Caroline Islands

thumb|upright=0.6|Navigator [[Mau Piailug (1932–2010) of Satawal island, Micronesia]]

thumb|[[Rai stones on Yap]]

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 central and eastern parts of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end. Historically, this area was also called Nuevas Filipinas or New Philippines, because they were part of the Spanish East Indies and were governed from Manila in the Philippines.

The Carolines are scattered across a distance of approximately , from the westernmost island, Tobi, in Palau, to the easternmost island, Kosrae, a state of the FSM.

Description

The group consists of about 500 small coral islands, east of the Philippines, in the Pacific Ocean. The distance from Yap (one of the larger Caroline islands) to Manila is .

Islands of the Carolines

Some of the individual islands which make up the Carolines include - Yap, Chuuk (Truk), Pohnpei, Kosrae, Babeldaob, Satawal, Kapingamarangi, Nukuoro, Faichuk, Namonuito, Hall Island, Nomoi Islands, Weno, Rumung, Maap, Kanifay, Ngulu, Nett, Pingelap, and Lelu.

People and culture

thumb|upright|"Man and Wife of the 'Pimlingai,' or Slave Class," (1903), photograph by [[William Henry Furness III|Furness. Illustration from The Island of Stone Money: Uap of the Carolines (1910)]]

thumb|Women fishing with nets, [[Chuuk State|Chuuk (1899–1900)]]

The indigenous inhabitants speak a variety of languages, including: the Micronesian languages of Pohnpeian, Chuukese, Carolinian, and Kosraean; the Western Malayo-Polynesian languages of Palauan and Chamorro; and the unclassified language Yapese (possibly one of the Admiralty Islands languages). There are also a significant number of inhabitants who belong to non-indigenous ethnic groups and speak other languages, including Filipinos and Japanese. The lingua franca used for trade and commerce among islanders who do not speak the same language is English.

The indigenous people of these islands live mainly on horticultural products, fish, many different varieties of bananas, and taro (either the "swamp" or the "purple" variety). On some islands, housing is still built using local materials such as coconut-palm thatch. As a result of missionary work over the centuries, Christianity is the religion most commonly practiced in this region of Micronesia. Many of the indigenous people adhere to the traditional belief in a supreme being called "Yalafar" and an evil spirit called "Can." For the most part, however, they do not engage in traditional religious rites.

The Micronesian navigator Mau Piailug (1932–2010) was originally from the Carolinian island of Satawal. He learned the traditional navigation techniques of the Weriyeng school, which had been preserved after other traditional techniques had been forgotten (due partly to the remoteness of the Carolinian Islands). In the 1970s, Mau shared his knowledge with members of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. This led to a revival of the practices of traditional Polynesian navigation techniques, and provided anthropologists with a greater understanding of the history of the Polynesian and Micronesian peoples.

In 1985, a study was published that examined the origin of the sidereal compass used in the Caroline Islands.

History

Different islands in the Carolines have passed down different legends about the origins and early histories of their peoples. For example, on Pohnpei, the islanders describe their history before colonial times as divided into three eras: the Mwehin Kawa or Mwehin Aramas (era of building or peopling, before 1100); the Mwehin Sau Deleur (era of the reigns of the Saudeleur, from 1100 to around 1628); and the Mwehin Nahnmwarki (era of the tribal chiefs, from around 1628 to 1885, when Spain colonized the islands).

According to Pohnpeian legend: the Saudeleur rulers originally came from beyond the islands; they were the first to bring government to Pohnpei; they imposed absolute, centralized rule on the islanders, which became increasingly oppressive over the centuries; and their arbitrary and onerous demands, along with their offenses against Pohnpeian deities, sowed resentment among Pohnpeians. Legend has it that the Saudeleur dynasty ended when another foreigner, called Isokelekel, invaded the islands, overthrew the Saudeleurs, and instituted the more decentralized nahnmwarki (tribal chief) system (which was maintained even during the later Colonial period, and still exists today).

thumb|upright=1.25|[[Manila galleon|Manila Galleon in the Marianas and Carolinas, c. 1590 Boxer Codex]]

Spanish overseas province

thumb|upright|Spanish currency used in the Caroline Islands at the end of the 19th century. Note the German circular punch, made following the Spanish cession of the islands to Germany in 1899.

The first contact that European explorers had with the Caroline islands was in 1525, when a summer storm carried the Portuguese navigators Diogo da Rocha and Gomes de Sequeira eastward from the Moluccas (by way of Celebes). They ended up reaching several of the Caroline islands and staying there for several months, until 20 January 1526. Soon after, on 22 August 1526, the Spanish explorers Toribio Alonso de Salazar and Diego de Saavedra arrived in the area and recorded sighting the Island of San Bartolomé (Taongui). About 8 months later, on 1 January 1528, the explorer Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón claimed possession of the Ulithi Islands on behalf of the king of Spain. He named them the Islands of the Kings (; ) after his patron and the Three Wise Men honored in the approaching Catholic feast of Epiphany. Spanish explorers visited the archipelago again in 1542 (Matelotes Islands), 1543, and 1545. In 1565, the islands were briefly visited by the first governor-general of the Philippines, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (in office from 1565 to 1572).

