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Oceania, Local Topical Map of the Northern Mariana Islands, Wildlife Protected Areas

Latitude 15º 12N longitude 145º 45E (approximately 1,400 miles east of Manila, 1,500 miles south of Tokyo and 3,200 miles west of Honolulu). Northern Mariana Islands is located to the south of Japan and to the north of Guam.

Northern Mariana Islands is made up of fourteen (14) islands covering 477 (sq km); coastline 1,482 (km). The total land area of the CNMI archipelago has been calculated at 176.5 square miles at high tide and 184 square miles at low tide. This is an area about equal in size to that of Barbados or the Seychelles. The Northern Marianas Archipelago extends about 400 nautical miles (460 statute miles) from Rota in the south to the most northern island of Farallon De Pajaros. There are no cities in the Northern Marianas as normally considered nor is the term "town" usually applied to the island's congested areas. Rather the urbanized areas are usually referred to as villages or communities and none are incorporated with fixed surveyed boundaries. Each of the islands of Saipan, Tinian and Rota are separate municipalities .

Southern-most islands (Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Agigan) are limestone with level terraces and fringing coral reefs; northern-most islands are volcanic.