Editing Micronesia

{{Short description|Subregion of Oceania}}
{{About|the geographical region of Micronesia|the sovereign state|Federated States of Micronesia}}
{{Distinguish|Macaronesia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}

[[File:Oceania UN Geoscheme - Map with Zones.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Subregions ([[Melanesia]], [[Micronesia]], [[Polynesia]] and [[Australasia]]), as well as sovereign and dependent islands of [[Oceania]]]]
[[File:Pacific Culture Areas (Philippines+Vanuatu Correction).svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Micronesia is one of three major cultural areas of the [[List of islands in the Pacific Ocean|Pacific Ocean islands]], along with [[Melanesia]] and [[Polynesia]].]]
[[File:Mapa Micronesia.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Outline of sovereign (dark orange) and dependent islands (bright orange)]]

'''Micronesia''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|ˌ|m|aɪ|k|r|ə|ˈ|n|iː|z|i|ə}}, {{IPAc-en|US|-|ˈ|n|iː|ʒ|ə|audio=En-us-Micronesia.ogg}})<ref>from {{langx|grc|μικρός}} ''mikrós'' "small" and {{lang|grc|νῆσος}} ''nêsos'' "island"</ref> is a [[subregion]] of [[Oceania]], consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern [[Pacific Ocean]]. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: [[Maritime Southeast Asia]] to the west, [[Polynesia]] to the east, and [[Melanesia]] to the south—as well as with the wider community of [[Austronesian peoples]].

The region has a [[tropical marine climate]] and is part of the [[Oceanian realm]]. It includes four main [[archipelago]]s—the [[Caroline Islands]], the [[Gilbert Islands]], the [[Mariana Islands]], and the [[Marshall Islands]] — as well as numerous islands that are not part of any archipelago.

Political control of areas within Micronesia varies depending on the island, and is distributed among six sovereign nations. Some of the Caroline Islands are part of the [[Palau|Republic of Palau]] and some are part of the [[Federated States of Micronesia]] (often shortened to "FSM" or "Micronesia"—not to be confused with the identical name for the overall region). The [[Gilbert Islands]] (along with the [[Phoenix Islands]] and the [[Line Islands]] in Polynesia) comprise the Republic of [[Kiribati]]. The Mariana Islands are affiliated with the United States; some of them belong to the [[territories of the United States|U.S. Territory]] of [[Guam]] and the rest belong to the [[Commonwealth (U.S. insular area)|U.S. Commonwealth]] of the [[Northern Mariana Islands]]. The island of [[Nauru]] is its own sovereign nation. The [[Marshall Islands]] all belong to the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The sovereignty of [[Wake Island]] is contested: it is claimed both by the United States and by the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The United States has actual possession of Wake Island, which is under the immediate administration of the [[United States Air Force]].

Notwithstanding the fact that the notion of "Micronesia" has been quite well established since 1832 and has been used ever since, by most popular works, this set does not correspond to any geomorphological, archaeological, linguistic, ethnic or cultural unity, but on the contrary represents a disparate ensemble, with no real deep unity. In fact, "Micronesian people" does not exist as a subset of the sea-migrating [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian people]], who may also include the [[Polynesians|Polynesian]] people and the hypothetical [[Australo-Melanesian]] or "[[Melanesia]]n people".<ref>[[Patrick Vinton Kirch]], ''On the Road of the Winds: an Archeological History of the Pacific Islands before European Contact'', Berkeley, University of California Press, 2000:5.</ref> 

Human settlement of Micronesia began several millennia ago.{{sfn|Kirch|2001|p=167}} Based on the current scientific consensus, the Austronesian peoples originated from a [[early human migrations|prehistoric seaborne migration]], known as the [[Austronesian peoples#Migration from Taiwan|Austronesian expansion]], from pre-[[Han Chinese|Han]] [[Taiwan|Formosa]], at around 3000 to 1500 BCE. Austronesians reached the northernmost [[Philippines]], specifically the [[Batanes|Batanes Islands]], by around 2200 BCE. Austronesians were the first people to invent oceangoing sailing technologies (notably [[catamaran]]s, [[outrigger boat]]s, [[lashed-lug]] [[boat building]], and the [[crab claw sail]]), which enabled their rapid dispersal into the islands of the [[Indo-Pacific]].<ref name="Doran1981">{{cite book |last1=Doran |first1=Edwin B. |title=Wangka: Austronesian Canoe Origins |date=1981 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=9780890961070}}</ref><ref name="Dierking2007">{{cite book |last1=Dierking |first1=Gary |title=Building Outrigger Sailing Canoes: Modern Construction Methods for Three Fast, Beautiful Boats |date=2007 |publisher=International Marine/McGraw-Hill |isbn=9780071594561}}</ref><ref name="Horridge1986">{{cite journal |last1=Horridge |first1=Adrian |title=The Evolution of Pacific Canoe Rigs |journal=The Journal of Pacific History |date=1986 |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=83–89 |jstor=25168892|doi=10.1080/00223348608572530 }}</ref> From 2000 BCE they assimilated (or were assimilated by) the earlier populations on the islands in their migration pathway.<ref name="Bellwood1988">{{cite journal |last1=Bellwood |first1=Peter |title=A Hypothesis for Austronesian Origins |journal=Asian Perspectives |date=1988 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=107–117 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/5105193.pdf |access-date=1 May 2019 |archive-date=1 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501105624/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/5105193.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Bellwood 1991">{{cite journal |last1=Bellwood |first1=Peter |title=The Austronesian Dispersal and the Origin of Languages |journal=Scientific American |date=1991 |volume=265 |issue=1 |pages=88–93 |jstor=24936983|bibcode=1991SciAm.265a..88B |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0791-88 }}</ref><ref name="hill&serjeanston1989">{{cite book |editor=Hill, Adrian V.S. |editor2=Serjeantson, Susan W. |title =The Colonization of the Pacific: A Genetic Trail|publisher =Oxford University Press|series =Research Monographs on Human Population Biology No. 7|year =1989|isbn = 9780198576952}}</ref><ref name="Bellwood2006">{{cite book |last1=Bellwood |first1=Peter |last2=Fox |first2=James J. |last3=Tryon |first3=Darrell |name-list-style=vanc |title=The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives |date=2006 |publisher=Australian National University Press |isbn=9781920942854 |url=https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/comparative-austronesian-series/austronesians |access-date=23 March 2019 |archive-date=2 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200402234524/https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/comparative-austronesian-series/austronesians |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="blench2012">{{cite book|author =Blench, Roger|editor =Tjoa-Bonatz, Mai Lin|editor2 =Reinecke, Andreas|editor3 =Bonatz, Dominik|title =Crossing Borders|chapter =Almost Everything You Believed about the Austronesians Isn't True|publisher =National University of Singapore Press|year =2012|pages =128–148|isbn =9789971696429|chapter-url =http://www.rogerblench.info/Archaeology/SE%20Asia/Berlin%202010/Blench%20Austronesians%202012%20offprint.pdf|access-date =23 March 2019|archive-date =30 December 2019|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20191230083644/http://www.rogerblench.info/Archaeology/SE%20Asia/Berlin%202010/Blench%20Austronesians%202012%20offprint.pdf|url-status =live}}</ref>

The earliest known contact of Europeans with Micronesia was in 1521, when [[Magellan expedition]] landed in the [[Mariana Islands|Marianas]]. [[Jules Dumont d'Urville]] is usually credited with coining the term "Micronesia" in 1832, but in fact, {{ill|Louis Domeny de Rienzi|fr}} used this term a year earlier.{{sfn|Rainbird|2004|p=6}}<ref> « Although based on a superficial understanding of the Pacific islanders, Dumont d'Urville's tripartite classification stuck. Indeed, these categories — Polynesians, Micronesians, Melanesians — became so deeply entrenched in Western anthropological thought that it is difficult even now to break out the mould in which they entrap us ([[Nicholas Thomas (anthropologist)|Thomas]], 1989). Such labels provide handy geographical referents, yet they mislead us greatly if we take them to be meaningful segments of cultural history. Only Polynesia has stood the tests of time and increased knowledge, as a category with historical significance », [[Patrick Vinton Kirch]], ''On the Road of the Winds : an Archeological History of the Pacific Islands before European Contact'', Berkeley, University of California Press, 2000 : 5.</ref>

==Geography==
Micronesia is a region in Oceania that includes approximately 2100 islands, with a total land area of {{convert|2,700|km2|abbr=on}}, the largest of which is [[Guam]], which covers {{convert|582|km2|abbr=on}}. The total ocean area within the perimeter of the islands is {{convert|7,400,000|km2|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Kirch|2001|p=165}}

There are four main island groups in Micronesia:
* the [[Caroline Islands]] ([[Federated States of Micronesia]] and [[Palau]])
* the [[Gilbert Islands]] ([[Kiribati]])
* the [[Mariana Islands]] ([[Northern Mariana Islands]] and [[Guam]], US)
* the [[Marshall Islands]]

This does not include the separate island nation of [[Nauru]], along with other distinctly separate islands and smaller island groups.

===Caroline Islands===
The [[Caroline Islands]] are a widely scattered [[archipelago]] consisting of about 500 small [[coral island]]s, north of [[New Guinea]] and east of the [[Philippines]]. The Carolines consist of two nations: the [[Federated States of Micronesia]], consisting of approximately 600 islands on the eastern side of the chain with [[Kosrae]] being the most eastern; and [[Palau]] consisting of 250 islands on the western side.

===Gilbert Islands===
[[File:South Tarawa from the air.jpg|thumb|[[Tarawa Atoll]]]]
The [[Gilbert Islands]] are a chain of sixteen [[atoll]]s and coral islands, arranged in an approximate north-to-south line. In a geographical sense, the [[equator]] serves as the dividing line between the northern Gilbert Islands and the southern Gilbert Islands. The [[Kiribati|Republic of Kiribati]] contains all of the Gilberts, including the island of [[Tarawa]], the site of the country's capital.

===Mariana Islands===
[[File:Suicide Cliff in Saipan 3.JPG|thumb|Mount Marpi in [[Saipan]].]]
The [[Mariana Islands]] are an arc-shaped [[archipelago]] made up by the summits of fifteen volcanic mountains. The island chain rose as a result of the western edge of the [[Pacific Plate]] moving westward and plunging downward below the [[Mariana plate]], a region that is the most volcanically active convergent plate boundary on Earth. The Marianas were politically divided in 1898, when the United States acquired title to [[Guam]] under the [[Treaty of Paris (1898)|Treaty of Paris, 1898]], which ended the [[Spanish–American War]]. Spain then sold the remaining northerly islands to [[German Empire|Germany]] in 1899. Germany lost all of her colonies at the end of [[World War I]] and the [[Northern Mariana Islands]] became a [[League of Nations]] Mandate, with [[Japan]] as the mandatory. After [[World War II]], the islands were transferred into the [[United Nations]] [[United Nations Trust Territories|Trust Territory]] System, with the [[United States]] as Trustee. In 1976, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States entered into a covenant of political union under which commonwealth status was granted the Northern Mariana Islands and its residents received United States citizenship.

===Marshall Islands===
[[File:Laura beach n tree (170671778).jpg|thumb|Beach scenery at [[Laura, Marshall Islands|Laura]], [[Majuro]], Marshall Islands]]
The [[Marshall Islands]] are located north of [[Nauru]] and [[Kiribati]], east of the [[Federated States of Micronesia]], and south of the U.S. territory of [[Wake Island]]. The islands consist of 29 low-lying [[atoll]]s and 5 isolated islands,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rmiembassyus.org/Geography.htm|title=Geography Overview | work = Embassy of the Republic of the Marshall Islands | publisher = Republic of the Marshall Islands |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131115173707/http://rmiembassyus.org/Geography.htm|archive-date=15 November 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> comprising 1,156 individual islands and [[islet]]s. The atolls and islands form two groups: the [[Ratak Chain]] and the [[Ralik Chain]] (meaning "sunrise" and "sunset" chains). All the islands in the chain are part of the [[Republic of the Marshall Islands]], a [[Presidential system|presidential]] [[republic]] in [[Associated state|free association]] with the United States. Having few natural resources, the islands' wealth is based on a [[service economy]], as well as some [[fishing]] and [[agriculture]]. Of the 29 atolls, 24 of them are inhabited.

[[Bikini Atoll]] is an atoll in the Marshall Islands. There are 23 islands in the Bikini Atoll. The islands of Bokonijien, Aerokojlol and part of Nam were destroyed during nuclear tests that occurred there.<ref name=facts>{{cite web|title=Bikini Atoll Reference Facts | work = Bikini Atoll |url=http://www.bikiniatoll.com/facts.html|access-date=12 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/nominations/1339.pdf |title=Bikini Atoll |date=January 2009 |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |page=20 |access-date=2024-07-29}}</ref> The islands are composed of low coral limestone and sand.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Emery|first1=Kenneth O.|last2=Tracey|first2=J. I. Jr.|last3=Ladd|first3=H.S.|date=1954|title=Geology of Bikini and Nearby Atolls|url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0260a/report.pdf|access-date=20 April 2021}}</ref> The average elevation is only about {{convert|7|ft|order=flip}} above low tide level.<ref>{{cite report|title=The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States, 2002|publisher=U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service|location=Silver Spring, MD|year=2002|oclc=255883515|issn=1949-7105|url=https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/state-coral-reef-ecosystems-united-states-pacific-freely-associated-states/|access-date=June 8, 2024}}</ref>

<gallery class="center" caption="" widths="175px" heights="175px">
File:Castle Bravo Blast.jpg|Image of the [[Castle Bravo]] nuclear test, detonated on 1 March 1954, at [[Bikini Atoll]]
File:Cross spikes club.jpg|An illustration of the Cross Spikes Club<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/ac/bikini/bikini1.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000521071018/http://history.navy.mil/ac/bikini/bikini1.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 May 2000 |title=Operation Crossroads: Bikini Atoll |work=Navy Historical Center |publisher=Department of the Navy |access-date=4 December 2013 }}</ref> of the US Navy on [[Bikini Atoll]], one of several Marshall Islands used for [[Bikini atomic experiments|atomic bomb tests]].
File:Kili Island - NASA Astronaut Photography.png|[[Kili Island]] is one of the smallest islands in the [[Marshall Islands]].
</gallery>

===Nauru===
[[Nauru]] is an oval-shaped [[island country]] in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, {{convert|42|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} south of the [[Equator]], listed as the [[List of countries by area|world's smallest republic]], covering just {{convert|21|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=on}}.<ref name=CIA>{{cite web|author=Central Intelligence Agency |author-link=Central Intelligence Agency |work=[[The World Factbook]] |title=Nauru |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/nauru/ |year=2011 |access-date=12 February 2011 }}</ref> With {{UN_Population|Nauru}} residents, it is the third [[List of countries by population|least-populated country]], after [[Vatican City]] and [[Tuvalu]]. The island is surrounded by a coral reef, which is exposed at low tide and dotted with pinnacles.<ref name=state/> The presence of the reef has prevented the establishment of a [[seaport]], although [[Canals in Nauru|channels]] in the reef allow small boats access to the island.<ref>{{cite web|page=234|url=http://www.sprep.org/att/IRC/eCOPIES/Countries/Nauru/11.pdf|last1=Thaman | first1 = RR |last2=Hassall | first2 = DC |publisher=South Pacific Regional Environment Programme|title=Nauru: National Environmental Management Strategy and National Environmental Action Plan | year = 1996 }}</ref> A fertile coastal strip {{convert|150|to|300|m|ft|abbr=on}} wide lies inland from the beach.<ref name=state>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/16447.htm|title=Background Note: Nauru|publisher=State Department Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs|date=September 2005|access-date=11 May 2006}}</ref>

<gallery class="center" caption="" widths="175px" heights="175px">
File:Aerial view of Nauru.jpg|Aerial view of Nauru
File:Nauru Denigomodu-Nibok.jpg|Nauruan districts of [[Denigomodu]] and [[Nibok]]
</gallery>

===Wake Island===
[[Wake Island]] is a coral atoll with a coastline of {{convert|12|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip}} just north of the [[Marshall Islands]]. It is an [[Territories of the United States#Minor Outlying Islands|unorganized]], [[unincorporated territory]] of the United States. Access to the island is restricted and all activities on the island are managed by the [[United States Air Force]]. While geographically adjacent, it is not ethnoculturally part of Micronesia, due to its historical lack of human inhabitation.{{cn|date=February 2023}} Micronesians may have possibly visited Wake Island in prehistoric times to harvest fish, but there is nothing to suggest any kind of settlement.<ref name="sprep">{{Cite web |title=The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the U.S. Pacific Remote Island Areas |url=https://www.sprep.org/attachments/15.pdf |website=[[Pacific Regional Environment Programme]]}}</ref>

<gallery class="center" caption="" widths="175px" heights="175px">
File:Wake Island by Agate.jpg|Wake Island as depicted by the [[United States Exploring Expedition]], drawn by [[Alfred Thomas Agate]]
File:Wake Island air.JPG|Aerial view Wake Island, looking westward
</gallery>

===Geology===
{{Expand section|date=December 2013}}
The majority of the islands in the area are part of a [[atoll|coral atoll]]. Coral atolls begin as [[coral reefs]] that grow on the slopes of a central [[volcano]]. When the volcano sinks back down into the sea, the coral continues to grow, keeping the reef at or above water level. One exception is [[Pohnpei State|Pohnpei]] in the [[Federated States of Micronesia]], which still has the central volcano and coral reefs around it.

===Fauna===
{{main|List of mammals of Micronesia|List of birds of Micronesia}}The [[Yap|Yap Islands]] host a number of endemic bird species, including the [[Yap monarch]] and the [[Rukia|Olive white-eye]], in addition to four other restricted-range bird species.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=Yap Islands State, Federated States of Micronesia {{!}} Ecoregions {{!}} WWF|url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/oc0204|access-date=2021-01-12|website=World Wildlife Fund|language=en}}</ref> The endangered [[Yap flying fox|Yap flying-fox]], though often considered a subspecies of the Pelew flying fox or the [[Mariana fruit bat]], is also endemic to Yap.<ref name=":0" /> [[File:SpinnerDolphinsoffKauai 1999-03-15.jpg|thumb|[[Spinner dolphin]]s]]
{{Expand section|date=December 2013}}

===Climate===
The region has a [[tropical marine climate]] moderated by seasonal northeast [[trade winds]]. There is little seasonal temperature variation. The dry season runs from December or January to June and the rainy season from July to November or December. Because of the location of some islands, the rainy season can sometimes include [[typhoon]]s.

==History==
{{see also|History of the Federated States of Micronesia|History of the Marshall Islands}}

===Prehistory{{anchor|Pre-history}}===
{{Further|Austronesian peoples}}

[[File:Chronological dispersal of Austronesian people across the Pacific.svg|thumb|upright=2|Chronological dispersal of [[Austronesian peoples]] across the [[Indo-Pacific]]<ref name="Chambers2013">{{cite journal |last1=Chambers |first1=Geoff |journal =eLS | title = Genetics and the Origins of the Polynesians |publisher= John Wiley & Sons, Inc.|date=15 January 2013 |doi=10.1002/9780470015902.a0020808.pub2|isbn=978-0470016176 }}</ref>]]

The [[Northern Mariana Islands]] were the first islands in [[Oceania]] colonized by the [[Austronesian peoples]]. They were settled by the voyagers who sailed eastwards from the [[Philippines]] in approximately 1500 BCE. These populations gradually moved southwards until they reached the [[Bismarck Archipelago]] and the [[Solomon Islands]] by 1300 BCE and reconnected with the [[Lapita culture]] of the southeast migration branch of Austronesians moving through coastal [[New Guinea]] and [[Island Melanesia]]. By 1200 BCE, they again began crossing open seas beyond inter-island visibility, reaching [[Vanuatu]], [[Fiji]], and [[New Caledonia]]; before continuing eastwards to become the ancestors of the [[Polynesian people]].<ref name="Chambers2013"/><ref name="wilson2018">{{cite book|first1=Meredith|last1=Wilson|first2=Chris|last2=Ballard|editor1-first=Bruno |editor1-last=David|editor2-first= Ian J.|editor2-last= McNiven|title =The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art|chapter=Rock Art of the Pacific: Context and Intertextuality|publisher =Oxford University Press|year =2018|pages=221–252|isbn = 9780190844950|chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=tXFyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1}}</ref><ref name="Bellwood2011">{{cite journal |last1=Bellwood |first1=Peter |title=The Checkered Prehistory of Rice Movement Southwards as a Domesticated Cereal—from the Yangzi to the Equator |journal=Rice |date=9 December 2011 |volume=4 |issue=3–4 |pages=93–103 |doi=10.1007/s12284-011-9068-9 |s2cid=44675525 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/81529950.pdf|doi-access=free |bibcode=2011Rice....4...93B }}</ref>

Further migrations by other Austronesians also followed, likely from [[Sulawesi]], settling [[Palau]] and [[Yap]] by around 1000 BCE. The details of this colonization, however, are not very well known.<ref name="Chambers2013"/><ref name="wilson2018"/>{{sfn|Morgan|1988|p=30}} In 200 BCE, a loosely connected group of Lapita colonists from [[Island Melanesia]] also migrated back northwards, settling the islands of eastern Micronesia almost simultaneously. This region became the center of another wave of migrations radiating outwards, reconnecting them with other settled islands in western Micronesia.<ref name="Chambers2013"/><ref name="wilson2018"/>

Around 800 CE, a second wave of migrants from Southeast Asia arrived in the Marianas, beginning what is now known as the [[Latte period]]. These new settlers built large structures with distinctive capped stone pillars known as ''haligi''. They also reintroduced [[rice]] (which did not survive earlier voyages), making the Northern Marianas the only islands in [[Oceania]] where rice was grown prior to European contact. However, it was considered a high-status crop and only used in rituals. It did not become a staple until after [[Spanish East Indies|Spanish colonization]].<ref name="Bellwood2011"/><ref name="Carson2012">{{cite journal |last1=Carson |first1=Mike T. |title=An overview of ''latte'' period archaeology |journal=Micronesica |date=2012 |volume=42 |issue=1/2 |pages=1–79 |url=https://micronesica.org/sites/default/files/1_carson1-79sm.pdf}}</ref><ref name="Peterson2012">{{cite journal |last1=Peterson |first1=John A. |title=Latte villages in Guam and the Marianas: Monumentality or monumenterity? |journal=Micronesica |date=2012 |volume=42 |issue=1/2 |pages=183–08 |url=https://micronesica.org/sites/default/files/5_smpeterson_pp183-208.pdf}}</ref>

Construction of [[Nan Madol]], a [[megalith]]ic complex made from [[Columnar basalt|basalt lava logs]] in Pohnpei, began in around 1180 CE. This was followed by the construction of the [[Leluh archaeological site|Leluh complex]] in [[Kosrae]] in around 1200.<ref name="wilson2018"/><ref name="Richards2015">{{cite journal |last1=Richards |first1=Zoe T. |last2=Shen |first2=Chuan-Chou |last3=Hobbs |first3=Jean-Paul A. |last4=Wu |first4=Chung-Che |last5=Jiang |first5=Xiuyang |last6=Beardsley |first6=Felicia |title=New precise dates for the ancient and sacred coral pyramidal tombs of Leluh (Kosrae, Micronesia) |journal=Science Advances |date=March 2015 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=e1400060 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.1400060|pmid=26601144 |pmc=4643814 |bibcode=2015SciA....1E0060R }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rainbird |first1=Paul |last2=Wilson |first2=Meredith |title=Crossing the line: the enveloped cross in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia |journal=Antiquity |date=2 January 2015 |volume=76 |issue=293 |pages=635–636 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00091018|s2cid=161654405 }}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Map FM-Nan Madol.PNG|Central Nan Madol (map)
File:Nan Madol 5.jpg|[[Nan Madol]]
File:Lelu Ruins, Kosrae, Micronesia.jpg|[[Leluh archaeological site|Leluh]]
File:Latte stones in Hagatna.jpg|[[Latte stone]]s
File:Yap Stone Money.jpg|[[Rai stone]]
</gallery>

===Early European contact===
[[File:Reception of the Manila Galleon by the Chamorro in the Ladrones Islands, ca. 1590.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Manila galleon|Manila Galleon]] in the [[Mariana Islands|Marianas]] and [[Caroline Islands|Carolinas]], c. 1590 [[Boxer Codex]]]]
The earliest known contact with Europeans occurred in 1521, when a Spanish expedition under [[Ferdinand Magellan]] reached the Marianas.<ref>{{Cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8V3vZxOmHssC&q=ferdinand+magellan+mariana+islands&pg=PA379 |title = The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History |isbn = 9781851099511 |last1 = Tucker |first1 = Spencer |year = 2009 | publisher = ABC CLIO | location = Santa Barbara, California}}</ref> This contact is recorded in [[Antonio Pigafetta]]'s chronicle of Magellan's voyage, in which he recounts that the Chamorro people had no apparent knowledge of people outside of their island group.<ref>{{cite book | editor-last = Levesque | editor-first =  Rodrigue | year = 1992–1997 | title = History of Micronesia: A collection of source documents, Vols. 1–20 | location = Quebec, Canada | publisher = Levesque Publications | pages = 249, 251}}</ref> A Portuguese account of the same voyage suggests that the Chamorro people who greeted the travellers did so "without any shyness as if they were good acquaintances".{{sfn|Rainbird|2004|p=13-14}}

Further contact was made during the sixteenth century, although often initial encounters were very brief. Documents relating to the 1525 voyage of [[Diogo da Rocha]] suggest that he made the first European contact with inhabitants of the Caroline Islands, possibly staying on the [[Ulithi]] atoll for four months and encountering [[Yap]]. Marshall Islanders were encountered by the expedition of Spanish navigator [[Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón]] in 1529.<ref>{{Cite report|first1=Kenneth O.|last1=Emery|first2=J I.|last2=Tracey|first3=H. S.|last3=Ladd|title=Geology of Bikini and Nearby Atolls|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CegqAQAAIAAJ&q=%C3%81lvaro+de+Saavedra+marshall+islands&pg=PA3|series=Geological Survey Professional Papers|volume=260|number=1|page=3|year=1954}}</ref> Other contact with the Yap islands occurred in 1625.{{sfn|Rainbird|2004|p=14}}

===Colonisation and conversion===
[[File:HH1883 pg123 Hafen von Jaluit, Marshall-Inseln.jpg|thumb|German trading station at [[Jaluit Atoll]] with a Marshallese ''[[Walap|korkor]]'' outrigger canoe in the foreground]]
In the early 17th century [[Spain]] colonized [[Guam]], the [[Northern Marianas]] and the [[Caroline Islands]] (what would later become the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau), creating the [[Spanish East Indies]], which was governed from the [[Spanish Philippines]].

When Russian explorer [[Otto von Kotzebue]] visited the [[Marshall Islands]] in 1817, he noted that Marshallese families practiced [[infanticide]] after the birth of a third child as a form of population planning due to frequent [[famine]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hezel |first=Francis X. |date=1983 |title=The First Taint of Civilization: A History of the Caroline and Marshall Islands in Pre-colonial Days, 1521–1885 |series=Pacific Islands Monograph Series |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |pages=92–94 |isbn=9780824816438}}</ref> 

In 1819, the [[American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions]]—a Protestant group—brought their Puritan ways to Polynesia. Soon after, the Hawaiian Missionary Society was founded and sent missionaries into Micronesia. Conversion was not met with as much opposition, as the local religions were less developed (at least according to Western ethnographic accounts). In contrast, it took until the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th centuries for missionaries to fully convert the inhabitants of Melanesia; however, a comparison of the cultural contrast must take into account the fact that Melanesia has always had deadly strains of [[malaria]] present in various degrees and distributions throughout its history (see [[De Rays Expedition]]) and up to the present; conversely, Micronesia does not have—and never seems to have had—any malarial mosquitos nor pathogens on any of its islands in the past.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ridgell|first=Reilly|title=Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polonesia|page=43|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p3liL6fAjrcC&q=%22micronesia%22 | edition = Third, Revised | publisher = Bess Press | location = Honolulu, Hawai'i |isbn=9781573060011|year=1995}}</ref>

===German–Spanish Treaty of 1899===
{{main|German–Spanish Treaty (1899)}}
[[File:German new guinea 1888 1899.png|thumb|[[German New Guinea]] before and after the German-Spanish treaty of 1899]]
In the [[Spanish–American War]], Spain lost many of its remaining colonies. In the Pacific, the United States took possession of the [[Spanish Philippines]] and Guam. On 17 January 1899, the United States also took possession of unclaimed and uninhabited Wake Island. This left Spain with the remainder of the Spanish East Indies, about 6,000 tiny islands that were sparsely populated and not very productive. These islands were ungovernable after the loss of the administrative center of Manila and indefensible after the loss of two Spanish fleets in the war. The Spanish government therefore decided to sell the remaining islands to a new colonial power: the [[German Empire]].

The treaty, which was signed by Spanish Prime Minister [[Francisco Silvela]] on 12 February 1899, transferred the Caroline Islands (Kosrae in the east to Palau in the west), the Mariana Islands, and other possessions to Germany. Under German control, the islands became a protectorate and were administered from [[German New Guinea]]. Nauru had already been annexed and claimed as a colony by Germany in 1888.

===20th century===
[[File:MapofTTPI.gif|thumb|Map from 1961 of the US [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]], formerly Japan's [[South Seas Mandate]].]]
In the early 20th century, the islands of Micronesia were divided between three foreign powers:
* the [[United States]], which took control of Guam following the Spanish–American War of 1898 and claimed [[Wake Island]];
* [[German Empire|Germany]], which took Nauru and bought the Marshall, Caroline and Northern Mariana Islands from Spain; and
* the [[British Empire]], which took the [[Gilbert Islands]] (Kiribati).

During [[World War I]], Germany's Pacific island territories were seized and became [[League of Nations mandate]]s in 1923. Nauru became an [[Australia]]n mandate, while Germany's other territories in Micronesia were given as a mandate to [[Japan]] and were named the [[South Seas Mandate]]. During [[World War&nbsp;II]], Nauru and [[Banaba|Ocean Island]] were occupied by [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] troops, with also an [[Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands|occupation of some of the Gilbert Islands]] and were bypassed by the Allied advance across the Pacific. Following Japan's defeat in [[World War II]] its mandate became a [[United Nations Trusteeship]] administered by the United States as the [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pelzer|first=Karl J.|date=1950|title=Micronesia—A Changing Frontier|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/abs/micronesiaa-changing-frontier/7EB3E45CAA8069039DF2A73A5E630382|journal=World Politics|language=en|volume=2|issue=2|pages=251–266|doi=10.2307/2009190|jstor=2009190|s2cid=154463511 |issn=1086-3338|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Nauru became independent in 1968.

===21st century===
Today, most of Micronesia are independent states, except for the [[Commonwealth (U.S. insular area)|U.S. Commonwealth of the]] [[Northern Mariana Islands]], [[Guam]] and [[Wake Island]], which are U.S. territories.

==States and dependencies==
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Country !! Population (July {{UN_Population|Year}} estimate){{UN_Population|ref}} !! Area (km<sup>2</sup>) !! Population density (/km<sup>2</sup>) !! Urban population !! Life expectancy !! Literacy rate !! Official language(s) !! Main religion(s) !! Ethnic groups
|-
|{{FSM}} ||{{UN_Population|Micronesia (Fed. States of)}} ||702 ||158 ||22% ||71.2 ||89% ||English ||Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant 47%, others 3% ||[[Chuuk State|Chuuk]]ese 48.8%, [[Pohnpei]]an 24.2%, [[Kosrae]]an 6.2%, [[Yap]]ese 5.2%, Yap outer islands 4.5%, Asian 1.8%, Polynesian 1.5%, other 7.8%
|-
|{{GUM}} (United States) ||{{UN_Population|Guam}} ||540 ||299 ||93% ||78.2 ||99% ||English 38.3%, [[Chamorro language|Chamorro]] 22.2%<ref>{{citation | url = http://ns.gov.gu/language.html | title = Languages of Guahan | date = n.d. | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131223170220/http://ns.gov.gu/language.html | archive-date = 23 December 2013 | work = The Guam Website - Afa Adai | url-status = dead | access-date = 12 November 2010 }}</ref> ||Roman Catholic 85%, Buddhism 3.6, other religion 11.4% ||[[Chamorro people|Chamorro]] 37.1%, [[Philippines|Filipino]] 26.3%, other Pacific islander 11.3%, white 6.9%, other 8.6%, mixed 9.8%
|-
|{{KIR}} ||{{UN_Population|Kiribati}} ||811 ||152 ||44% ||64.0 ||92% ||English, [[Gilbertese]] (de facto) ||Roman Catholic 55%, Protestant 36% ||Micronesian 98.8%
|-
|{{MHL}} ||{{UN_Population|Marshall Islands}} ||181 ||293 ||71% ||71.5 ||93.7% ||[[Marshallese language|Marshallese]] 98.2%, English ||Protestant 54.8%, other Christian 40.6% ||[[Marshall Islands|Marshallese]] 92.1%, mixed Marshallese 5.9%, other 2%
|-
|{{NRU}} ||{{UN_Population|Nauru}} ||21 ||480 ||100% ||65.0 ||99%<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/countryfacts/nauru.html | title = Nauru | date = 2010 | work = TalkTalk | publisher = Tiscali UK Limited | access-date = 12 November 2010 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100620133735/http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/countryfacts/nauru.html | archive-date = 20 June 2010}}</ref> ||[[Nauruan language|Nauruan]]{{Cref|f}}, English (''de facto'') ||[[Nauru Congregational Church]] 35.4%, Roman Catholic 33.2%, Nauru Independent Church (Protestant)<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/blog-84053.html | title = Nauru | date = 24 August 2006 | work = TravelBlog | publisher = TravelBlog.org | access-date = 12 November 2010}}</ref> 10.4%, Baha'i faith 10%, Buddhism 9%||[[Nauruan people|Nauruan]] 58%, other Pacific Islander 26%, Chinese 8%, European 8%
|-
|{{MNP}} (United States) ||{{UN_Population|Northern Mariana Islands}} ||464 ||113 ||91% ||76.9 ||97% ||English, Chamorro and Carolinian<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.doi.gov/oia/Islandpages/cnmipage.htm | title = Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: Overview | work = Office of Insular Affairs | url-status = dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609103520/http://www.doi.gov/oia/Islandpages/cnmipage.htm | archive-date=9 June 2007 | publisher = U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs | access-date = 12 November 2010}}</ref> ||Roman Catholic, Buddhism 10.6% ||Asian 56.3%, Pacific islander 36.3%, White 1.8%, other 0.8%, mixed 4.8%
|-
|{{PLW}} ||{{UN_Population|Palau}} ||459 ||47 ||81% ||71.5 ||92% ||[[Palauan language|Palauan]] 64.7%{{Cref|d}}, English ||Roman Catholic 41.6%, Protestant 23.3% ||[[Palau]]an 69.9%, Filipino 15.3%, Chinese 4.9%, other Asian 2.4%, white 1.9%, [[Carolinian people|Carolinian]] 1.4%, other Micronesian 1.1%, other 3.2%
|-
! Total ||{{UN_Population|Micronesia}} ||3,178 ||||||||||||||
|}

===Politics===
The [[Pacific Community]] (SPC) is a regional intergovernmental organization whose membership includes both nations and territories in the Pacific Ocean and their metropolitan powers.

== Economy ==
Nationally, the primary income is the sale of fishing rights to foreign nations that harvest tuna using huge [[purse seine]]rs. A few Japanese [[Longline fishing|long liners]] still ply the waters. The crews aboard fishing fleets contribute little to the local economy since their ships typically set sail loaded with stores and provisions that are cheaper than local goods. Additional money comes in from government grants, mostly from the United States, and the $150 million the US paid into a trust fund for reparations of residents of Bikini Atoll who had to move after nuclear testing. Few mineral deposits worth exploiting exist, except for some high-grade phosphate, [[Phosphate mining in Nauru|especially on Nauru]].

Most residents of Micronesia can freely move to and work within, the United States. Relatives working in the US who send money home to relatives represent the primary source of individual income. Additional individual income comes mainly from government jobs and work within shops and restaurants.

The [[tourist industry]] consists mainly of scuba divers that come to see the coral reefs, do wall dives and visit sunken ships from WWII. Major stops for scuba divers in approximate order are Palau, Chuuk, Yap and Pohnpei. Some private yacht owners visit the area for months or years at a time. However, they tend to stay mainly at ports of entry and are too few in number to be counted as a major source of income.

[[Copra]] production used to be a more significant source of income, however, world prices have dropped in part to large palm plantations that are now planted in places like [[Borneo]].

==Demographics==
{{further|Demographics of Oceania}}
The people today form many ethnicities, but all are descended from and belong to the Micronesian culture.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hudjashov |first1=Georgi |last2=Endicott |first2=Phillip |last3=Post |first3=Helen |last4=Nagle |first4=Nano |last5=Ho |first5=Simon Y. W. |last6=Lawson |first6=Daniel J. |last7=Reidla |first7=Maere |last8=Karmin |first8=Monika |last9=Rootsi |first9=Siiri |last10=Metspalu |first10=Ene |last11=Saag |first11=Lauri |date=2018-01-29 |title=Investigating the origins of eastern Polynesians using genome-wide data from the Leeward Society Isles |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=1823 |doi=10.1038/s41598-018-20026-8 |pmid=29379068 |pmc=5789021 |bibcode=2018NatSR...8.1823H |issn=2045-2322}}</ref>

Because of this mixture of descent, many of the ethnicities of Micronesia feel closer to some groups in [[Melanesia]], or the [[Philippines]]. A good example of this are the [[Yapese people]] who are related to [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]] tribes in the northern [[Philippines]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Mauritania-to-Nigeria/Micronesians.html |title=Micronesians - Introduction, Location, Language, Folklore, Religion, Major holidays, Rites of passage|work=everyculture.com}}</ref> Genetics also show a significant number of Micronesian have Japanese paternal ancestry: 9.5% of males from Micronesia as well as 0.2% in [[East Timor]] carry the [[Haplogroup D-M55]].<ref name="tumonggor">{{cite journal |last1=Tumonggor |first1=Meryanne K |last2=Karafet |first2=Tatiana M |last3=Downey |first3=Sean |last4=Lansing |first4=J Stephen |last5=Norquest |first5=Peter |last6=Sudoyo |first6=Herawati |last7=Hammer |first7=Michael F |last8=Cox |first8=Murray P |title=Isolation, contact and social behavior shaped genetic diversity in West Timor |journal=Journal of Human Genetics |date=September 2014 |volume=59 |issue=9 |pages=494–503 |doi=10.1038/jhg.2014.62 |pmid=25078354 |pmc=4521296 }}</ref>

There are also substantial Asian communities found across the region, most notably in the [[Northern Mariana Islands]] where they form the majority and smaller communities of Europeans who have migrated from the United States or are descendants of settlers during European colonial rule in Micronesia.

Though they are all geographically part of the same region, they all have very different colonial histories. The US-administered areas of Micronesia have a unique experience that sets them apart from the rest of the Pacific. Micronesia has great economic dependency on its former or current motherlands, something only comparable to the French Pacific. Sometimes, the term ''American Micronesia'' is used to acknowledge the difference in cultural heritage.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last =Kiste | editor1-first= Robert C. | editor2-last =Marshall | editor2-first = Mac |title=American Anthropology in Micronesia: An Assessment|year=1999|page=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V8Dr4fJxlkIC&q=%22micronesia%22|isbn=9780824820176 | publisher = University of Hawai'i Press | location = Honolulu, Hawai'i}}</ref>

A 2011 survey found that 93.1% of Micronesian are [[Christians]];<ref name="Christianity in Oceania">{{citation | url = http://wwwgordonconwell.com/netcommunity/CSGCResources/ChristianityinitsGlobalContext.pdf | title = Christianity in its Global Context, 1970–2020: Society, Religion, and Mission | author = Center for the Study of Global Christianity | date = June 2013 | publisher = [[Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary]] | location = South Hamilton, Massachusetts, USA| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130815184022/http://wwwgordonconwell.com/netcommunity/CSGCResources/ChristianityinitsGlobalContext.pdf | archive-date = 15 August 2013 }}</ref> a survey in 2022 showed that 99% were Christian.<ref name=US2022 />

=== Demographic table ===
The countries and territories in this table are categorised according to the scheme for geographic subregions used by the United Nations. The information shown follows sources in cross-referenced articles; where sources differ, provisos have been clearly indicated. These territories and regions are subject to various additional categorisations, depending on the source and purpose of each description.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="border:1px solid #aaa; font-size:90%;"
|- style="background:#ececec;"|
! style="line-height:95%; width:4em" class="unsortable" | [[Coat of arms|Arms]]
! style="line-height:95%; width:2em" class="unsortable" | Flag
! Name of region, followed by countries<ref name="region">Regions and constituents as per [[:File:United Nations geographical subregions.png|UN categorisations/map]] except [[#endnote CCAU|notes 2–3]], 6. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 3, 5–7, 9) may be in [[List of countries spanning more than one continent|one or both of]] Oceania and Asia or North America.<br /></ref>
! data-sort-type="number" | [[List of countries and outlying territories by total area|Area]]<br />(km<sup>2</sup>)
! data-sort-type="number" | [[List of countries by population|Population]]<br />({{UN_Population|Year}}){{UN_Population|ref}}
! data-sort-type="number" | [[List of countries and dependencies by population density|Population density]]<br />(per km<sup>2</sup>)
! [[Capital (political)|Capital]]
! [[ISO 3166-1 alpha-2|ISO 3166-1]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{center|[[File:Seal of the Federated States of Micronesia.svg|25px]]}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Federated States of Micronesia}}
| '''[[Federated States of Micronesia]]'''
| style="text-align:right;"| 702
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN_Population|Micronesia (Fed. States of)}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 149.5
| [[Palikir]]
| FM
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{center|[[File:Seal of Guam.svg|20px]]}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Guam}}
| [[Guam]] (United States)
| style="text-align:right;"| 549
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN_Population|Guam}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 296.7
| [[Hagåtña, Guam|Hagåtña]]
| GU
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|text=none|Kiribati}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Kiribati}}
| '''[[Kiribati]]'''
| style="text-align:right;"| 811
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN_Population|Kiribati}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 141.1
| [[South Tarawa]]
| KI
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{center|[[File:Seal of the Marshall Islands.svg|20px]]}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Marshall Islands}}
| '''[[Marshall Islands]]'''
| style="text-align:right;"| 181
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN_Population|Marshall Islands}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 293.2
| [[Majuro]]
| MH
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|text=none|Nauru}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Nauru}}
| '''[[Nauru]]'''
| style="text-align:right;"| 21
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN_Population|Nauru}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 540.3
| [[Yaren District|Yaren]] <small>(''de facto'')</small>
| NR
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{center|[[File:Seal of the Northern Mariana Islands.svg|20px]]}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Northern Mariana Islands}}
| [[Northern Mariana Islands]] (United States)
| style="text-align:right;"| 477
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN_Population|Northern Mariana Islands}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 115.4
| [[Saipan]]
| MP
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{center| }}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Palau}}
| '''[[Palau]]'''
| style="text-align:right;"| 458
| style="text-align:right;"| {{UN_Population|Palau}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 46.9
| [[Ngerulmud]]<ref name="Palau">On 7 October 2006, government officials moved their offices in the former capital of [[Koror]] to [[Ngerulmud]] in the state of [[Melekeok]], located {{convert|20|km|0|abbr=on}} northeast of Koror on [[Babeldaob|Babelthuap Island]].<br /></ref>
| PW
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Coat of arms|text=none|United States}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{Flagicon|Wake Island|local}}
| [[Wake Island]] (United States)
| style="text-align:right;"| 2
| style="text-align:right;"| 150
| style="text-align:right;"| 75
| [[Wake Island]]
| UM
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|
| style="text-align:center;"|
| '''Micronesia''' (total)
| style="text-align:right;"| 3,307
| style="text-align:right;"| 526,343
| style="text-align:right;"| 163.5
|}

===Indigenous groups===
====Micronesians====
{{main|Micronesians}}
=====Carolinian people=====
It is thought that ancestors of the [[Carolinian people]] may have originally immigrated from the Asian mainland and [[Indonesia]] to Micronesia around 2,000 years ago. Their primary language is [[Carolinian language|Carolinian]], called ''Refaluwasch'' by native speakers, which has a total of about 5,700 speakers. The Carolinians have a [[matriarchy|matriarchal]] society in which respect is a very important factor in their daily lives, especially toward the [[matriarch]]s. Most Carolinians are of the [[Roman Catholic]] faith.

The immigration of Carolinians to [[Saipan]] began in the early 19th century, after the [[Spain|Spanish]] reduced the local population of [[Chamorro people|Chamorro]] natives to just 3,700. They began to [[immigrate]] mostly sailing from small [[canoes]] from other islands, which a [[typhoon]] previously devastated. The Carolinians have a much darker complexion than the native [[Chamorro people|Chamorros]].

=====Chamorro people=====
[[File:Chamorro people in 1915.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Chamorro people in 1915]]
The [[Chamorro people]] are the [[indigenous peoples]] of the [[Mariana Islands]], which are politically divided between the [[Territories of the United States|United States territory]] of [[Guam]] and the United States [[Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands]] in Micronesia. The Chamorro are commonly believed to have come from [[Southeast Asia]] at around 2000 [[Common Era|BC]]. They are most closely related to other [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]] natives to the west in the [[Philippines]] and [[Taiwanese aborigines|Taiwan]], as well as the [[Caroline Islands|Carolines]] to the south.

The [[Chamorro language]] is included in the [[Malayo-Polynesian languages|Malayo-Polynesian subgroup]] of the [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] family. Because Guam was colonized by Spain for over 300 years, many words derive from the [[Spanish language]]. The traditional Chamorro number system was replaced by Spanish numbers.<ref>{{cite book | first = Rafael | last = Rodríguez-Ponga Salamanca | title = Del español al chamorro: Lenguas en contacto en el Pacífico | language = es | trans-title = From Spanish to Chamorro: languages in contact in the Pacific| location = Madrid | year = 2009 | publisher = Ediciones Gondo | isbn = 978-84-933774-4-1 | oclc = 436267171}}</ref>

=====Chuukese people=====
The [[Chuukese people]] are an [[ethnic group]] in [[Oceania]]. They constitute 48% of the population of the [[Federated States of Micronesia]]. Their language is [[Chuukese language|Chuukese]]. The home atoll of Chuuk is also known by the former name Truk.

=====Nauruan people=====
The [[Nauruan people]] are an [[ethnicity]] inhabiting the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] [[island]] of [[Nauru]]. They are most likely a blend of [[Indigenous peoples of Oceania|other Pacific peoples]].<ref>{{cite book|title=FutureFish 2001: FutureFish in Century 21: The North Pacific Fisheries Tackle Asian Markets, the Can-Am Salmon Treaty, and Micronesian Seas|first=C.D. | last = Bay-Hansen|year=2006|publisher=[[Trafford Publishing]]|isbn=1-55369-293-4|page=277}}</ref>

The origin of the Nauruan people has not yet been finally determined. It can possibly be explained by the last Malayo-Pacific [[human migration]] (c. 1200). It was probably seafaring or shipwrecked [[Polynesians]] or [[Melanesians]] that established themselves in Nauru because there was not already an [[indigenous people]] present, whereas the [[Micronesians]] were already crossed with the Melanesians in this area.

====Kaping people====
The roughly 3000 residents of the Federated States of Micronesia that reside in [[Kapingamarangi]], nicknamed 'Kapings', live in one of the most remote locations in both Micronesia and the world at large. Their home atoll is almost {{convert|200|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip}} from the nearest point of immigration.<ref>{{cite book|first=Douglas L.|last=Oliver|title=Oceania: The Native Cultures of Australia and the Pacific Islands|volume=1|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|year=2022|isbn=978-0-82484-570-4|page=274}}</ref>  There are no regular flights; the only reliable way to legally visit is to travel on a high-speed sailboat to the atoll. Owing to this difficulty, few sailors travelling the Pacific attempt to visit. The local language is the [[Kapingamarangi language]]. From the 1970s, to attend high school the children needed to travel to Pohnpei, bringing their parents with them to create communities of Kapings on the island.<ref>>{{cite journal|last1=Drummond|first1=Emily|last2=Rudolph|first2=Johnny|year=2021|title=Nukuoro (Nukuoro Atoll, Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia) – Language Snapshot|journal=Language Documentation and Description|issue=20|page=149}}</ref>

===Immigrant groups===
====East, South, and Southeast Asian people====
{{See also|Japanese settlement in Palau|Japanese settlement in the Federated States of Micronesia|Koreans in Micronesia|Chinese in Palau|Filipinos in Palau}}
There are large [[East Asia|East]], [[South Asia|South]] and [[Southeast Asia|Southeast]] Asian communities found across certain Micronesian countries that are either immigrants, foreign workers or descendants of either one, most migrated to the islands during the 1800s and 1900s.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iDg9oAkwsXAC|title=Asia in the Pacific Islands: Replacing the West|first=R. G.|last=Crocombe|date=1 January 2007|publisher=IPS Publications, University of the South Pacific|via=Google Books|isbn=9789820203884}}</ref> According to the 2010 census results Guam was 26.3% [[Overseas Filipino|Filipino]], 2.2% [[Korean diaspora|Korean]], 1.6% [[Overseas Chinese|Chinese]] and 2% other Asian.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indexmundi.com/guam/ethnic_groups.html|title=Guam Ethnic groups - Demographics|work=indexmundi.com}}</ref> The 2010 census showed the Northern Mariana Islands was 50% Asian of which 35.3% were Filipino, 6.8% Chinese, 4.2% Korean and 3.7% other Asian (mainly [[Japanese diaspora|Japanese]], [[Bangladeshi diaspora|Bangladeshi]] and [[Thai people|Thai]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indexmundi.com/northern_mariana_islands/demographics_profile.html|title=Northern Mariana Islands Demographics Profile 2016|work=indexmundi.com}}</ref> The 2010 census for the Federated States of Micronesia showed 1.4% were Asian while statistics for Nauru showed 8% of Nauruans were Chinese.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indexmundi.com/federated_states_of_micronesia/ethnic_groups.html|title=Federated States of Micronesia Ethnic groups - Demographics|work=indexmundi.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indexmundi.com/nauru/ethnic_groups.html|title=Nauru Ethnic groups - Demographics|work=indexmundi.com}}</ref> The 2005 census results for Palau showed 16.3% were Filipino, 1.6% Chinese, 1.6% Vietnamese and 3.4% other Asian (mostly Bangladeshi, Japanese and Korean).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indexmundi.com/palau/ethnic_groups.html|title=Palau Ethnic groups - Demographics|work=indexmundi.com}}</ref>

Japanese rule in Micronesia also led to Japanese people settling the islands and marrying native spouses. [[Kessai Note]], the former president of the [[Marshall Islands]] has partial Japanese ancestry by way of his paternal grandfather, and [[Manny Mori|Emanuel Mori]], the former president of the [[Federated States of Micronesia]], is descended from one of the first settlers from Japan, [[Mori Koben|Koben Mori]].

