FEMA - 9332 - Photograph by Marty Bahamonde taken on 04-03-1998 in Guam

Chuuk State (; also known as Truk) is one of the four states of the

Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (, abbreviated FSM), or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Micronesia, a region of Oceania. The federation encompasses the majority of the Caroline Islands (excluding Palau) and consists of four Admin ...

(FSM). It consists of several island groups:

Nomoneas Nomoneas are a group of islands of Chuuk Lagoon, Chuuk, Micronesia. They are part of the Caroline Islands. Administratively they are divided into two districts: Northern Nomoneas and Southern Nomoneas. The main islands of Northern Nomoneas are Fo ...

, Faichuuk, the

Hall Islands The Hall Islands are a group of two large atolls in the northern part of the state of Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia. In the broader sense, a third and smaller atoll is included. Nomwin, the western atoll, and Murilo, the eastern one, ...

Namonuito Atoll Namonuito Atoll, also called Namonweito, Weito, or Magur Islands, is the largest atoll of the Federated States of Micronesia and of the Caroline Islands with a total area of , unless one considers the still larger Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon as a type o ...

(Magur Islands), Pattiw (Western Islands), and the Mortlock Islands. Chuuk is by far the FSM's most populous state, with 50,000 inhabitants on .

Chuuk Lagoon Chuuk Lagoon, previously Truk Atoll, is an atoll in the central Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1,800 kilometres (970 nautical miles) northeast of New Guinea and is part of Chuuk State within the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). A protective ...

is where most people live.

Weno Weno, formerly Moen, is an island municipality of Chuuk State of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). It is the largest town in the FSM and the capital of Chuuk. It has an estimated area of 20 square kilometers. Population The population ...

island, in the lagoon, is Chuuk's

state capital Below is an index of pages containing lists of capital city, capital cities. National capitals *List of national capitals *List of national capitals by latitude *List of national capitals by population *List of national capitals by area *List of ...

and the country's biggest city. It may hold a referendum on independence in the near future, although this referendum has been repeatedly postponed.

History

Indigenous settlement

Chuuk was first settled by

Austronesian Austronesian may refer to: *The Austronesian languages *The historical Austronesian peoples The Austronesian people, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples who have settled in Taiwan, maritime Sout ...

s, believed to be from the

Lapita culture The Lapita culture is the name given to a Neolithic Austronesian peoples, Austronesian people and their distinct material culture, who settled Island Melanesia via a seaborne migration at around 1600 to 500 BCE. The Lapita people are believed t ...

Island Melanesia Island Melanesia is a subregion of Melanesia in Oceania. It is located east of New Guinea island, from the Bismarck Archipelago to New Caledonia.Steadman, 2006. ''Extinction & biogeography of tropical Pacific birds'' See also Archaeology a ...

. Archaeological evidence indicates that islands of Feefen and Wééné Islands had human settlements in the second and first century BCE. Later evidence indicates that widespread human settlements appeared in Chuuk during the 14th century CE, as the Chuukese culture was formed.

Spanish colonization

The first sighting recorded by Europeans was made by the Spanish navigator Alvaro de Saavedra on board the ''Florida'' during August or September 1528. They were later visited by the Spaniard Alonso de Arellano on 15 January 1565 on board the galleon patache San Lucas. As part of the

Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the cen ...

, Truk was claimed by the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

, which struggled to control the islands in the late 19th century. The Chuuk Lagoon was then inhabited by Chuukese people (an

group) that participated in intermittent wars, as well as a small population of foreign merchants and missionaries, mostly linked to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Spanish control over the islands was in part nominal. The Spanish stopped to raise a flag over Chuuk in 1886, and returned in 1895 as part of an attempt to assert control and negotiate peace between the tribes of Chuuk. No major Spanish settlement was established and traditional life continued until the German colonial era.

German and Japanese rule

The Caroline Islands were sold to the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

in 1899, after Spain withdrew from the Pacific after the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

in which it lost its main colony in Asia, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. Germany incorporated the territory into its domain in the

German New Guinea German New Guinea () consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups, and was part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , became a German protectorate in 188 ...

