Mariana Islands

The Mariana Islands is an island chain far west of the Philippines and far north of the island of New Guinea.
 * The Marianas were a Spanish colony for many years. Stamps of the Philippines were used from at least 1877. With the end of the Spanish-American War in December 1898, one of the islands, Guam, was formally annexed to the United States.
 * The other islands were sold to Germany in February 1899.
 * Philippines stamps were overprinted MARIANAS ESPAÑOLA in Saipan in September 1899.
 * In 1899, German stamps were diagonally overprinted MARIANEN (48° angle). In 1900, this became a 56° angle (steep overprint).
 * In 1901, the Yacht keytype designs were released.
 * In 1914 in World War I, Japan occupied the Marianas. Japanese stamps were used from that point.
 * In 1915-19, Germany released two watermarked Yachts that were never used.
 * In 1944, the US captured and occupied the islands. It became a Trust Territory of the US in 1947.

 File:Mariana Is diag.jpg|3pf (first) diagonal overprint. File:Mariana Is steep.jpg|25pf steep overprint. File:Marianas Spanish.jpg|1899 overprint. File:Marianas 25pf yacht.jpg|25pf Yacht. File:Marianas 3m.jpg|3m Yacht. 

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