The Purpose of this study is to investigate the importance of the Mariana Islands to Spain at the beginning of the nineteenth century when the Spanish Empire had fallen into decadence and had begun to suffer the loss of her oversees possessions. There is a void in the nineteenth century literature of the Marianas, a period during which it has been succinctly said the islands were ignored by Spain, yet writers have failed to explain the reasons for the lack of attention or the conditions in the islands at the time. This void, or lacuna in information, is the focus of this study.