Saipan (research base camp)
Size: 120.4 square kilometers (46.5 square miles)
Population:52,698 (1995)
Highest Point: Mt. Tapotchau, 474 meters (1,554 feet)
Principal communities: Garapan and Chalan Kanoa
Fast facts: Capital of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, it is roughly the size of San Francisco. It is 120 miles north of Guam. The measurement from the floor of the Marianas Trench to the crest of Mount Tapotchau is 11,507 meters (37,752 feet), compared to Mount Everest, which measures 8,848 meters (29,028 feet) from sea level. Saipan has 14 miles of beach. Tourism and garment manufacturing are the major economic activities. The island was heavily colonized by the Japanese between 1914 and 1944 until the United States took over the island in fierce fighting. That battle stripped the island of much of its vegetation and projects reseeding acacia trees have taken place since.