ABOUT SAIPAN

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THE SPANISH PERIOD (1521 to 1899)
Ferdinand Magellan sighted the islands in March 1521 when he made his landfall at Guam. He claimed the islands for Spain and first christened the archipelago "Las Isles de las Velas Latinas" (The Islands of the Latine Sails), because the triangular shape of the sails used on native canoes were similar to those used on Mediterranean vessels. In 1668 their name was changed a third time to Las Marianas in honor of Mariana of Austria, widow of Philip IV of Spain. Through an act of genocide committed in the 17th century by Spanish colonists against the local inhabitants the Chamorro race was almost wiped out. In 1815 a new wave of people from atolls west and north of Truk (Chuuk) in the Eastern Carolines migrated to Saipan.