How did Guam become a territory of the U.S.?

The tiny western Pacific island of Guam has been a U.S. territory for over a century, and is considered a strategically important link between the U.S. and Asia. Yet given its significance, the story of how an island 6,000 miles from California become an American territory is surprisingly short. read more

We won it during the Spanish American war. In the late 1800s and early 1900s a lot of Americans were yearning for America to become less isolationist and more and more imperialistic so we could compete with Europe. read more

After World War II, the Guam Organic Act of 1950 established Guam as an unincorporated organized territory of the United States, provided for the structure of the island's civilian government, and granted the people U.S. citizenship. read more