Maug (from the Chamorro name for the islands, Ma'ok, meaning "steadfast" or "everlasting") consists of a group of three small uninhabited islands. This island group is part of the Northern Islands Municipality of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, itself part of the Marianas archipelago in the Oceanian sub-region of Micronesia. Geography The Maug Islands lie about south of Farallon de Pajaros and north of Asuncion. The archipelago consists of three islands, the eroded exposed outer rim of a submerged volcano with a caldera with a diameter of approximately . The floor of the caldera is around below sea level, and in the middle is a mountain whose summit is only below sea level. The total area of the islands combined is , and the highest point is above sea level. About northwest of the Maug Islands is Supply Reef, a submarine volcano whose summit is below sea level. The Maug Islands and the Supply Reef are part of the same volcanic massif, and are connected by a saddle about below sea level. Environment The islands are overgrown with savannah grass. On East Island are Pandanus trees and coconut palms (Cocos nucifera), near the former settlement. Important Bird Area The islands have been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because they support populations of Micronesian megapodes, red-tailed tropicbirds, brown noddies, Micronesian myzomelas and Micronesian starlings. History From a European perspective, the Maug Islands were discovered on 22 August 1522 by Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa, who named it Las Monjas (The Nuns in Spanish). Gómez de Espinosa was a member of Ferdinand Magellan‘s attempted circumnavigation of the globe, and after Magellan’s death unsuccessfully attempted to navigate the ship Trinidad across the Pacific Ocean to Mexico. Gomez de Espinosa found the largest island of the Maug Islands settled by Chamorros, who called the island Mao or Pamo. Gómez de Espinosa freed the Chamorro whom he had kidnapped on Agrihan and three of his crewmen deserted the Trinidad on the island. Two of the deserters were killed by the Chamorros, but the third, Gonzalo Alvarez de Vigo, later came to Guam. In 1669, the Spanish missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores visited the Maug Islands and named it San Lorenzo (St. Lawrence). In 1695, all of the inhabitants were forcibly deported to Saipan, and three years later, to Guam. Since that time, the islands have been uninhabited. Maug