Rota (island)

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rota
Rota satellite image
Rota satellite image
Waters Pacific Ocean
Archipelago Mariana Islands
Geographical location 14 ° 9 ′  N , 145 ° 13 ′  E Coordinates: 14 ° 9 ′  N , 145 ° 13 ′  E
Location of Rota
length 19 km
width 8 kilometers
surface 85.39 km²
Highest elevation Mount Manira
495  m
Residents 3283 (2000)
38 inhabitants / km²
main place Songsong
Coast of Rota
Coast of Rota

Rota ( cham. Luta ) is next to Saipan and Tinian one of the three large islands of the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands .

Rota is 58 km northeast of Guam and 90 km southwest of Tinian. The island is 19 km long, 8 km wide and has an area of ​​85.39 km² with a coastline of 61.6 km. The highest point is Mount Manira at 495 m above sea level.

The island had a population of 2,477 in the 2010 US census , the majority of which live in the Songsong settlement, which is also the largest. In the middle of the island is the airport with a 1800 m long runway.

Rota was part of the German colony of German New Guinea from 1899 to 1918 . On October 21, 1914, Rota was occupied by Japanese troops. In the Pacific War Rota was the strategy of island hopping otherwise not busy as the neighboring islands of Guam and Tinian by the American forces, so that the garrison of about 2,000 members of the Japanese Army Imperial and Marine consisted, until the surrender on September 2, 1945 remained on the island.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann Joseph Hiery (ed.): The German South Seas 1884-1914 - A manual . 2nd edition, Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2002, p. 829. ISBN 3-506-73912-3