Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)
Nan Madol
Pohnpei, FSM
The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is a country in the mid-central Pacific Ocean, made up of four member states: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae. Comprising the majority of the Caroline Islands, the country stretches across more than 1.2 million square miles of ocean, situated between Palau, the Marianas, Papua New Guinea, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
All of these islands were settled roughly 2,000 years ago by seafaring peoples from Australia and mainland Asia, who settled across the Pacific Ocean. European contact occurred first under the Portuguese in 1521; later the islands came under Spanish Rule along with the Marianas, Philippines, and Palau. Following the conclusion of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the entirety of the Spanish Pacific with the exception of Guam and the Philippines were sold to the Germans, who administered the islands with a firm but not excessive style of management; remnants of their infrastructure survive today.
The outbreak of the First World War saw the Japanese take possession of all of the German-held territory in the Pacific, later codified in a League of Nations Mandate. The Japanese made every attempt to create a society exactly like the one back home; this succeeded in some ways but failed in others; ultimately they held onto the islands until most (not all) were violently taken from them in the Second World War. Scars from the various battles that took place are visible throughout the islands; Chuuk in particular was home to a massive Japanese naval base that was destroyed by the U.S. Fifth Fleet in February 1944.
Following the war, the United Nations created the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI), a body meant to help these former colonies move toward independence. On 10 May 1979, four districts of the TTPI voted a new constitution, and became the Federated States of Micronesia. FSM operates under a compact of free association with the United States, and is a member of the Pacific Islands Forum.
National Government of the Federated States of Micronesia
Yap State
Palau National Museum
Yap State - Habele Institute
Stone Money of Yap
Other items of interest:
Japanese G4M bomber wreck
German radio station ruins
Chuuk State
Japanese Ruins of Chuuk
Visit Chuuk
Dive Sites of Chuuk
Other items of interest:
Japanese Fourth Fleet Hospital ruins
Japanese caves and communication bunker
Pohnpei State
Nan Madol Ruins
Visit Pohnpei
Other items of interest:
Japanese fortifications at Sokehs Ridge
Japanese Tank Graveyard
Sokehs Mass Grave (German graveyard)
Kosrae State
Visit Kosrae
Other items of interest:
Lelu Ruins
Menkac Ruins
Japanese Weather Station