北马里亚纳群岛(Northern Mariana Islands)

美国在西太平洋的自治联邦（2000年人口约72,000）。由关岛北方二十二座岛屿组成（不包括关岛），延伸720公里，陆地面积约477平方公里。首府为位於塞班岛的查兰卡诺亚（Chalan Kanoa）。塞班岛、蒂尼安岛、罗塔岛为主要岛屿，其他有人居住的岛屿还有阿里马罕（Alamagan）岛和阿格里汉（Agrihan）岛。原住民是密克罗尼西亚人，其余为查莫罗人（Chamorro）和菲律宾人，帕甘岛上的居民在1981年火山爆发後已全部撤出。1521年被麦哲伦发现，1668年西班牙开始在此地殖民，1899年被卖给德国。1914年日本占领此地，1919年後成为国际联盟的日本托管地。第二次世界大战中这里有过激战，蒂尼安岛成为美国空军基地，轰炸广岛和长崎的飞机就是从这里起飞的。1947年成为联合国授予美国的太平洋岛屿托管地的一部分，1978年取得自治，1986年成为联邦的一州，居民全部成为美国公民。1990年结束联合国托管。

English version：

Northern Mariana Islands

Self-governing commonwealth (pop., 1994 est.: 46,000) in political union with the U.S., in the western Pacific Ocean. Composed of 22 islands north of Guam, the islands extend 450 mi (720 km) and have an area of 184 sq mi (477 sq km). The capital, Chalan Kanoa, is on Saipan. Saipan, Tinian, and Rota are the principal islands and, together with Alamagan and Agrihan, are inhabited. The indigenous people are Micronesian; other inhabitants are Chamorro and Filipino. Pagan was evacuated in 1981 after a volcanic eruption. The islands were discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. They were colonized by Spain in 1668. Sold by Spain to Germany in 1899, they were occupied by Japan in 1914 and became a Japanese mandate from the League of Nations after 1919. They were the scene of fierce fighting in World War II; Tinian was the base for U.S. planes that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They were granted to the U.S. in 1947 by the UN as a trust territory, became self-governing in 1978, and became a commonwealth under U.S. sovereignty in 1986, when its residents became U.S. citizens. The UN trusteeship ended in 1990.