Saipan

Saipan sīˈpăn, sīpänˈ [key], volcanic island (2010 pop. 48,220), 47 sq mi (122 sq km), W Pacific, capital of the Northern Mariana Islands. It is mountainous; the highest peak is Mt. Tagpochau (1,526 ft/465 m). Like the rest of the country it is subject to sometimes devastating typhoons. Clothing was the main export, but the industry died (2005–9) after trade quotas were ended. Sugarcane, coffee, citrus fruits, and coconuts are grown, and the island has phosphate and manganese deposits. The main campus of Northern Marianas College is on the island.

Saipan, with the other Marianas, was mandated to Japan in 1920 by the League of Nations. In World War II the island (site of a Japanese airbase) was taken by U.S. forces in 1944 and became a base for air attacks on the Japanese mainland. From 1953 to 1962 Saipan was used to train Nationalist Chinese guerrillas for infiltration of the Chinese mainland. Although the seat of the Northern Marianas' government from the beginning of internal self-government in 1978, the island was not officially designated the capital until 2015. Widespread devastation was caused by a supertyphoon in Oct., 2018.

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