Global InformationSaipan information
 | This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (April 2022) |
  Top: Garapan Skyline; Bottom: Topographic map of Saipan Island | |
 | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Pacific Ocean |
| Coordinates | 15°11′N 145°45′E / 15.183°N 145.750°E |
| Archipelago | Marianas |
| Area | 118.98 km2 (45.94 sq mi)[1] |
| Length | 12 mi (19 km) |
| Width | 5.6 mi (9 km) |
| Highest elevation | 1,560 ft (475 m) |
| Highest point | Mount Tapochau |
| Administration | |
United States | |
| Commonwealth | Northern Mariana Islands |
| Largest settlement | Garapan |
| Mayor | Ramon Camacho |
| Demographics | |
| Demonym | Saipanese |
| Population | 43,385 (2020) |
| Ethnic groups |
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| Additional information | |
| Time zone |
|
| ZIP code | 96950 |
| Area code(s) | 670 |
| ISO code | 580 |
| Official website | https://governor.gov.mp |
Saipan[2] (/saɪˈpæn/) is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Census Bureau, the population of Saipan was 43,385, a decline of 10% from its 2010 count of 48,220.[3]
The legislative and executive branches of Commonwealth government are located in the village of Capitol Hill on the island while the judicial branch is headquartered in the village of Susupe. Since the entire island is organized as a single municipality, most publications designate Saipan as the Commonwealth's capital.
As of 2023, Saipan's mayor is Ramon Camacho and the governor of the Northern Mariana Islands is Arnold Palacios.
The island is home to the majority of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas population, and home to many resorts, golf courses, beaches, nature sites, and WW2 historical sites. The people here are United States citizens since the 1980s, uniquely they had never been a part of the US before this, with about 400 years of Spanish rule, then about 15 years of German rule, and then 30 years of Japanese rule. The island after WW2 was put in United Nations Trust to determine its fate, along with rest of the Northern Marianas. After failing to reunify with Guam, which was also home to the Chamorro people, the islands joined the United States as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana islands.
Saipan was hit by one of the strongest hurricane/typhoons ever to hit the United States in 2018, Typhoon Yutu, causing widespread damage.
- ^ "8 SAIPAN" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
- ^ (Chamorro: Sa’ipan, Carolinian: Seipél, formerly in Spanish: Saipán, and in Japanese: 彩帆島, romanized: Saipan-tō)
- ^ "Census Bureau Releases 2020 Census Population and Housing Unit Counts for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands". Census.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2022.