The Northern Mariana Islands

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is a chain of fourteen islands in the western Pacific, stretching north from Guam along the Mariana arc. Formerly part of a United Nations trust territory administered by the United States after World War II, the islands negotiated a covenant in the 1970s to become a U.S. commonwealth rather than seek independence, and their residents are U.S. citizens.

Almost the entire population lives on the three southern islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, with Saipan serving as capital and economic center. Tinian's airfield launched the atomic bombing missions of 1945, a reminder of the chain's role in the Pacific war. Tourism, much of it from East Asia, drives an economy of around 47,000 people across a tropical, typhoon-exposed landscape of limestone terraces and volcanic peaks.

• Guam
  The westernmost U.S. territory, "Where America's Day Begins" related