First settlers The Mariana Islands, of which Tinian is one, were the first islands settled by humans in
Remote Oceania. It was also the first and the longest of the ocean-crossing voyages of the
Austronesian peoples and is separate from the later
Polynesian settlement of the rest of Remote Oceania. They were settled around 1500 to 1400 BC by migrants departing from the
Philippines. This was followed by a second migration from the
Caroline Islands by the first millennium AD, and a third migration from
Island Southeast Asia (likely the Philippines or eastern
Indonesia) by 900 AD. Thousands of years ago, the island was settled by a people who built stone structures all over Tinian called
taga.
Spanish colonial period Tinian, together with
Saipan, was possibly first sighted by Europeans of the Spanish expedition of
Ferdinand Magellan when it made landfall in the southern Marianas on March 6, 1521. It was likely sighted next by Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa in 1522 on board the Spanish ship
Trinidad, in an attempt to reach
Panama after the death of Magellan. This would have happened after the sighting of the
Maug Islands between the end of August and the end of September.
Gonzalo de Vigo deserted in the Maugs from the
Trinidad, and, in the next four years, living with the
Chamorros, visited thirteen main islands in the Marianas, with possibly Tinian among them. The first clear evidence of European arrival was by the
Manila galleon Santa Margarita, commanded by Juan Martínez de Guillistegui, that wrecked in the southeast of Saipan in February 1600 and whose survivors stayed for two years, until 250 of them were rescued by the
Santo Tomas and the
Jesus María. The Spanish formally occupied Tinian in 1669, with the missionary expedition of
Diego Luis de San Vitores, who named it
Buenavista Mariana (Goodsight Mariana). From 1670, it became a port of call for Spanish and occasional English, Dutch, and French ships as a supply station for food and water. The native population, estimated at 40,000 at the time of the Spanish arrival, shrank to less than 1,400 due to European-introduced diseases and conflicts over land. The survivors were forcibly relocated to
Guam in 1720 for better control and assimilation. Under Spanish rule, the island was developed into ranches for raising cattle and pigs, which were used to provision
Spanish galleons en route to
Mexico.
German colonial period After the
Spanish–American War of 1898, Tinian was sold by Spain to the
German Empire in 1899. Germany administered the island as part of
German New Guinea. During the German period, there was no attempt to develop or settle the island, which remained under the control of its Spanish and mestizo landowners.
Japanese colonial period shrine. In 1914, during
World War I, the island was captured by
Japan, which was awarded formal control in 1918 by the
League of Nations as part of the
South Seas Mandate. The island was settled by ethnic Japanese, Koreans, and
Okinawans, who developed large-scale
sugar plantations. Under Japanese rule, extensive infrastructure development occurred, including the construction of port facilities, waterworks, power stations, paved roads, and schools, along with entertainment facilities and
Shinto shrines. Initial efforts to settle the island were met with difficulties, including an infestation of
scale insects, followed by a severe drought in 1919. Efforts were resumed under the aegis of the
Nan'yō Kōhatsu kabushiki gaisha in 1926, with new settlers from Okinawa as well as
Fukushima and
Yamagata Prefectures, and the introduction of
coffee and
cotton as cash crops in addition to sugar, and the construction of a
Katsuobushi processing plant. By June 1944, some 15,700 Japanese civilians resided on Tinian (including 2,700 ethnic Koreans and 22 ethnic Chamorro). In the Japanese area, thousands of colonists arrived, and it was used for agriculture and military purposes. Tinian is approximately from mainland Japan and was suitable as a staging base for continuous heavy bomber attacks on the Japanese Islands. Immediately after the island's seizure by the US, construction began on the largest airbase of
WWII, which covered the entire island (except its three highland areas). The
Tinian Naval Base was a 40,000-personnel installation. The Navy
Seabees (110th NCB) laid out the base in a pattern of city streets resembling
New York City's
Manhattan Island and named the streets accordingly. The former Japanese town of Sunharon was nicknamed "The Village" because its location corresponded to that of
Greenwich Village. A large square area between West and North Fields, used primarily for the location of the base hospitals and otherwise left undeveloped, was called
Central Park. Some of the roads named from NYC include Broadway, 42nd Street, Lenox Avenue, Riverside Drive, and Eighth Avenue.
West Field The Japanese originally built an airfield with two parallel runways. The Americans repaired it and then called it West Field. From here, seven squadrons of the
58th Bombardment Wing flew combat and reconnaissance missions throughout
Southeast Asia and finally into the
Japanese home islands, the latter as part of the
bombing of Japan. After WWII, West Field was Tinian's airport, called Gurguan Point Airfield,
Postwar Tinian After the end of World War II, Tinian became part of the
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, controlled by the United States. The island continued to be dominated by the United States military and was administered as a sub-district of Saipan until 1962. Since 1978, it has been a municipality of the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. During the 1980s, one of the runways on North Field was kept active to allow US Air Force
C-130s to take off and land in support of U.S. Marine Corps training exercises in the island's north end. The two northern airstrips, Alpha and Bravo, were cleared of vegetation, and the limestone coral that had been disturbed by roots was excavated and replaced by Marines of the
9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd FSSG, 3rd Marine Division then stationed at Camp Hansen, Okinawa in late 1981. That unit had been transported by sea aboard the . The military presence began to be replaced by tourism in the 1990s, though it still plays an important role in the local economy. On November 4, 1986, the Northern Marianas, including Tinian, became a part of the United States, and the people there became US Citizens. Primary business on the island in the postwar period included fishing, cattle, and tourism. In the 1990s, an ill-fated attempt at operating casinos began. There are still many ranches and some 1–2 thousand cattle on Tinian. The Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino shut down in 2016, with the company blaming
Typhoon Soudelor for a decrease in visitors. The
Hong Kong-based company that operated what was the only casino on Tinian had its gambling license revoked and was going bankrupt. On October 24, 2018,
Typhoon Yutu made landfall on the island of Tinian as a
Category 5-equivalent super typhoon, becoming the most powerful storm on record to hit the Northern Mariana Islands and causing an extensive amount of damage. A new casino, called Tinian Diamond Casino, was in the final stages of completion by 2022 and was working to reestablish a ferry between Tinian and nearby Saipan. However, it never opened.
Revival of US Military base on Tinian In late 2023, it was reported that the US House and Senate approved $79 million for Tinian's Divert Airfield in the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024. In 2024, the U.S. Air Force awarded a $409 million contract to
Fluor Corporation, a construction company in
Texas, to restore the island's former airfield. The re-militarization of the island caused concern for local residents, who fear rising geopolitical tensions between the US and China could make Tinian a target in the event of a conflict over Taiwan. "Sometimes there's very little oversight of what the military does because the community is not involved. It tends to take place at the agency level," said cultural anthropologist
Isa Arriola, who is also a Northern Mariana Islander. It was reported at a hearing on Tinian, residents pointed out that the US military's amphibious landings would could cut off access to a popular fishing area. In response to the concern, a
US Navy representative assured the community that the military would “relocate” the fishing ground's natural resources to another beach. == Municipality ==