Geography

The term 'Micronesia' refers to both a region and a country.  Micronesia the region contains four great archipelagos, located in the western Pacific largely north of the equator; one of these is the Caroline Islands.  Micronesia the country refers to the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), which encompasses all the Caroline Islands except Palau.  Extending over 1,500 miles, the FSM totals only 270 square miles of land area.  It consists of four main islands—Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk, and Yap—and an array of small outer islands, some amongst the most isolated places on earth.

This area spawns more tropical typhoons than anywhere else, an average of 19 a year.  Rainfall is heavy, although atypical weather patterns in recent years have caused drought.  Micronesians are blessed with a rich marine environment and some rainforest on the high islands, but as with all smaller Pacific islands the ecology is fragile.  The main environmental challenge is global warming, which can wipe out entire coral reefs and thus the inshore fisheries upon which many depend.

History

The Caroline Islands were settled from Southeast Asia perhaps as early as 3,000 years ago, and substantial stone ruins on Pohnpei dated as early as the 7th century AD attest to the existence of a sophisticated civilization nearly 1,000 years before the arrival of Europeans.  The development of this civilization was predicated on trade and cultural exchanges between the disparate islands, and that necessitated long voyages by outrigger canoe.  Micronesians became the greatest sea voyagers in the world.

The Spanish first colonized the region, primarily using Guam as a stopover between the Americas and the Philippines.  In the 19th century, whalers and traders used some of the other islands as ports of call, introducing diseases that caused catastrophic epidemics.  Christian missionaries followed.

In 1899, the Spanish sold Micronesia to the Germans, who in turn lost it to the Japanese during World War I.  The US took over after World War II, administering the entire region as the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific.  Independence commenced in 1979, but the FSM is still party to a 'Compact of Free Association' with the US, under which it ceded control of its foreign and defense policies in return for large economic subsidies (set to expire in 2001).

People

The population is 113,000, with a population density of 420 per square mile; considering the fragile ecology of the islands, this is quite high.  Religion is integral to the Micronesian way of life; the east is Protestant and the west Catholic.  Although there are eight different native languages, English is the lingua franca and nearly universally understood.

Many islanders live a subsistence lifestyle of fishing and farming, supplemented by small incomes from cash crops (mainly dried coconut meat, or copra), but all islanders benefit from the foreign aid as it funds universal access to education and health care.

After decades of close ties with the US, Micronesians have acquired a taste for Budweiser, Hollywood, Nike and Spam.  In the remote outer islands people maintain a more traditional lifestyle.

Economy

The FSM is a middle-income country, with a GNP per capita of $1,800.  Tourism, fishing and copra production are the major industries, but these would be insufficient to cover Micronesia’s dependence on imports such as fuel and foreign foods.  US subsidies fill the gap.

Overall, foreign aid represents 37% of GNP, or about $700 per capita.  Although the Japanese provide some, most is attributable to US payments under the Compact.  It is unclear what will happen post-2001.

Tourism in the FSM is light, with perhaps 15,000 arrivals per year.  Many of these are divers come to enjoy two world-class attractions: the manta rays of Yap and the sunken Japanese fleet at Chuuk.  Outside the dive resorts, tourists are scarce.

Sources:  World Bank (1998 data), Dorling Kindersley World Reference Atlas, UNDP Human Development Report, Lonely Planet