159 - Northern Marianas |RConstitution:|N Commonwealth in union with the USA. The population are US citizens. |RNature:|N 16 mountainous islands of which six are inhabited. |RPeople:|N Majority Chamorro, the remainder Carolinians and other Micronesians. |REconomy:|N Tourism, light industry and handicrafts are he main industries. Tourism accounts for about 40% of the GDP. |RHistory:|N Inhabited by Pacific argonauts 1500 BC, the Northern Marianas in 1521 AD was visited by Ferdinand Magellan. It was made a Spanish colony in 1565 and sold to Germany 1898. After World War I a Japanese mandate territory of the League of Nations and after World War II a US mandatory under UN. The Northern Marianas has been selfgoverning since 1978 and an independent commonwealth in political union with the USA since 1986.