Chuuk State

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

As part of the Caroline Islands, Truk was claimed by the Spanish Empire, which struggled to control the islands in the late 19th century. The Chuuk Lagoon was then inhabited by various tribes that participated in intermittent wars, as well as a small population of foreign merchants and missionaries, mostly linked to the Catholic Church. 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 warring tribes of Chuuk. No major Spanish settlement was established and tribal violence continued until the German colonial era.

The Caroline Islands were sold to the German Empire in 1899, after Spain withdrew from the Pacific after the Spanish-American War in which it lost its main colony in Asia, the Philippines. Germany incorporated the territory into its domain in the German New Guinea.

During World War I, the Japanese navy 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 after the defeat of Germany in World War I.

Attack on the Japanese naval base on Dublon Island, current state of Chuuk

Chuuk was one of six districts of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) which were administered by the United States under charter from the United Nations 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 November 3, 1986.

The Federated States of Micronesia, including Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, and Pohnpei, was established in 1979 and signed a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (effective November 3, 1986).

On July 2, 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.

As of recent times, Chuuk has been pushing harder for independence. An independence referendum was originally scheduled to coincide with federal elections on March 3, 2015, but was pushed back to March 5, 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.[1]

The New York Province of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) 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 institution, drawing students from all the island groups of the Federated States of Micronesia, as well as Palau and the Marshall Islands. Teachers are both Jesuit and lay and come from Micronesia, the U.S., Indonesia, Japan, and Australia.

Although Chuuk is an overwhelmingly Christian society, traditional beliefs in spirit possession 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.[5]

There are some references on the Chuukese language, treating guests, and on beliefs in the sci-fi book "Reefsong" from Carol Severance.

• Tol

• Paata
• Polle
• Onei

Nomwisofo Group/District#5:

• Eot
• Fanapanges
• Romanum
• Udot

Northern Nomoneas (population) Islands:

• Fono (397)
• Piis-Paneu (523)
• Weno (Moen) (13,802)

Southern Nomoneas (Shiki) Islands:

• Fefen (4,062)
• Parem (385)
• Tonowas (Dublon) (3,910)
• Tsis (490)
• Uman (including uninhabited Kuop (Neoch) Atoll) (2,847)

Lower Mortlock Islands (Nomoi Islands):

• Etal (267)
• Lukunor (927)
• Oneop (west islet of Lukunor Atoll) (505)
• Satawan (955)
• Kuttu (west islet of Satawan Atoll)
• Moch (north islet of Satawan Atoll)
• Ta (southeast islet of Satawan Atoll)

Upper Mortlock Islands (Eastern Islands):

• Nama (995)
• Losap (448)
• Pis-Losap (islet of Losap Atoll)
• Namoluk (407)

Hall Islands (north):

• Fananu (eastern islets of Nomwin Atoll)
• Murilo
• Nomwin (including uninhabited Fayu Atoll)
• Ruo (southeast islet of Murilo Atoll)

Chuuk Airport

Namonuito Atoll (Magur Islands) (northwest):

• Magur (Makur)
• Onari (Unanu)
• Ono
• Pisaras
• Ulul

Pattiw Islands (Western Islands):

• Pulap (north islet of Pollap Atoll)
• Poluwat (Puluwat)
• Pulusuk (also known as Houk Island)
• Tamatam (south islet of Pollap Atoll, with Fanadik islet in the center)