MICRONESIA

officially Federated States of Micronesia, country in the western Pacific Ocean. It is composed of more than 600 islands and islets in the Caroline Islands archipelago and is divided, roughly along cultural and linguistic lines, into the states of Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae. The total land area is 271 square miles (701 square kilometres). The capital is Palikir, on the island of Pohnpei. To the west of the Federated States of Micronesia lies the Republic of Palau, also in the Caroline archipelago, and to the east is the Republic of the Marshall Islands. These two nations, together with the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas and the Federated States of Micronesia, were administered by the United States as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands from 1947 to 1986. ethnogeographic grouping of Pacific Islands encompassing the generally small islands and island groups of Kiribati (formerly the Gilbert Islands), Guam, Nauru, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, the Federated States of Micronesia (Yap, Pohnpei , Chuuk , and Kosrae of the Caroline Islands), the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau (Belau). Located, for the most part, northward from the Equator, Micronesia (from Greek mikros, small, and nesoi, islands) includes the westernmost of the Pacific Islands. The island arcs of Micronesia rise abruptly from the deep ocean and comprise volcanic mountain ranges built up from lava from the fractured ocean floor. When the mountain mass rises above the ocean surface, the resulting islands have topography that is generally rugged, with sharp peaks, ridges, cliffs, and (on those with streams) canyons and waterfalls. Termed high islands because of their high elevations, these islands are often fringed with coral reefs. By contrast, low islands are composed exclusively of coral formations, which result in either single coral islands or, more commonly, coral atolls. Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshalls is the world's largest coral atoll. Mangrove and tropical forests and scrubland constitute most of the ground cover on the islands. Native species of animals include snakes, lizards, and numerous species of birds. A greater variety of both flora and fauna is found on the high islands. The reefs and lagoons abound in lobsters, shrimps, clams, oysters, octopuses, turtles, and innumerable species of fish. Western Micronesia (comprising Palau and the Mariana Islands) was probably settled by peoples from Indonesia or the Philippines some 3,500 years ago, and eastern Micronesia was possibly settled from eastern Melanesia at about the same time. Among the high-island cultures of Micronesia there are seven major cultures: the Chamorros, most of whom live on the four southernmost of the Marianas; the Palauans; the Yapese; the Chuukese, of the dozen or so islands in the Chuuk Lagoon; the Pohnpeians; the Kosraeans; and some of the Nauruans. The two distinctive low-island cultures are those of the Marshall Islands and the Gilberts (composing Kiribati). Settlement patterns of the Micronesians were typified by the dispersed, extended-family homestead. Those who inhabited the larger atolls generally lived along the lagoon side. Most Micronesian communities had meetinghouses and canoe houses (for storage). At the time of European contact, Micronesian extended families lived in thatched, one-room houses. Communities were small and were located near a stream, a lagoon, or the sea. Except for the Yapese, Micronesians generally followed a system of matrilineage. They commonly channeled their social, economic, and political activities along lines of mutual aid and obligation among local groups related by blood or marriage. Male heads of various kin groups acted as leaders within the community. Early Micronesians lived by subsistence horticulture and fishing; horticulture was a more likely enterprise on the high islands and fishing among the atoll inhabitants. Fish, breadfruit, bananas, pandanus, taro, tropical yams, and coconut were widely distributed and served as the main foods. Land was the most important property among the Micronesians. On the larger high islands, some of the interior land was communally owned. Feasts were an important aspect of island life, providing one of many types of exchange common in Micronesia. The Micronesians were polytheists, believing in several high gods, a large number of spirits attached to specific localities or credited with performing specific functions, and a number of ancestors and deceased neighbours who could sometimes make contact with their living descendants and friends. Much of Micronesian art was ephemeral, consisting of singing, dancing, storytelling, and body painting. Few permanent artifacts remain. Contact with European culture had a great effect on Micronesian arts. Traditional sports, dance, and music are performed more often at the instigation of curious outsiders than for members of the local communities. The Austronesian languages of the varied populations of Micronesia are mutually unintelligible. Polynesian languages are spoken by the inhabitants of the Ellice Islands and some isolated atolls. English is also widely spoken. In recent times substantial movements of indigenous population have occurred within Micronesia, generally from the low islands to the nearest high island. The economies of most Micronesian islands still are based largely on subsistence farming and fishing. The principal cash crop on most islands is coconuts (which are dried for copra). Guam and some other large islands rear some cattle and water buffalo, but pigs and chickens predominate on all the islands. Milk and dairy products must be imported by most of the islands. There are no sizable mineral deposits in Micronesia except phosphates, which have been mined only on Nauru. Many islands use coral limestone for cement and other construction materials. In general, local industries are limited to processing agricultural commodities such as copra, coconut oil, and fish and to producing furniture, small boats, bottled soft drinks, and handicrafts. Construction is concentrated on projects sponsored by the military on islands associated with the United States and on roads, housing, and basic infrastructure elsewhere. The periodic devastation wrought by