A significant number of Micronesians were shown to have paternal genetic relations with Japanese [[Haplogroup D-M55]]. [[Genetic testing]] found that 9.5% of males from Micronesia as well as 0.2% in [[East Timor]]<ref name=Hammer2006>{{cite journal | last1 = Hammer | first1 = Michael F. | last2 = Karafet | first2 = Tatiana M. | last3 = Park | first3 = Hwayong | last4 = Omoto | first4 = Keiichi | last5 = Harihara | first5 = Shinji | last6 = Stoneking | first6 = Mark | last7 = Horai | first7 = Satoshi | year = 2006 | title = Dual origins of the Japanese: Common ground for hunter-gatherer and farmer Y chromosomes | journal = Journal of Human Genetics | volume = 51 | number = 1 | pages = 47–58 | doi = 10.1007/s10038-005-0322-0 | pmid = 16328082| doi-access = free }}</ref> carry what is believed to reflect recent admixture from Japan. That is, D-M116.1 (D1b1) is generally believed to be a primary subclade of D-M64.1 (D1b), possibly as a result of the [[Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies|Japanese military occupation of Southeast Asia]] during [[World War II]].<ref name="tumonggor"/>

====European people====
The 2010 census results of Guam showed 7.1% were white while the 2005 census for Nauru showed 8% were European. Smaller numbers at 1.9% in Palau and 1.8% in the Northern Mariana Islands were recorded as "white". In conjunction to the European communities there are large amounts of mixed Micronesians, some of which have European ancestry.

[[File:Languages of Micronesia.en.svg|thumb|upright=1.65|Languages of Micronesia.]]

===Languages===
The largest group of languages spoken in Micronesia are the [[Micronesian languages]]. They are in the family of [[Oceanic languages]], part of the [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian language]] group. They descended from the [[Proto-Oceanic language|Proto-Oceanic]], which in turn descended via [[Proto-Malayo-Polynesian language|Proto-Malayo-Polynesian]] from [[Proto-Austronesian language|Proto-Austronesian]].
The languages in the Micronesian family are [[Marshallese language|Marshallese]], [[Gilbertese language|Gilbertese]], [[Kosraean language|Kosraean]], [[Nauruan language|Nauruan]], as well as a large sub-family called the [[Chuukic–Pohnpeic languages]] containing 11 languages.

On the eastern edge of the Federated States of Micronesia, the languages [[Nukuoro language|Nukuoro]] and [[Kapingamarangi language|Kapingamarangi]] represent an extreme westward extension of the [[Polynesian languages|Polynesian branch]] of Oceanic.

Finally, there are two [[Malayo-Polynesian languages]] spoken in Micronesia that do not belong to the [[Oceanic languages]]: [[Chamorro language|Chamorro]] in the [[Mariana Islands]] and [[Palauan language|Palauan]] in [[Palau]].

==Culture==
===Animals and food===
By the time Western contact occurred, although Palau did not have dogs, they did have fowls and possibly pigs. Pigs are not native to Micronesia. [[Fruit bat]]s are native to Palau, but other mammals are rare. Reptiles are numerous and both mollusks and fish are an important food source.{{sfn|Morgan|1988|p=3}} The people of Palau, the Marianas and Yap often chew [[Areca nut|betel nuts]] seasoned with lime and pepper leaf. Western Micronesia was unaware of the ceremonial drink, which was called ''saka'' on Kosrae and ''sakau'' on Pohnpei.{{sfn|Morgan|1988|p=30}}

===Architecture===
The book ''Prehistoric Architecture in Micronesia'' argues that the most prolific pre-colonial Micronesian architecture is "Palau's monumental sculpted hills, megalithic stone carvings and elaborately decorated structure of wood placed on piers above elevated stone platforms".{{sfn|Morgan|1988|p=2}} The archeological traditions of the [[Yapese people]] remained relatively unchanged even after the first European contact with the region during Magellan's 1520s circumnavigation of the globe.{{sfn|Morgan|1988|p=30}}

===Art===
Micronesia's artistic tradition has developed from the [[Lapita culture]]. Among the most prominent works of the region is the megalithic floating city of [[Nan Madol]]. The city began in 1200 CE and was still being built when European explorers begin to arrive around 1600. The city, however, had declined by around 1800 along with the [[Saudeleur dynasty]] and was completely abandoned by the 1820s. During the 19th century, the region was divided between the [[colonialism|colonial powers]], but art continued to thrive. Wood-carving, particularly by men, flourished in the region, resulted in richly decorated ceremonial houses in [[Belau]], stylized bowls, canoe ornaments, ceremonial vessels and sometimes sculptured figures. Women created textiles and ornaments such as bracelets and headbands. Stylistically, traditional Micronesian art is streamlined and of a practical simplicity to its function, but is typically finished to a high standard of quality.
<ref>{{cite web|title=Micronesia, 1800–1900 a.d|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah//ht/10/oci/ht10oci.htm|work=Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History|publisher=[[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201183658/http://www.metmuseum.org/toah//ht/10/oci/ht10oci.htm|archive-date=1 December 2008 |year=2000}}</ref> This was mostly to make the best possible use of what few natural materials they had available to them.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title = Oceanic art | encyclopedia = [[Columbia Encyclopedia]] | edition = Sixth | year =  2006 | publisher = Columbia University Press}}</ref>

The first half of the 20th century saw a downturn in Micronesia's cultural integrity and a strong foreign influence from both western and Japanese Imperialist powers. A number of historical artistic traditions, especially sculpture, ceased to be practiced, although other art forms continued, including traditional architecture and weaving. Independence from colonial powers in the second half of the century resulted in a renewed interest in, and respect for, traditional arts. A notable movement of contemporary art also appeared in Micronesia towards the end of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web|title=Micronesia, 1900 a.d.–present|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/11/oci/ht11oci.htm|work=Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History|publisher=[[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090521202632/http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/11/oci/ht11oci.htm|archive-date=21 May 2009 |year=2000}}</ref>

===Cuisine===
The cuisine of the Mariana Islands is tropical in nature, including such dishes as [[kelaguen]] as well as many others.

[[Marshallese cuisine]] comprises the fare and foodways of the Marshall Islands, and includes local foods such as breadfruit, taro root, [[pandanus]] and seafood, among others.

Palauan cuisine includes local foods such as cassava, taro, yam, potato, fish and pork. Western cuisine is favored among young Palauans.

===Education===
The educational systems in the nations of Micronesia vary depending on the country and there are several higher-level educational institutions.

The [[CariPac]] consists of institutions of [[higher education]] in [[Guam]], the [[Northern Mariana Islands]], [[American Samoa]], [[Puerto Rico]], the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], the [[Federated States of Micronesia]], the [[Marshall Islands]] and [[Palau]]. The [[Agricultural Development in the American Pacific]] is a partnership of the University of Hawaii, American Samoa Community College, College of Micronesia, Northern Marianas College and the University of Guam.

In the Federated States of Micronesia, education is required for citizens aged 6 to 13,<ref name=".info">{{cite web |url=http://micronesiaeducation.info//profile.asp |title=Education Profile of Micronesia, Micronesia Education, Education in Micronesia, Universities in Micronesia, Schools in Micronesia, Micronesia Education Profile |publisher=micronesiaeducation.info |access-date=13 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425062651/http://micronesiaeducation.info//profile.asp |archive-date=25 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and is important to their economy.<ref>{{cite book |last1 = Dunford |first1 = Betty |last2 = Ridgell |first2 = Reilly |title = Pacific neighbors : the islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia |publisher = Bess Press |year = 1996 |location = Honolulu, Hawaii |isbn = 1-57306-023-2}}</ref> The literacy rate for citizens aged 15 to 24 is 98.8%.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/document.aspx?ReportId=121&IF_Language=eng&BR_Country=4845 |title=UNESCO Institute for Statistics |publisher=UNESCO |access-date=13 October 2011}}</ref> The [[College of Micronesia-FSM]] has a campus in each of the four states with its national campus in the capital city of [[Palikir]], [[Pohnpei]]. The COM-FSM system also includes the Fisheries and Maritime Institute (FMI) on the [[Yap]] islands.<ref name="FMI">{{cite web |url= http://www.comfsm.fm/fmi/index.html |title= Fisheries and Maritime Institute |work= College of Micronesia - FSM | publisher = College Of Micronesia-FSM | date = 1 December 2011 }}</ref><ref name="JICA">{{cite web|url=http://www.jica.go.jp/english/evaluation/project/term/oc/archives/14-1-52.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928011631/http://www.jica.go.jp/english/evaluation/project/term/oc/archives/14-1-52.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-09-28 |title=Outline of the Fisheries Training Project in the Federated States of Micronesia |work=[[Japan International Cooperation Agency]] |quote=Partner Country's Implementing Organization: Fisheries and Maritime Institute (FMI), College of Micronesia (COM)}}</ref>

The public education in Guam is organized by the [[Guam Department of Education]]. Guam also has several educational institutions, such as [[University of Guam]], [[Pacific Islands University]] and [[Guam Community College]], There is also the [[Guam Public Library System]] and the [[Umatac Outdoor Library]].

