically to the arch of the islands of the Mariana Islands and politically to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands .

Guguan is located 30 kilometers south of Alamagan Island , 67 kilometers north-northeast of Sarigan Island and about 250 kilometers north of Saipan , the main island of the Northern Mariana Islands. The almost round island is 2.8 kilometers long, 2.3 kilometers wide and has an area of ​​3.87 square kilometers. Guguan consists of two stratovolcanoes , of which the southern reaches a height of 287, the northern a height of 263 meters above sea level. The only recorded outbreak occurred around 1883. A lava flow emerged from the northern crater and reached the coast.

Guguan was discovered in 1668 by the Spaniard Diego Luis de Sanvitores , but unlike other islands in the Mariana Islands, it has never been proven to be settled. The island was part of the German New Guinea colony from 1899 to 1918 . Guguan was leased to bird trappers between 1909 and 1912 . Three Japanese bird trappers caught 1730 birds on Guguan in three months, whose feathers were made into hat feathers in Europe .

Undisturbed by introduced animal species such as goats or house cats, a rich flora and fauna has been preserved on the island. For example, the rare Lapérouse chicken ( Megapodius laperouse ) occurs on Guguan . Since 1978 the constitution of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has forbidden the colonization of Guguan. In the early 1980s, the island was declared a nature reserve.

literature

  • Russell E. Brainard et al .: Coral reef ecosystem monitoring report of the Mariana Archipelago: 2003-2007. (= PIFSC Special Publication , SP-12-01) NOAA Fisheries, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center 2012 ( Chapter Guguan (English, PDF, 9.8 MB)).

Web links

Commons : Guguan  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry Guguan in the German Colonial Lexicon , Volume I, p. 770 (accessed on December 27, 2012).
  2. ↑ Dirk HR Speenemann: Exploitation of bird plumages in the German Mariana Islands. In: Micronesica 1999 (31) pp. 309-318, here p. 313 (English, PDF, 48 kB).
  3. ↑ Brainard, Coral reef ecosystem monitoring report , p. 2 (English, PDF, 9.8 MB). See The Commonwealth Constitution ( Memento of the original from March 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Article 14 (accessed January 11, 2013). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cnmilaw.org