IT USED TO BE CALLED KASAMATA

Today we simply call it "Government House" but, for some time during the Spanish period, the area was called Kasamåta, or in Spanish Casamata. It's mentioned in some Spanish-era documents.

That word has a meaning in Spanish. It means a domed structure where artillery is placed. Here's one photographic example of a casamata :

The late Marjorie Driver, for several decades head of the Spanish Documents section of the Micronesian Area Research Center, says that a casamata was built on "Mount Tutuhan," the hillside behind the Governor's Palacio, near Fort Santa Águeda. The location makes sense for one, as a fort with canon would need an artillery shed nearby.

Since the fort was not built till 1800, the casamata couldn't have been earlier than that. Some scholars say it was built by Governor Villalobos in 1833. So, the area wouldn't have been called kasamåta by the local people till that time. What the pre-Spanish name of the place was, if there had been one, is unknown to me unless and until we find some evidence for it.

A vigía, or lookout point, is also indicated at Fort San Ågueda by Governor Villalobos in 1833.

Here are two indications from documents from the past that show that, in the past, our people called the area where Government House is Kasamåta.

In 1904, a witness in court was testifying about an event occurring in the area of Casamata (Spanish spelling). The line in the written record of that testimony says, "el lugar llamado Casamata," meaning "the place called Casamata."

Some ten years later, or so, a student wrote an essay about an incident that could be heard from Casamata, where the tuberculosis hospital was at the time. In that period, Guam's tuberculosis ward was located where Government House is today.

Apparently there were remains of the Spanish casamata until they were removed, demolished or built over when the present Government House was built after World War II.