The first sighting of Aguigan by Europeans likely occurred during the Spanish expedition of 1519–1522 of
Ferdinand Magellan or by its continuation by
Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa. The Spaniards charted it as
Santo Ángel. The Spanish missionary
Diego Luis de San Vitores visited it in 1669. Aguijan was administered as part of the
Spanish East Indies from the 16th century to 1899, when Spain sold its possessions in the
Mariana Islands to the
German Empire. Under Germany, it was administered as part of
German New Guinea. During
World War I (1914–1918), Aguijan came under the control of the
Empire of Japan in 1914 and after that Japan administered it as part of the
South Seas Mandate. During the
Pacific campaign (1941–1945) of
World War II, the
Imperial Japanese Army maintained a garrison on Aguijan. The garrison surrendered to
Allied forces on September 4, 1945, two days after the
surrender of Japan;
United States Navy Rear Admiral Marshall R. Greer received the surrender of Japanese
Second Lieutenant Kinichi Yamada aboard a
United States Coast Guard Cutter, the
patrol boat USCG 83525, which became the only
United States Coast Guard vessel to host a surrender. Following World War II, Aguijan came under the control of the
United Nations and was administered on its behalf by the
United States as part of the
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Since 1978, the island has been part of the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which became an
unincorporated territory and
commonwealth of the United States in 1986. ==Geography==