Tinian
| Tinian | |
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| Waters | Pacific Ocean |
| Archipelago | Mariana Islands |
| Geographical location | 15 ° 0 ′ N , 145 ° 38 ′ E |
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| length | 19.8 km |
| width | 9 km |
| surface | 101.01 km² |
| Highest elevation | Lasso 171 m |
| Residents | 3540 (2000) 35 inhabitants / km² |
| main place | San Jose |
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Tinian , along with Saipan and Rota, is one of the three large islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean . For a short time (1899–1918) it was part of the German New Guinea colony .
geography
The island is located about eight kilometers southwest of Saipan, the largest island in the Northern Mariana Islands, and about 130 km north of Guam . The land area is 101.01 km² . Tinian is a fairly flat island with lots of greenery and beaches. The island reaches its highest point in the east with Mount Lasso (171 meters).
The uninhabited island of Aguijan is about 9 km to the southwest .
In geopolitical terms , Tinian is part of the US suburb of the Northern Mariana Islands .
population
The population is 3540 (as of 2000). This corresponds to almost 5% of all inhabitants of the Northern Mariana Islands and a population density of 35 people per km². Most of the inhabitants are Chamorros (approx. 75%) and members of various groups from other islands in the Caroline Islands . There are also minorities of East Asian and European-born people. Chamorro, English, and Japanese are spoken in Tinian . The religion is mostly an ethnic religion with Roman Catholic influences.
The culture is a mixture of Chamorro culture, with influences from 200 years of Spanish colonial rule , as well as influences from Japanese culture . The Spanish influence can be seen not only in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in the Cha-Cha-Cha dance , which is celebrated here in a slightly modified form. The Japanese influence on Tinian is particularly evident in the Japanese Shinto shrines .
climate
Tinian is not only located in the geographical tropics (15 ° 00 'N), but also in the climatic tropics, which means that the daily temperature fluctuation is greater than the seasonal fluctuation. The daily highs, which are mostly reached on Tinian between noon and 4 pm, are 28 ° C from December to March , otherwise 29 to 30 ° C; At night it rarely gets colder than 25 ° C all year round. The rainy season lasts from July to November. The climate is humid all year round with mostly more than 80% relative humidity . Due to the high humidity and the intense solar radiation, the subjective temperature perception is mostly 4 to 8 ° C above the measured values all year round. The surface water temperature of the Pacific Ocean off Tinian is 27 to 29 ° C.
Tinian is influenced by the north-east trade winds all year round , which in the European winter time comes to the island more from the northeast, while in the European summer time it comes to the island almost exactly from the east. The NE Passat has an average wind force of 3 to 4 Beaufort . But if an Aleutian low forms thousands of kilometers away , foothills can generate higher winds for several days in a row.
The length of the day varies from 11.5 (December 21) to 13 hours on the summer solstice. The twilight phases in the morning and evening are shorter than in Central Europe because of the equatorial location, since the sun can be almost vertical at noon and rise and set more steeply: 22 to 25 minutes on Tinian compared to 32 to 45 minutes in Germany .
history
Traces of human settlement go back over 4000 years. At that time the island was probably settled by Melanesians. The Latte Stones , which are similar to the other stone monuments in the South Pacific, such as Nan Madol (Micronesia), the megaliths of Palau (Palau) or the Moais (Easter Island), testify to this ancient time . The indigenous people of Tinian are called Chamorros; they come from Guam and previously came from the Malaysian-Indonesian region.
The Latte Stones are handcrafted stones weighing several tons and up to 6 meters high. At least some of the Latte Stones were not firmly anchored in the ground; rather, they were first built by artists and then brought to their destinations, mostly village squares. Researchers assume that the stones were not transported with the help of animals or tools, but only with human power. The Latte Stones also testify that the Chamorros culture was well organized and productive.
The most famous tribal chief of the Chamorros who resided on Tinian was King Taga , who lived about 3000 years ago. The ruins of his “stone palace” still bear witness to his rule today. H. a stone statue six meters high, a latte stone five meters in diameter . This is the only one of eight statues that has survived. There are also on Tinian a beach that was named after him (Taga Beach), and a charter - airline (Taga Air).
Spanish rule from 1670 to 1898
After the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan had crossed the Carolines region as early as 1521, the Spaniards occupied the Mariana Islands from 1668 from south (Guam) to north ( Farallon de Pajaros ). From 1670 onwards, Tinian served the European seamen or seamen on behalf of the Spanish, English , Dutch and French as a supply station with food and water. The connections between the northern Mariana Islands and the Philippines , which still exist today, were established back then . During the Spanish rule, which lasted until 1898, the population of Tinian shrank from 40,000 indigenous people (Chamorros) to only 1,400 inhabitants. The reasons were, in addition to diseases brought with them by the Europeans, to which the Chamorros were not immune , mainly conflicts over territories, or more precisely over potential money and gold . The main time of conflict was immediately after the Spaniards landed on Tinian, where almost 95% of all indigenous people died within 50 years.