Europeans did not visit the island again until 1686, when Francisco de Lezcano arrived in Yap. He called the islands Las Carolinas, in honor of Charles II of Spain.

In 1852, a Spanish colonel named Coello suggested to the Spanish government that effective Spanish occupation of the Caroline Islands would help the Spanish engage in trade and commerce with the Philippines, Australia, New Guinea, and the Americas. His suggestion was ignored at first, but, in 1885, a Spanish government representative called Butron signed an agreement with the tribal chiefs of Koror and Artingal establishing Spanish sovereignty over the Caroline Islands. At that point, Spain attempted to impose customs duties on commercial exchanges in the region. However, Spain's previous abandonment of the islands had allowed the establishment of German and British missions on the islands, and Germany and the United Kingdom disputed Spain's right to collect customs revenue. The European powers called on Pope Leo XIII to arbitrate this dispute. He decided that Spain would have these rights on the islands west of the 164th meridian east, and Germany would have these rights on the Marshall Islands. (He also assigned Germany the right to maintain a naval station in one of the Caroline Islands, but Germany never exercised that right.)

After the Spanish–American War of 1898, Spain sold the Carolines and the Northern Marianas to the German Empire in the German–Spanish Treaty (1899) for 25 million pesetas (the equivalent of 17 million goldmarks or nearly one million pounds sterling), Such vessels—from Britain, the United States, Australia and elsewhere—came for water, wood, and food and, sometimes, for men willing to serve as crewmen on the vessels. These ships stimulated commerce and were significant vectors for change (both good and ill). The islands most commonly visited were Kosrae, Mokil, Ngatik, Pingelap and Pohnpei.

Japanese colony

Japan invaded and occupied the islands in 1914 during World War I, as part of their campaign to take and occupy German colonial possessions. They installed two naval squadrons as part of this occupation. The Western Carolines were controlled by the squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Matsumura Tatsuo (1868–1932); while the Eastern Carolines were controlled by Vice-Admiral Yamaya Tanin (1866–1940). In 1920, after World War I, Japan received a League of Nations mandate to control the Caroline and Marshall Islands. During World War II, Japan operated a large base at Truk Lagoon which it used for expansion into the southeastern Pacific. In the latter years of that war, during the Japanese withdrawal to the Japanese home islands, the Allies effectively neutralized Truk in Operation Hailstone. After the war, the islands (together with the Marshall Islands) became trust territories of the United States. The Federated States of Micronesia gained independence in 1986, followed by Palau in 1994.

Colonial governors or officers

thumb|upright=1.25|Transfer of sovereignty at Yap in the Western Caroline Islands (1899)

District officers (from 1889, styled Bezirksamtleute):

In the Western Caroline islands (Yap and Palau [and from 1907 Saipan])

29 June 1886 – 18??, Manuel de Elisa
before November 1897 – after November 1898, S. Cortes
1899–1909, Arno Senfft (b. 1864 – d. 1909)
1909–19??, Rudolf Karlowa
1909–1910, Georg Fritz
1910–1911, Hermann Kersting
1911–1914, Baumert

In the Eastern Caroline islands (Ponape, and including the Marshall Islands from 1911)

June 1886 – 1887, Capriles
14 March 1887 – 1887, Isidro Posadillo (d. 1887)
October 1887 – January 1891, Luis Cadarso y Rey (d. 1898)
c.1894, Concha
before November 1897 – after November 1898, J. Fernández de Córdoba
12 October 1899 – August 1901, Albert Hahl (b. 1868 – d. 1945)
1 September 1901 – 30 April 1907, Victor Berg (b. 1861 – d. 1907)
1907–198?, Max Girschner (acting)
1908–1909, Georg Fritz
1909 – 18 October 1910, Gustav Boeder (d. 1910)
1910 – 7 October 1914, August Überhorst

Ecclesiastical history

Two Jesuits, Juan Antonio Cantova (also known as John Anthony Cantova) and Victor Walter, attempted missionary work there in 1731; the former was soon murdered and the latter obliged to flee. Two other Jesuits were killed later. In 1767, the Jesuits were suppressed in the Spanish dominions, and for the next 120 years there was no trace of a missionary in the islands.

Postage stamps

right|thumb|A German-era 5-mark "Karolinen" stamp showing a steamship

During the period of German control, Germany issued postage stamps for the islands.

Transportation

Transportation within the islands is either by boat or air (if in close proximity of an airfield).

Air travel is mostly domestic as most facilities cannot handle large aircraft. Caroline Islands Air is a chartered and the only domestic airline.

Flora and Fauna

Palau and Yap are the only places outside the Philippines where Callicarpa micrantha is native.

Campnosperma brevipetiolatum was first named and classified by the German botanist Georg Volkens while carrying out research on Yap. He described the species in 1901 in the article 'Die Vegetation der Karolinen, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der von Yap' in the periodical Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie(Leipzig).

Crinum bakeri is endemic to the Caroline and Marshall Islands, and was first described by Karl Moritz Schumann in 1887.

Psychotria hombroniana is endemic to the Caroline and Mariana Islands, with five subspecies being found on the Carolines, and three subspecies on the Marianas.

Three of the four species in the genus Ponapea are endemic to the Caroline Islands.

For a further list of flora found in the Carolines, see Flora of the Caroline Islands