Colonialism before Colonization: Tåno’ Låguas yan Gåni (Mariana Islands) 1521–1668

This article argues that colonialism in Tåno’ Låguas yan Gåni – named the Mariana Islands by Spanish colonial agents in the 17th century – began well before the establishment of a permanent Jesuit mission in 1668. Drawing on early modern European chronicles, it examines how interactions between Indigenous CHamoru/Chamorro communities and European – primarily Spanish – expeditions from 1521 to 1668 were already structured by a colonial logic of violence. Through analyses of material exchanges, abductions, and punitive killings of CHamoru/Chamorro people, alongside acts of Indigenous resistance and hospitality towards non-CHamorus/Chamorros, the article reveals that the so-called ‘cultural contacts’ were not neutral encounters but deeply colonial processes that prefigured the dynamics of later occupation.