- Aguijan
Aguijan is a small bean-shaped
coral line island in theNorthern Mariana Islands chain situated 8 km southwest ofTinian . It is only 7.09 km² (2.738 sq mi) in size and is nicknamed Goat Island due to the large number offeral goats present there. Much of the native vegetation on Aguijan has been destroyed by goats.Aguijan is uninhabited and is seldom visited because it is surrounded by sheer steep cliffs. However, a 2002 survey of the island did find a handful of native species there, including the
Mariana Fruit Bat , the Polynesiansheath-tailed bat and the Micronesian megapode "Megapodius laperouse".During World War II the Japanese maintained a garrison on Aguijan. This garrison is noteworthy because it surrendered to U.S. forces
September 4 ,1945 , two days after the surrender on theUSS Missouri (BB-63) . The surrender is unique because it was the only surrender hosted by a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter, "USCG 83434". A US Navy admiral received the surrender of a Japanese Imperial Army second lieutenant.Aguijan and neighboring
Tinian Island together formTinian Municipality , one of the four main political divisions that comprise the Northern Marianas.References
* [http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/Chronology_Sep.html Daily Chronology of Coast Guard History: September 4]
* [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-show_geoid=Y&-tree_id=405&-_showChild=Y&-context=dt&-errMsg=&-all_geo_types=N&-mt_name=DEC_2000_IAMP_P001&-redoLog=false&-transpose=N&-search_map_config=|b=50|l=en|t=4001|zf=0.0|ms=sel_00dec|dw=0.9528487917191559|dh=0.6838460131961157|dt=gov.census.aff.domain.map.EnglishMapExtent|if=gif|cx=-67.48042614595042|cy=18.385966173167105|zl=6|pz=6|bo=318:317:316:314:313:323:319|bl=362:393:358:357:356:355:354|ft=350:349:335:389:388:332:331|fl=381:403:204:380:369:379:368|g=04000US72&-PANEL_ID=p_dt_geo_map&-_lang=en&-geo_id=15000US691209501005&-CONTEXT=dt&-format=&-search_results=15000US690859501001&-ds_name=DEC_2000_IAMP Aguijan Island: Block Group 5, Census Tract 9501, Tinian Municipality, United States Census Bureau]
* [http://gaebler.info/sonstiges/marianen.htm Pascal Horst Lehne and Christoph Gäbler: "Über die Marianen." Lehne-Verlag, Wohldorf in Germany 1972.] and [http://gaebler.info/sonstiges/marianen.htm#aguijan Aguijan]
* [http://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=&ie=UTF8&z=14&ll=14.851388,145.554085&spn=0.056332,0.079823&t=k&om=1 Google: Aguijan]
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