The Chamorro Village of Guam after Resettlement

The New and the Old

By Fr. Francis Hezel and Dr. David Atienza

Abstract

In pre-contact times, the Chamoru population lived in modest sized settlements scattered throughout the island. Spanish resettlement began in 1680 as an attempt to gather people into a few larger villages so that they could live within easy reach of the church. The presentation, after reviewing the main villages on each island, offers a contrast between the new village and the old. It also suggests that there were certain zones that were free from foreign influence even at that time. It will also focus on ways in which the village layout might have changed, how the life of the people was altered, and the manner in which the new church may have unconsciously adopted cultural practices, thus helping preserve them.