Yap (state)
| Yap | |
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| Country: | Micronesia |
| Waters: | Pacific Ocean |
| Islands: | 145 |
| Geographical location: | 9 ° 32 ' N , 138 ° 7' E |
| Basic data | |
| Surface: | 119 km² |
| Residents: | 11,376 (2010) |
| Population density: | 96 inhabitants / km² |
| Capital: | Colonia |
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Yap is a state of the Federated States of Micronesia . It includes about 145 smaller islands and atolls in the western Pacific Ocean .
geography
General
The state of Yap is located in the far west of the Federated States of Micronesia. It covers a large western Pacific sea area that extends from west to east over about 1,100 km and from north to south up to 350 km. The westernmost land point of Yap is in the Ngulu Atoll , the easternmost on the island of Pikelot near the border with the state of Chuuk . The capital Colonia is located on the island of the same name, Yap, in the northwest of the national territory. The main island is over 1,000 km away from the easternmost island of Pikelot.
Islands and atolls
The islands outside the main group of the Yap Islands ( Yap Proper ) are known as the Outer Islands . For the sake of clarity, the islands and atolls are listed separately in western and eastern groups:
Western group
- Ngulu (atoll with nine islands)
- Yap Islands ( Yap Proper ) (early-stage atoll, with four tall islands and nine small coral islands)
- Ulithi (atoll with 34 islands) (without the separate island Falalop )
- Turtle Islands (atoll with three islands)
- Zohhoiiyoru Bank (atoll with two islands)
- Sorol (atoll with nine islands)
- Falalop (island east of Ulithi atoll)
- Fais (island)
Eastern group
- Woleai (atoll with 18 islands)
- Eauripik (atoll with three islands)
- Faraulep (atoll with three islands)
- Ifalik (atoll with three islands)
- Gaferut (island)
- Olimarao (atoll with two islands)
- Lamolior (atoll with two islands)
- Elato (atoll with three islands)
- West Fayu (Piagailoe) (atoll with one island)
- Lamotrek (atoll with three islands)
- Pikelot (island)
- Satawal (island)
Administrative division
The state of Yap is in 22 communities ( municipalities divided). Ten of these are on Yap Proper (six on Yap Island, two on Gagil-Tamil, one on Maap and one on Rumung) and twelve on the Outer Islands .
The communities on Yap Proper traditionally continued in villages ( villages divided), a total of 129, of which 38 are now uninhabited.
More recently, there are five electoral districts : one for Yap Proper and four for the Outer Islands .
population
Around 11,000 people live in the state of Yap, around two thirds of them on the main islands ( Yap Proper ), the rest on the other islands ( Outer Islands ).
history
Yap was probably founded in the 3rd millennium BC. Populated by immigrants from the Malay Archipelago , New Guinea and the Solomon Islands . The Yapese language serves as scientific proof of this : It is similar to Malay , but also has influences from Papuan languages .
The outer islands, which today belong to the state of Yap, were settled from Polynesia .
The island state became known for stone money , huge stone disks that could be used as a means of payment until a few years ago . Since this stone money had to be made from a rock that could not be extracted on the island, the value is explained by the dangers taken on such an expedition (mostly to Palau).
Yap had been officially owned by Spain since the 16th century , but government power was not exercised until 1885, when Spain sent its first governor to the island. Three days after the arrival of the governor and two Spanish warships, the gunboat of the German Imperial Navy SMS Iltis reached the port of Yap and took possession of all the islands in the Pacific between the equator and 11 ° north latitude and between 133 ° and 164 ° east longitude. After violent protests and a storm by the masses in Madrid against the German embassy on September 4, 1885, the Iltis and SMS Nautilus had to remove the German national emblems on the islands of the Caroline Islands.
An arbitration award from Pope Leo XIII. on October 22, 1885, Spain granted the possession of the Carolines. On June 30, 1899, after the Spanish-American War , Spain sold the Carolines, the Palau Islands and the majority of the Marianas to the German Empire . During the First World War , the island was occupied by Japan and then administered as a mandate area of the League of Nations .
During the Second World War, Yap was bypassed by the USA as part of " island hopping " and was not attacked directly, but Japanese positions were often heavily bombed.
After the war, Yap became part of the US Pacific Islands Trust Territory .
On May 10, 1979, Yap ratified the Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia and became an integral part of this new nation with official independence on November 3, 1986.
Life and culture
Stone money
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Perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of the Yapese culture are the large, round disks, the stone money or "Rai" as it is called in the Yapese language, and which can be found all over the island. Although it is not legal tender on the international currency market (the official currency, Yaps, is the US dollar), it is still used as a means of payment on the island. The large stone disks with symmetrical chiselling and a hole in the middle for transportation can have a diameter larger than a man. The value of these limestones varies, but not according to their size, but according to the effort that went into the trip to Yap to get them. Today people still have the money, but it doesn't move back and forth anymore. Most of it is kept in a canal known as a stone money bank, though a few still stand outside the thatched men's house and family huts, displaying their wealth and status.
Men's houses
Almost every village on the island has its own men's house . These houses, artistically built from local materials, serve as a meeting place where the men gather to tell their stories. