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Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. Tinian is about 5 miles (8km) of its sister island, Saipan. It has a land area of about 40 sq.mi. (100 km²). Lightly populated, but heavily garrisoned by Japanese forces in World War II, Tinian, with its sister islands, had passed through Spanish and German hands prior to becoming a Protectorate of Japan following World War I. Under Japanese administration, Tinian was largely a sugar plantation.
Tinian was recaptured by the United States in July 1944 in the battle of Tinian. The island was transformed into the busiest airfield of the war, with six 8,000 foot (2400 m) runways. It was from Tinian that the bombers carrying the atomic bombs Little Boy and Fat Man were launched against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The airfields now lie overgrown and abandoned.
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