Governor Juan Antonio de Salas conducted a counter-insurgency campaign that successfully created a system of collaboration in which Guamanians turned in rebels and murderers and transferred most of the people from about 180 villages to seven towns, a policy known as reducción.

The Spaniards did not attempt to control the northern islands again until 1694, when Quiroga captured Saipan but faced an entrenched defense by the population of Tinian, who had taken shelter on Aguiguan.

While some inland latte stone structures were located along ridge tops that allowed easy spotting of approaching warriors, it is not clear they were placed there for defense or simply because they were along footpaths.

Early European reports describe Chamorro warfare as highly disorganized, small scale, and triggered by minor disputes such as cut food trees.

However, Guam was a minor piece of the vast Spanish Empire and few galleons even made port, as they were content to furl their sails offshore long enough to trade for water and food with Chamorros who came out on their sakman.

[4] A permanent Spanish presence was not established until June 15, 1668, when Father Diego Luis de San Vitores landed at the village of Hagåtña, in charge of a force of 31, including five other Jesuit missionaries.

[3]: 10  The mission established its headquarters in Hagåtña, consisting of a grouping of structures, including the precursor to the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica.

[3]: 15  In January 1669, the first stone and lime church was dedicated in Hagåtña, followed by the opening of a boy's elementary school, the first formal institution for education to be established in the Pacific.

[3]: 17-18 A few days after arriving, the first confrontation occurred when a spear-wielding Chamorro threatened a Mexican mission helper who was attempting to destroy a shrine of ancestral skulls, under the orders of the priests.

Contemporary Spanish accounts state that Chamorros in areas that regularly interacted with the mission group, such as Hagåtña, did not appear to give credence to these stories.

He sent to letter to the Philippines asking for 200 additional men, this time equipped with weapons, as well as asking that Manila galleons stopping by be prepared "to carry out punishment and remedy whatever misfortunes might occur.

"[3]: 21  In late 1669, San Vitores led a dozen armed members of his mission, as well as some Chamorro converts, to Tinian in an attempt to stop a war between two villages that threatened to destabilize the missionary efforts there.

Medina and his catechist Hipolito de la Cruz were killed by a group of young men on Saipan as they prepared to baptize a sick child.

"[3]: 24 The outrage at the trial combined with the anger at the attempts to destroy ancestral shrines and undermine makanas to move the residents of Hagatña to open resistance.

The besieging Chamorros conducted themselves largely by the norms of ritualized island warfare, characterized by ceremonial posturing, displays of physical prowess, and the avoidance of an all-out battle that might result in heavy casualties.

[3]: 33 Unlike the Jesuit Superiors before him, Esplana believed that "for the good of the Christian community it was necessary to give an example of punishment that would warn the barbarians, whom mildness only made more bold."

[3]: 37 In June 1676, Francisco de Irrisari arrived on Guam and became the first person to take the title of Governor of the Mariana Islands, replacing both Esplana as military commander and the mission for civil matters as he formalized complete authority.

A few weeks later, the garrison had to put down a revolt in Orote that was incited when a Chamorro girl who attended a mission school and had converted to Christianity married one of the Spanish militia against the wishes of her father.

Other pro-Spanish chiefs included Ignacio Hineti of Sinajana and Alonso So'on of Agat, who led battalions in support of Spanish attacks on hostile villages.

[3]: 41 In June 1678, the new governor, Juan Antonio de Salas arrived with thirty additional soldiers, and immediately restarted the violent suppression of resisting villages.

Adherence to these new rules would be rewarded by special recognition and titles and a badge of authority, which was very attractive to the Chamorros as their traditional culture used similar status signifiers.

Still, the Spaniards burnt houses outside these villages to discourage unauthorized settlement, thereby creating the lanchu system that became typical of Chamorro society, in which people lived in towns but worked on remote ranches.

As the first official governor, Saravia appointed Antonio Ayhi as lieutenant-governor of the colony and gave him the title maestre-de-campo, roughly the equivalent of a colonel.

The campaign ended, Quiroga sent 25 soldiers to force submission of the sparsely populated islands further north while he began constructing a fort on Saipan.

[3]: 63 An even larger force of rebels returned a few days later to attempt to take the presidio but were met defenders reinforced by Ignacio Hineti and his allied Chamorros.

The Jesuits armed themselves to defend the stockade, eventually forcing the attackers to withdraw by sakman, where they incited Chamorros both on Guam and in the northern islands to join the rebellion.

He ordered soldiers to "shoot at sight any enemy islander", resulting in the deaths of "two children aged eight and nine years, two women who were ill, and an infirm old man.

In early 1691, Esplana, Quiroga, and 80 soldiers sailed to Rota, where the visibly trembling governor pled the populace for peace before ordering the expedition back to Guam.

Several Spanish soldiers were killed by stones and spears when trying to approach and Quiroga withdrew to Saipan, while he waited for 20 sakmans of Chamorro militia to catch up.

When the Jesuit pastor of Saipan realized that the people from Gani had begun sneaking back to their home islands, he called on the new governor in Guam, José Madrazo, to complete the reduction of the north.