States of Oceania - Micronesia

Modern Micronesia (Oceania)
AD 1979 - Present Day
Incorporating Heads of State (1979-2024), Autonomous Territory & Republic (1979-1986), & Independent Republic (1986-On)

The territory which forms Oceania is somewhat debatable. Broadly it encompasses Australasia (Australia, New Zealand, some minor islands, and Tasmania), Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Micronesia itself sits on the northern flank of Melanesia and to the east of the Philippines. It incorporates within that single label thousands of islands which stretch up to Japan's Bonin Islands and down to Palau.

The 'Federated States of Micronesia' (or 'FSM') are collectively known as Micronesia, but even this collective constitutes only a part of the Micronesia region. FSM is an island nation which consists of most of the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific, to the east of Palau, to the south of the Northern Mariana Islands, to the west of the Marshall Islands, to the north-west of Nauru, and to the north of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

There are more than six hundred islands within the overall territory of this modern nation state. FSM consists of the states of Yap (or Wa'ab in Yapese), Pohnpei (formerly Ponape), Kosrae (formerly Kusaie), and Chuuk (formerly Truk). The capital, Palikir, is located on the island of Pohnpei.

Early Melanesia was populated within the ten millennia after 60,000 BC, although a less approximate date is yet to be fixed (the WWF places it as recently as 40,000 BC). Its modern population has been greatly enhanced over many more recent millennia by successive waves of arrivals, giving New Guinea and the large number of other islands one of the most complex, multi-layered populations in the world.

Micronesia has a similar history of settlement by successive waves of arrivals, although probably with a much later starting date which is yet to be pinned down. The eastern Caroline Islands were probably settled as early as 1000 BC, during the Neolithic Oceania period. The arrivals would have come from the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) and Fiji.

They probably had to work their way through the Marshall Islands and then spread westwards. People from Indonesia or the Philippines probably settled the high volcanic island of Yap around the second century AD. In Pohnpei and Kosrae to the south there was general upheaval around the thirteenth century AD, probably due to an invasion from the south. The result was highly centralised political authority and a rigidly stratified society.

Prior to colonisation, and mostly continuing even today, what is now FSM consisted of an assortment of independent chiefdoms: Kapingamarangi, Kitti, Madolenihmw, Nan Madol, Nett (or Net), Sokehs, and Uh (or U).

Portuguese Captain Diogo da Rocha was the first European to sight the islands, in 1525. He was followed soon after by the Spanish, but neither attempted to settle there. Germany established a trading station on Yap in 1869. Spain made a few feeble attempts to claim the islands and, after Pope Leo XIII awarded them to the Spanish through arbitration, Spain colonised them. Following the conclusion of the Spanish-American War though, Spain sold them to Germany in 1899 which then incorporated them into German New Guinea.

Japan occupied the islands during the First World War. Following the war's conclusion the League of Nations gave Japan a mandate over them. During the Second World War the United States conquered the islands, after which they became part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, administered by the US.

They were of major strategic interest to the US. Most of the Caroline Islands became autonomous in 1979 as the 'Federated States of Micronesia'. The country became effectively independent in 1986, although technical independence did not arrive until the UN ratified the dissolution of the trust territory in 1990.

Micronesia today is a presidential democratic republic. A unicameral national congress elects the country's president and vice-president. Most governmental activity is executed at the state rather than national level. There are no formal political parties. The country has entered into a 'Compact of Free Association' with the United States under which the latter provides for the country's defence and also contributes financial aid. Micronesian citizens have much the same rights to live, work, and study in the US as do American citizens.

Far East Kingdoms

Oceania

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