Northern Mariana citizenship and nationality

Inhabitants were Spanish nationals from the 16th century until the Spanish–American War of 1898. As Guam became a territory of the United States the Northern Marianas were sold to Germany in 1899. In 1975, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands became a self-governing territory. In 1986, the Marianas came under the sovereignty of the U.S. when the trusteeship ended. US nationality and citizenship was conferred on the inhabitants of the territory in 1986. In 2009, its nationality and immigration laws became federalized. The Marianas archipelago contains 14 islands located between Japan and New Guinea on a north–south axis and Hawaii and the Philippines on an east–west axis. The islands were named Los Ladrones (The Thieves) by Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, during his circumnavigation of the globe for Charles I, King of Spain, in 1521. In 1681, a royal decree granted the indigenous population, the Chamorro people, equal status with other Spanish subjects in its possessions. In general, this meant that criollos, persons with Spanish heritage born in the colonies, had fewer rights than peninsulares, those born in Spain, but more rights than indigenous people.