. During World War I, the

Imperial Japanese navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

was tasked with pursuing and destroying the German East Asian Squadron and protecting the shipping lanes of Allied trade in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. During the course of this operation, the Japanese Navy seized German possessions in the Mariana Islands, the Carolinas, the Marshall Islands and Palau groups by October 1914. Chuuk then became a possession of the Empire of Japan under the mandate of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

after the defeat of Germany in World War I. Dublon Island under bombing attack

United States rule

Chuuk was one of six districts of the

Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was a United Nations trust territory in Micronesia administered by the United States from 1947 to 1994. The Imperial Japanese South Seas Mandate had been seized by the U.S. during the Pacifi ...

(TTPI) which were administered by the United States under charter from the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

from the end of the Second World War to the mid-1980s. The termination of U.S. administration of the Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Mariana Islands districts of the TTPI occurred on 3 November 1986.

Independence

The

, including Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, and Pohnpei, was established in 1979 and signed a

Compact of Free Association The Compacts of Free Association (COFA) are international agreements establishing and governing the relationships of free association between the United States and the three Pacific Island sovereign states of the Federated States of Micronesia ( ...

with the U.S. (effective 3 November 1986). As of recent times, Chuuk has been pushing harder for

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

. An independence referendum was originally scheduled to coincide with federal elections on 3 March 2015, but was pushed back to 5 March 2019. The independence referendum was further pushed back to March 2022, with a date to be announced, while the constitutional legality of the proposed secession is determined.

Geography

To the west is

Yap State Yap State ( or ) is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, located in the westernmost portion of the country. The state borders Palau to the southwest, Guam to the north, and Chuuk State to the east. According to the state' ...

. To the east are Pohnpei State and

Kosrae State Kosrae ( ), formerly known as Kusaie or Strong's Island, is an island in the Caroline Islands archipelago, and state within the Federated States of Micronesia. It includes the main island of Kosrae, traditionally known as Ualung (which means the ...

is further east. The main population center of Chuuk State is the

, a large archipelago with mountainous islands surrounded by a string of islets on a

barrier reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

. The two major geographical and dialectic divisions of the Chuuk Lagoon are Faichuuk, the western islands, and Namoneas, the eastern islands. Chuuk State also includes several more sparsely populated "outer island" groups, including the Mortlock Islands to the southeast, the

(Pafeng) to the north,

to the northwest, and the Pattiw Region to west. The Pattiw Region is of particular interest in that it has some of the most traditional islands in the Pacific and is culturally related to outer islands of

Yap Yap (, sometimes written as , or ) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federate ...

. This group includes the islands of Pollap, Tamatam,

Poluwat Poluwat, also Polowat, formerly Puluwat, is a coral atoll and a municipality of Chuuk state, Federated States of Micronesia. Name The name of the island goes back to Proto-Chuukic ''*pʷolowado''. Geography Polowat is located in the northwes ...

, and Houk. There are still traditional master navigators—Poluwat and Pollap are considered to have some of the best navigators and ocean-going

outrigger canoe Outrigger boats are various watercraft featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull (watercraft), hull. They can range from small dugout (boat), dugout canoes to large ...

s in the Pacific. In the islands of the Pattiw Region, and some of the Islands of Yap, are the last two remaining schools of navigation, Weriyeng and Faaluush. Visiting the Pattiw Region in the west, however, is difficult due to the lack of reliable transportation. Houk probably has the most accessible airstrip in the Pattiw Region, with planes landing every one or two weeks. The state shares its

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...

with

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia, namely the eastern portion of the city including the CBD.

Climate

Typhoon Chataan

On 2 July 2002, heavy rains from Tropical Storm Chataan caused more than thirty landslides that killed forty-seven people and injured dozens of others, in the state's deadliest weather disaster. The landslides occurred throughout the day, some within just minutes of each other.

Demographics

Chuuk is the most populous of the FSM's states. At the census held on 1 April 2000, it had 53,595 inhabitants, compared with 34,486 for

Pohnpei Pohnpei (formerly known as Ponape or Ascension, from Pohnpeian: "upon (''pohn'') a stone altar (''pei'')") is an island of the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group. It belongs to Pohnpei State, one of the fou ...

, 11,241 for

and 7,686 for

Kosrae Kosrae ( ), formerly known as Kusaie or Strong's Island, is an island in the Caroline Islands archipelago, and States of Micronesia, state within the Federated States of Micronesia. It includes the main island of Kosrae, traditionally known as Ual ...

