Merizo is the southernmost village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in Guam

Guam

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

, a U.S. territory. Cocos Island

Cocos Island (Guam)

Cocos Island is an island off the southern tip of Guam, located within the Merizo Barrier Reef, part of the municipality of Merizo. The island is uninhabited, long in a southwest-northeast direction, but only between and wide, and has an area of . It sits atop the southwestern coral reef rim...

  is a part of the municipality. The village's population has decreased since the island's 2000 census.

During the first Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 missionary efforts on Guam, Merizo was the site of resistance encouraged by Choco, a Chinese resident of the village. The parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 of Merizo was the second established by the Spanish on Guam.