Orote Historical Complex

At the northern tip of Guam’s Orote Peninsula, the Orote Historical Complex preserves layers of the island’s past from deep prehistory to the colonial era. Within Naval Base Guam, the site includes Fort Santiago, built by Spanish colonial authorities in the early 18th century to help secure Apra Harbor, and the nearby Spanish Steps descending to a well below the cliffs, though the steps may date instead to the early 20th-century American period. Rock shelters and caves in the area also contain evidence of human occupation from the Pre-Latte Period, around 3500 BCE. Because of this long, varied history, the complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.