[[Weriyeng]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Gladwin|first=Thomas|title=East Is a Big Bird|url=https://archive.org/details/eastisbigbirdnav00glad|url-access=limited|year=1970|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=0-674-22425-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/eastisbigbirdnav00glad/page/n218 200]}}</ref> is one of the last two schools of traditional [[navigation]] found in the central [[Caroline Islands]] in Micronesia, the other being [[Fanur]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Woodward|first=David|title=History of Cartography|year=1998|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=0-226-90728-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k_NoubO0RiYC&q=%22Fanur%22+navigation&pg=PA470|access-date=2010-08-04|page=470}}</ref>

The [[Northern Marianas College]] is a two-year [[community college]] located in the [[United States]] [[Northern Mariana Islands|Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands]] ([[CNMI]]).

The [[College of the Marshall Islands]] is a community college in the Marshall Islands.

===Law===
''Understanding Law in Micronesia'' notes that The Federated States of Micronesia's laws and legal institutions are "uninterestingly similar to [those of Western countries]". However, it explains that "law in Micronesia is an extraordinary flux and flow of contrasting thought and meaning, inside and outside the legal system". It says that a knee-jerk reaction would be that law is disarrayed in the region and that improvement is required, but argues that the failure is "one endemic to the nature of law or to the ideological views we hold about law".<ref name=Tamanaha1993>{{cite book|last=Tamanaha|first=Brian Z.|title=Understanding Law in Micronesia: An Interpretive Approach to Transplanted Law|pages=1–2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LPA9LCS9-RIC&q=%22micronesia%22 | publisher = E.J. Brill | location = Leiden, Netherlands |isbn=9004097686|year=1993}}</ref>

The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, a United Nations Trusteeship administered by the United States, borrowed heavily from United States law in establishing the Trust Territory Code during the Law and Development movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Many of those provisions were adopted by the new Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia when the Federated States of Micronesia became self-governing in 1979.<ref name=Tamanaha1993 />

===Media===
In September 2007, journalists in the region founded the [[Micronesian Media Association]].<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=72699&cat=1 | title = Regional journalists form Micronesian media group | url-status = dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080116043548/http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=72699&cat=1 | archive-date=16 January 2008 | work = [[Saipan Tribune]] | date = 26 September 2007}}</ref>

===Music and dance===
{{See also||Music of the Federated States of Micronesia}}
Micronesian music is influential to those living in the Micronesian islands.<ref name="Garland">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ulLJUDmptFMC&pg=PA697 |encyclopedia =The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 1 |publisher=Routledge | location = New York |title =The Music and Dance of Micronesia |year=2013 |pages=697–706 |isbn=978-1136095702}}</ref> Some of the music is based around [[mythology]] and ancient Micronesian [[ritual]]s. It covers a range of styles from traditional songs, handed down through generations, to contemporary music.

Traditional beliefs suggest that the music can be presented to people in [[dream]]s and [[altered state of consciousness|trances]], rather than being written by [[composer]]s themselves. Micronesian folk music is, like [[Music of Polynesia|Polynesian music]], primarily vocal-based.

In the Marshall Islands, the ''[[roro (chant)|roro]]'' is a kind of traditional [[chant]], usually about ancient legends and performed to give guidance during navigation and strength for mothers in labour. Modern bands have blended the unique songs of each island in the country with modern music. Though [[drums (musical instrument)|drums]] are not generally common in [[Micronesian music]], one-sided hourglass-shaped drums are a major part of Marshallese music.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/arts/music/musicarchive/PacificInfo.html | url-status = dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012123403/http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/arts/music/musicarchive/PacificInfo.html | archive-date=12 October 2007 | title = Music of the Pacific Island Nations | first = Hans W. | last = Telford | date = n.d. | work = Music Archive for Pacific Island Nations | publisher = School of Arts, [[Southern Cross University]]}}</ref> There is a traditional Marshallese dance called [[beet (dance)|beet]], which is influenced by Spanish folk dances; in it, men and women side-step in parallel lines. There is a kind of [[Tirere|stick dance]] performed by the [[Jobwa]], nowadays only for very special occasions.

Popular music, both from Micronesia and from other areas of the world, is played on radio stations in Micronesia.<ref name="Garland"/>

===Sports===
The region is home to the [[Micronesian Games]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://abcasiapacificnews.com/stories/201008/2970170.htm?desktop |title=Micronesian Games begin in Palau | work = Asia Pacific News | publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |date=August 1, 2010 |access-date=15 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215215224/http://abcasiapacificnews.com/stories/201008/2970170.htm?desktop |archive-date=15 December 2013 }}</ref> This quadrennial international multi-sport event involves all of Micronesia's countries and territories except Wake Island.

[[Nauru]] has two national sports, [[Olympic weightlifting|weightlifting]] and [[Australian rules football]].<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.ausport.gov.au/international/development/docs/nauru.pdf |title=Pacific Sporting Needs Assessment | author = Australian Sports Commission | year = 2004 | publisher = [[Government of Australia|Australian Government]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071203042324/http://www.ausport.gov.au/international/development/docs/nauru.pdf |archive-date=3 December 2007 }}</ref> According to 2007 Australian Football League International Census figures, there are around 180 players in the Nauru senior competition and 500 players in the junior competition,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afl.com.au/Portals/0/afl_docs/2007_International_Census_Sheet_240807.pdf|title=INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL CENSUS 2007: Clubs & Players - Internationally | publisher = [[Australian Football League]] | url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524130530/http://www.afl.com.au/Portals/0/afl_docs/2007_International_Census_Sheet_240807.pdf|archive-date=24 May 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref> representing a participation rate of over 30% overall for the country.

==Religion and mythology==
The predominant religion in Micronesia is [[Christianity]] (93%).<ref name="Christianity in Oceania" />  According to 2023 government statistics, 55% of the population were Catholic and 42% were Protestant, while 2% belonged to other Christian denominations. Other religious groups exist including Baha’is, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims.<ref name="US2022">{{Cite web |title=Micronesia |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/micronesia |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=United States Department of State |language=en-US}}</ref> 

[[Micronesian mythology]] comprises the traditional belief systems of the people of Micronesia. There is no single belief system in the islands of Micronesia, as each island region has its own [[mythological creature|mythological beings]]. It was noted that 2.7% of the population followed folk religions in 2014.<ref name=US2022 />

There are several significant figures and myths in the traditions of the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, and Kiribati.

[[Shinto shrine|Shinto shrines]] dating from during or after [[World War II]] exist in some Micronesian countries.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Oskow |first=Noah |date=2020-07-13 |title=When Japan Ruled the Waves: The Forgotten Colonies of Micronesia |url=https://unseen-japan.com/japan-forgotten-colonies-micronesia/ |access-date=2023-09-24 |website=Unseen Japan |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Oceania|Islands}}
<!-- *[[Bibliography of Micronesia]] -->
* [[Flags of Oceania]]

==References==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist|30em}}

=== General bibliography ===
* {{Cite book |last=Kirch |first=Patrick Vinton |title=On the Road of the Winds: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands Before European Contact |year=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-92896-1}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Lal |first1=Brij V. |last2=Fortune |first2=Kate |title=The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia |year=2000 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-2265-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Morgan |first=William N. |title=Prehistoric Architecture in Micronesia |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3Z-aH7govUC&q=%22micronesia%22 |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin, Texas |isbn=9780292786219 |year=1988}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rainbird |first=Paul |title=The Archaeology of Micronesia |year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-65630-6}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | last1 = Goetzfridt | first1 = Nicholas J. | first2 = Karen M. | last2 = Peacock | year = 2002 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oqqdbU0tBvAC&q=Micronesian+Histories:+An+Analytical+Bibliography+and+Guide+to+Interpretations | title = Micronesian Histories: An Analytical Bibliography and Guide to Interpretations | location = Westport, Connecticut, USA | publisher = Greenwood Press | isbn = 0313291039}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|Micronesia|q=Category:Micronesia|voy=Micronesia|d=Q3359409}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100113023709/http://www.visit-fsm.org/visitors/history.html History of Micronesia]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091201222720/http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/micg.htm Micronesian Games]

{{Regions of Oceania}}
{{Regions of the world}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Micronesia| ]]
[[Category:Asia-Pacific]]
[[Category:Islands of Oceania]]
[[Category:Regions of Oceania]]