Tinian

Limestone island in the Northern Mariana Islands in the west Pacific Ocean, 5 km/3 mi southwest of Saipan; area 102 sq km/39 sq mi; population (1990) 2,110. It was the site of the US airbase North Field during World War II, for missions against Japan. Tourism and ranching are important.

Before the war the island was home to a thriving Japanese community, producing sugarcane. US forces took the island in July 1944, and created what was at that time the world's largest airbase. Among missions flown from here were the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. US, Japanese, and Korean memorials of the war period remain. The island's population is today predominantly Chamorro.