The survivors were taken to Guam by the Spaniards from 1720, where they should be better controlled and evangelized . Many Chamorros were later expelled to Micronesia , especially to Pohnpei and Yap . Over the course of time there were mixed marriages with Europeans on Guam and their customs and traditions were “Christianized” . However, the Chamorros have been able to maintain parts of their original culture (including the language) to this day.
Tinian itself became a "sausage island" where cattle and pigs were kept, among other things , in order to transport their meat across the Pacific to Mexico , the Pacific coast of South America or Asia .
German rule from 1899 to 1914
After the Spanish-American War in 1898, Tinian was occupied by the United States along with the other islands of the Mariana Islands and sold to the German Empire a little later . The German Empire incorporated the island into the German New Guinea colony . Under the rule of the Germans, which lasted 15 years (1899 to 1914), Tinian served the economy of its owners just like under the Spanish . There was neither permanent settlement on the island nor a return of the Chamorros.
Japanese rule from 1914 to 1941
As a result of the First World War in Europe , Great Britain took over the island first - formally - before shortly afterwards and in the same year Japan occupied the German colonies in the northern Pacific or secured them with its imperial navy (with the exception of Guam).
In 1918 Japan received Tinian and all other German areas in Micronesia as mandate areas from the League of Nations at that time . However, this did not change the fact that Japan continued to exert considerable influence on the Mariana Islands and, among other things, also settled Japanese on Tinian . During the Japanese rule, more than 14,000 East Asians, particularly Koreans and Japanese from Okinawa Prefecture , came to Tinian. In addition, efforts were made to exploit the island's natural resources. Between the First and Second World War Tinian was one of the largest plantations of sugar cane in the world. The entire island was prepared for the cultivation of sugar cane within ten years. Due to the high proportion of the population that was used to city life, Tinian became an "city island" on which waterworks , power plants , paved roads, schools and East Asian entertainment and religious communities were founded. The Japanese rule ended abruptly with the lost Pacific War .
Tinian and the Pacific War 1941-1945
Tinian was of great strategic importance to the Americans as they launched a counterattack against the Japanese. The USA had pushed ahead with the production of the B-29 bomber at enormous expense , but the first missions from China (Chengdu to Tokyo about 3300 km) turned out to be unsatisfactory due to the difficult supply by air " over the hill " (Himalayas) . The whole of Japan, however, was at a distance of around 2500 km within the range of the American bombers if they were stationed on the northern Mariana Islands (Tinian to Tokyo around 2350 km). So the further course of the air war against Japan and with it the destruction of arms production depended on the capture and security of the northern Mariana Islands. Japan operated airfields and other military bases on Saipan and Tinian.
The US attack on the Mariana Islands took place on June 15, 1944. On July 6, 1944, after the US had captured Saipan, Tinian, who was protected by about 8,000 Japanese soldiers , was attacked. The Americans quickly captured Tinian by landing in amphibious vehicles from Saipan in the north of the island, while the Japanese expected an attack from the sea from the south. The island's population of Koreans and Japanese was then interned in the center of the island ( Camp "Churo" ) until the end of the war, in order not to let the number of soldiers who were assigned to secure the population become too large. While the fighting was still in progress, naval construction crews began to build a gigantic air force base. The former Japanese airfield was repaired and another runway to West-Field was added. Parts now serve as the Tinian International Airport . The situation was similar on the neighboring island of Saipan, where Kobler Field and today's Saipan International Airport were prepared for the B-29 as quickly as possible. Smaller adjoining places in Saipan were equipped with hunters and night hunters to protect the large facilities.
In the meantime, the US Navy construction regiment was working in the north of the island on one of the largest military air bases of World War II. At the end of the construction work it had four parallel landing / runways, each 2500 m in length, making it the largest airfield in the world. Colonel Paul Tibbets took off from this airport on August 6, 1945 with the Enola Gay , a B-29 bomber with which he dropped the first wartime atomic bomb over Hiroshima (Japan) . Three days later, on August 9, 1945, Charles Sweeney also took off from this military airfield in the " Bockscar ", another B-29 bomber, with an atomic bomb on board for Nagasaki . On August 14th, another 800 B-29s launched from Saipan, Tinian and Guam for the last major air raid on Japan. On the same day, Emperor Hirohito ordered the surrender. On September 2, 1945, Japan officially surrendered . The USAAF facilities now comprised almost 2/3 of Tinian's area.
B-29 Superfortress bombers taking off at West Field Airfield, Tinian 1945
Atomic bomb Little Boy in the pit at North Field airfield before use
Enola Gay landing after the atomic bombing on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945
North Field Airfield 2008
Little Boy Pit, 2008
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The base still exists on Tinian today, but has lost its importance. Of the original four runways, only one is still in operation. On the airfield, plaques mark the points at which the two atomic bombs were loaded.