; at the census held on 4 April 2010, it had 48,654 inhabitants, compared with 36,196 for

, 11,377 for

and 6,616 for

.Office of Statistics, Budget and Economic Management, Overseas Development Assistance and Compact Management.

Religion

The majority of the state's population is affiliated with

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

as a result of the activity of missionary groups first from Spain and then from Germany and the United States.

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

was introduced during the Spanish colonization period, followed by the arrival of various Protestant groups. The main religious building in the state is the

Immaculate Heart of Mary The Immaculate Heart of Mary () is a Catholic devotion which refers to the view of the interior life of Mary, her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and, above all, her virginal love for God the Father, her maternal love for ...

Cathedral in Tunnuk,

, which is under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of the Caroline Islands (''Diocese Carolinensium'') suffragan of the ecclesiastical province of Agaña in

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

. Other churches in the state include

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

Church on Lekinioch Island,

Christ the King Christ the King is a title of Jesus in Christianity referring to the idea of the Kingdom of God where Christ is described as being seated at the right hand of God. Many Christian denominations consider the kingly office of Christ to be one o ...

Church in Neiwe, Houk Catholic Church,

Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on,Ainsworth, 122 but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de La ...

Church in Weno, St. Ignatius Church in Fonoton, among others.

Language

The people of the country speak the

Chuukese language Chuukese (), also rendered Trukese (), is a Chuukic language of the Austronesian language family spoken primarily on the islands of Chuuk in the Caroline Islands in Micronesia. There are communities of speakers in Pohnpei, and Guam. Estimates ...

, a

Micronesian language The Micronesian languages form a family of Oceanic languages. The twenty languages are known for their lack of plain labial consonant and have instead two series, palatalized and labio-velarized labials, similar to the related Kanak languages. ...

Culture

Jesuit mission at Weno

The New York Province of the Society of Jesus (the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

) maintains a mission school on the island of Weno in Chuuk. Xavier High School is housed at the former Japanese communications center. It is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

institution, drawing students from all the island groups of the Federated States of Micronesia, as well as

Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...

and the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

. Teachers are both Jesuit and lay and come from Micronesia, the U.S.,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Spirit possession

Although Chuuk is an overwhelmingly

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

society, traditional beliefs in

spirit possession Spirit Possession is an altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors which are purportedly caused by the control of a human body and its functions by Supernatural#Spirit, spirits, ghosts, demons, angels, or Deity, gods. The concept ...

by the dead still exist. Allegedly, these spirits overwhelmingly possess women, and spirit possession is usually brought on by family conflicts. The spirits, speaking through the women, typically admonish family members to treat each other better.

Cultural references

There are some references on the

, treating guests, and on beliefs in the sci-fi book "Reefsong" from Carol Severance.

Municipalities

Of the 40 municipalities of the state, 16 fall within the

and 24 in the Outer Islands. In the table below, each is followed by its population at the 2010 Census: *

(36,158) **

Faichuk Faichuk (also Faichuuk, Tol, or the Western Islands) is a group of four islands separated from one another by narrow canals in the western part of Truk Lagoon, Chuuk, Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of a ...

(11,305) *** Eot (266) *** Fanapanges (672) *** Paata (1,107) *** Polle (1,498) *** Romanum (865) *** Tol (4,579) *** Udot (1,680) *** Wonei (638) ** Northern Namoneas (14,620) *** Fono (388) *** Piis-Penau (376) ***

(13,856) ** Southern Namoneas (10,233) *** Fefan (3,471) ***

Param Param may refer to: Places * Param, Rampur Param is a village in Rampur district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh. It is 3 km from Ram Ganga and 8 km from the Grand Truck Road. Background The vi ...

(342) *** Tonowas (3,517) *** Tsis (349) ***

Uman Uman (, , ) is a city in Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the east of the historical region of Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River. Uman serves as the administrative c ...

(2,554) * Outer Islands (12,496) ** Mortlocks (5,677) *** Etal (672) *** Kutu (323) ***

Losap Losap is an atoll located in the Eastern Islands or Upper Mortlock Islands group in the outer islands region of the state of Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia. It is located to the SE of Chuuk. Losap is also the name of one of the fou ...

(248) *** Lukunor (848) *** Moch (932) *** Nama (676) ***

Namoluk Namoluk (meaning "lagoon in the middle") is an atoll and municipality in the state of Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia. It is the smallest atoll in Micronesia, with a total surface of only 13 km2 and a land mass of less than 1 km ...