typhoons requires that all Micronesian islands have facilities for repair and maintenance. Tourism is of growing importance as air transport is extended. Touring by boat is especially popular throughout Micronesia. The first European colonies in Micronesia were established by Spain in 1668. After the loss of its Pacific colonies, Spain sold the islands to Germany between 1885 and 1899. Japan occupied the islands in 1914 and was granted a mandate in 1920 by the League of Nations to govern them. The islands were heavily fortified by the Japanese before World War II and were occupied by the United States after bitter fighting in 1944. The United Nations granted a trusteeship mandate to the United States in 1947. A three-branch government patterned on the U.S. federal government was created in 1968. In 197374 the Congress of Micronesia adopted guidelines for a constitutional convention that would lead to independence. Regional differences led to a division of the islands into four constituencies when the proposed constitution was voted on in 1978. The Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk, and Yap districts approved it and formed the Federated States of Micronesia. Of the districts that rejected the constitution, the Northern Marianas chose commonwealth status with the United States in 1978. The Marshall Islands voted for an independent constitution in 1979. By 1991 the status of Palau alone remained uncertain. officially Federated States of Micronesia republic of the western Pacific Ocean, comprising the island states (from west to east) of Yap, Chuuk (Truk), Pohnpei (Ponape), and Kosrae, all in the Caroline Islands. The capital is Palikir on the island of Pohnpei. Area 271 square miles (701 square km). Pop. (1991 est.) 111,000. The eastern Caroline Islands, like the Marshall and Gilbert islands, were probably first settled from the New HebridesFiji area in the millennium before the Christian Era. Archaeological and linguistic evidence suggests that the earliest migrants worked their way up the chain of islands to the east and gradually spread westward from the Marshalls. Pottery dating to the beginning of the Christian Era has been found in Chuuk, and artifacts of similar antiquity have been unearthed in other islands in the east. The languages of the area, with the exception of the two Polynesian outliers and Yap, are closely related to one another and show striking similarities to Vanuatuan tongues. The high island of Yap appears to have been settled from the west, probably from the Philippines or Indonesia. Pottery and shell adzes found there date from the 2nd century AD and show a resemblance to types discovered in the Marianas. Yap's caste system and other features of its social organization are unparalleled elsewhere in the area. The renowned Yapese stone money was quarried in nearby Palau and the Marianas. In later centuries a reciprocal tribute and trade system was evolved with the surrounding coral atolls, sometimes termed the Yap Empire or Yapese Empire. In the eastern islands of Pohnpei and Kosrae, some seven centuries ago, a major social upheaval occurred, possibly under the impact of invasion from the south. Fortified settlements were built of huge basaltic logs, their ruins still visible today, and political authority over each island was centralized even as the society became more stratified. The islands were visited occasionally during the 16th century by Spanish navigators and were later named for the Spanish king Charles II. During the 19th century European naval ships followed whalers and traders to the islands, and the inhabitants experienced their first intensive contact with foreigners and their wares. In 1886 Spain finally colonized the Carolines, but its short rule was ended in 1899 when the islands were sold to Germany at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War. Germany, in turn, yielded the islands at the outbreak of World War I to Japan, which gained formal title to them in 1920 as a League of Nations mandate. At first Japan attempted to develop a solid economy; later it used the islands as an outlet for surplus population; and finally it fortified them just before World War II. In July 1947 the Carolines, together with the Marshalls and northern Marianas, became a United Nations trust territory under U.S. administration. They were designated as a strategic area to allow the United States to set up military bases as deemed necessary; consequently, ultimate responsibility for the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands rested in the UN Security Council rather than in the UN General Assembly, as was the case with other trust territories. Micronesian leaders began negotiations with the United States for full self-government in 1969. The constitution that was drafted in 1975 became the basis for the federated government that went into effect in 1979. By that time, however, the Marianas, the Marshalls, and Palau had voted to separate from the proposed federation; this left only the inner states of Yap, Truk (later Chuuk), Kosrae, and Ponape (later Pohnpei) to compose the new political entity. In a 1983 plebiscite, voters approved a Compact of Free Association with the United States. The compact provides for internal self-government for the Federated States of Micronesia, while requiring that the United States remain responsible for defense and external security and that it provide financial assistance. The articles of the compact provide for the Federated States of Micronesia to become fully independent and alter its status with the United States at any time, providing this change of status is approved in plebiscites. The compact has a 15-year duration but is renewable by mutual consent. The Federated States of Micronesia became a member of the UN on Sept. 17, 1991. The Rev. Francis X. Hezel, S.J. Additional reading For a geographic survey, see Kenneth Brower, Micronesia, the Land, the People, and the Sea (1981); and William H. Stewart, Explorer's Atlas of Tourist Maps for the Federated States of Micronesia, Pacific Ocean: Kosrae, Ponape, Truk, and Yap (1982). Other sources include Steven C. Smith, The Federated States of Micronesia: An Emerging Nation: An Overview for Peace Corps Volunteers (1986); and Austin Ranney and Howard R. Penniman, Democracy in the Islands: The Micronesian Plebiscites of 1983 (1985).