Evacuation of the island and the return of the Chamorros in 1946
After the Pacific War, over 10,000 US soldiers were relocated to the Mariana Islands, several thousand also to Tinian, where they removed the Japanese and Koreans from Camp “Churo” by expelling them from the island. After the departure of the last Korean in the spring of 1946, the island was again without a population. As a result, the Chamorros, the indigenous people of Tinian, reported to the US administration on the island of Yap (Micronesia) in 1946 with the request to be allowed to return to their island. The Chamorros community on Yap Island numbered about 180 people; most of them were "mixed race" with some Spanish, German or Japanese roots. The US administration agreed to the request of the Chamorros in mid-1946 and had the soldiers build San Jose, a village in the east of the island. However, the Chamorros did not want the village at this point, so the entire village was relocated to the south. Today it is also called "Tinian Town".
Tinian from 1946 until today
Tinian was initially administered by the USA in cooperation with the United Nations as a trust territory after World War II . Later, the entire Micronesian region became a US-American outer territory after the population of the Mariana Islands first demanded more independence from the United Nations and later, also because of their economic dependence on the US military, sought proximity to the USA.
Tinian has remained its own congregation almost without interruption to this day ; only between 1952 and 1962 Tinian belonged to the district of Saipan. The reason why the US administration assumed Tinian Saipan was a close connection with the US Navy on Saipan, which from then on trained Taiwanese anti-communists on Tinian to be paramilitary in the fight against the People's Republic of China .
In 1972 the Mariana Islands and with it Tinian became independent from the rest of the US outer territory of Micronesia at their own request. In 1978 an agreement with the United States came into force, which established close political ties with the United States in addition to the constitution of the newly established Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Tinian's head of state has been the US president since then , the official currency of the US dollar .
Until 1990, Tinian and above all Saipan played a prominent role for the US armed forces due to their geographic location and the associated strategic importance in the Cold War . The US military is still present today, but not as much as it used to be. The corresponding facilities are only used temporarily, in particular for maneuvers. Nevertheless, the few exercises that the US is doing on Tinian are of great importance for the island, as they bring much-needed money into the coffers. The main industries of the small island are now different (see section " Economy "). The military facilities in the north are now largely overgrown.
Typhoon Yutu crossed Tinian Island on October 24, 2018, causing enormous devastation and damage. Tinian's ports reopened a few days after the storm, and the airport can only operate for military aircraft a few days after the storm.
economy
Since Tinian only has 3540 inhabitants, the economy is correspondingly small. Hence, Tinian's economy consists largely of tourism . With him, services such as car rental and the gambling industry came to Tinian. Gambling was allowed by law in 1989. At the moment the gambling industry, which consists of a large casino and various video games, is the largest source of income on the island. In addition, the luxury hotel “Dynasty” was the island's status symbol , which attracts the most affluent customers. In 2015/2016 the "Dynasty" ceased both casino and hotel operations.
The agriculture is played by purely economic return from her a minor role, but is, especially in rural areas, which is widely available, operated for own consumption ( subsistence ).
Infrastructure
There is a shipping port that runs catamaran ferries to Saipan four to five times a day from Monday to Friday . There is also a road network that is concentrated in the north and south with some paved roads. While the north was shaped by the military, the south is the center of the island. The two “heads” are connected by two roads in the interior of the island and from north to south. The east of the two roads is an official highway .
There is also an airport with a 2800 m long runway, which is almost in the center, but slightly further south. In addition to the regional small airlines, it is served by two large international airlines, Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines (NWA) . The tourist center in the south of the island can be reached very quickly from the airport. This is also where the regional airline Star Marianas Air is based .
tourism
While Saipan, the larger northern neighboring island, can seem lively, Tinian has remained a quiet island. Tinian is developed for tourism insofar as there are hotels of international standard. But since there are no public transport facilities such as buses or trains (except school buses), the tourist is dependent on the service of the hotels. These range from the driving service at the largest hotel "Dynasty" to "no service" at the small hotels. It is therefore not surprising that Tinian can almost only be explored by (rental) car, on foot or by watercraft . Tinian has two petrol stations , car rental companies and the aforementioned casino (integrated into the “Dynasty” hotel), which is located near Taga Beach along with a few shops and restaurants . The tourist center is San Jose, a little north of Taga Beach, with a few smaller hotels, restaurants and bars . Natural attractions of the island are the beaches, the " blowhole " in the northeast of the island and the 171 meter high Mount Lasso.
Oddities
In 1953 the Japanese soldier Murata Susumu was captured in a hut on Tinian . He had remained there as a so-called holdout since the end of the Second World War. Little did he know that the war had been over for eight years.
Web links
- Search for Tinian in the German Digital Library
- Search for Tinian in the SPK digital portal of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
- Pascal Horst Lehne and Christoph Gäbler: About the Marianas. Lehne-Verlag, Wohldorf, 1972
Individual evidence
- ^ The Latest: Saipan airport reopens for limited service. In: The Washington Post . October 27, 2018, accessed October 29, 2018 .
- ^ Dynasty could re-open. May 7, 2019, Retrieved July 13, 2019 (American English).
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