(355) ***

Oneop Oneop is an island in the Mortlock Islands, and municipality in the state of Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia.Statoids.com
ret ...

(400) ***

Pis-Losap Pis-Losap is a village and municipality in the state of Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (, abbreviated FSM), or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Micronesia, a region of Oceania. The federati ...

(258) *** Satawan (692) *** Ta (273) ** Northwest (6,819) ***

Fananu Fananu is a municipality in the state of Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia. Consisting of the easternmost islands of Nomwin Atoll and the westernmost islands of Murilo Atoll, it, along with the municipalities of Nomwin, Ruo and Murilo, is ...

(580) *** Magur (159) *** Murilo (329) ***

Nomwin Nomwin is a large atoll, part of the Hall Islands, as well as a village and Administrative divisions of the Federated States of Micronesia#Municipalities, municipality (together with uninhabited East Fayu) in the state of Chuuk State, Chuuk, Fede ...

(763) *** Onari (193) *** Ono (172) *** Pisaras (227) ***

(745) *** Pulap (1,168) *** Houk (formerly known as 'Pulusuk')(1,116) *** Ruo (241) *** Tamatam (493) *** Ulul (633)

Politics and government

The State of Chuuk is one of the four federal states of the Federated States of Micronesia. As a democratic

federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

, each state has the ability to retain large number of power within the state as well as a certain level of sovereignty typical of federal states. The chief executive of Chuuk is the governor. Chuuk has a bicameral legislature.

Education

Chuuk State Department of Education Chuuk State Department of Education is an agency of Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia. It is headquartered in Nantaku, Weno, Chuuk Island.Home

operates public schools. Public high schools:School location
." Chuuk State Department of Education. Retrieved on 28 February 2018. * Chuuk High School – Weno * Faichuk High School * Moch High School * Mortlock High School * Northwest High School (formerly known as 'Weipat'- Onoun Island) * Southern Namoneas High School (SNHS)Higher Education in the Federated States of Micronesia
." Embassy of the Federated States of Micronesia Washington, D.C.. Retrieved on 23 February 2018. * Weno High School Private secondary schools: * Berea Christian High School – Weno * Saramen Chuuk Academy * Xavier High School – Weno * Mizpah Christian High School * US Navy 080831-N-8878B-345 An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter flies over the waters of Micronesia

US Navy 080831-N-8878B-345 An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter flies over the waters of Micronesia

Seventh Day Adventist Mission School Private primary schools: * Pentecostal Light House Academy * Saint Cecilia School * Seventh Day Adventist Mission School

Tourism

Chuuk State received the largest number of visitors of any of the Federated States of Micronesia. However, tourism is relatively under-developed. In the FSM's Development Plan for Chuuk, published in 2016, factors which disadvantaged the development of tourism in Chuuk included a lack of infrastructure, in particular irregular ferries between islands and a lack of regular electricity supplies on all islands apart from Weno. The report recognized that it is primarily Chuuk's underwater assets that would bring tourism, including its marine diversity and the Second World War shipwrecks around the coast. Where tourism does exist, it is reliant on the diving industry, which was established in the islands by Kimiuo Aisek. A legacy of his work to make Chuuk a dive destination was the establishment of the Kimiuo Aisek Memorial Museum. The American attacks on the Japanese fleet in 1944 were such that today

Truk lagoon Chuuk Lagoon, previously Truk Atoll, is an atoll in the central Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1,800 kilometres (970 nautical miles) northeast of New Guinea and is part of Chuuk State within the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). A protective ...

is the largest underwater

military cemetery A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to ...

in the world (60 ships and 400 aircraft scattered over several kilometers), which attracts divers from all over the world. The diving conditions are very good (visibility 15–40 meters, variations in depth, minor currents, 700 varieties of fish, generous coral). However, this source of income is jeopardized by preservation issues, from rapidly disintegrating carcasses to dynamite fishing that rapidly destroys whole sections of the

graveyard A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

References

External links

Chuuk (Truk) Visitors Center

NOAA's National Weather Service – Chuuk, FSM

Chuuk State Government System

Chuuk State Strategic Development Plan 2018 to 2023
{{Authority control States of the Federated States of Micronesia