Prior to becoming US territories, each of the five territories had been conquered or integrated into the political and economic spheres of other countries. The influence of past Spanish control is evident not only in Puerto Rico but also in Guam and the Northern Marianas, where Catholic churches stand proudly and the names of municipalities and roads commemorate San Jose and long-dead Spanish generals.

 

Each territory is largely home to the local ethnic population that was present when the US began to formally administrate––ranging from the native Boricuas in Puerto Rico to Blacks in the Virgin Islands, Chamorros in Guam and the Northern Marianas, to Samoans in American Samoa. While each territory is diverse, the diversity is less akin to the rich diversity you might see on the New York City subway and more analogous to a neighborhood belonging predominantly, but not exclusively, to one ethnic group.

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A National Park Service exhibit in Saipan summarized this push-and-pull of history well; a featured quote from a local historian recounted how the Spanish came first, then the Germans, then the Japanese, and then the Americans. The Spanish brought religion, the Germans brought education, and the Japanese had been most concerned about the economy, the historian explained. What exactly the Americans (who built the exhibit) had brought was left unsaid.

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This omission does lend itself to the question of why the US retains control of these five territories. Are they colonies, reminiscent of those held by past empires?

 

That answer seems unlikely, given the lack of heavy tax burdens imposed on the local populations and the lack of raw material extraction––one or both of which have historically characterized colonies.

 

The small populations in each of the territories (only Puerto Rico is home to more than 200,000) lays to rest the idea that the territories are held as a captive consumer market for goods produced in the home country. All territories receive significantly more in federal outlays than they contribute in revenue to the US Treasury each year, as residents are generally not subject to federal income taxes. While the figure changes significantly year to year due to the variability of storm cost recovery funds, the largest US territory (Puerto Rico) receives roughly $5 back from Washington for every $1 it contributes in taxes.

 

Owning these pieces of territory across the globe thus comes down to the strategic position they provide the US in both ocean basins, at the low price of some financial support to the local economy. If they are indeed outposts of American imperialism, they give credence to the idea that America is the gentlest empire the world has seen.

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That is not to suggest the lessons of history have been gentle. At the Castillo San Felipe de Morro in Puerto Rico, the military history and proxy wars by European powers are fully detailed, and America’s present-day interest, control of the island because of its strategic position at the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico, is spelled out.

 

In Guam and the Northern Marianas, historical markers of bloody battles––to wrest control of the islands from the Japanese during World War II––dot the landscape, the most haunting of which is called Suicide Cliffs, where Japanese soldiers committed suicide en masse to avoid surrendering to the advancing American forces.

 

Even the National Park of American Samoa features preserved gun emplacements, a plaque noting their historical purpose in keeping the Japanese out of Pago Pago harbor. The only territory whose National Park Service didn’t detail military history was the Sandy National Park in the Virgin Islands. It’s not hard to imagine that a large part of the reason for the continued US presence in these places is to have them available and ready to defend American interests in any future global conflicts.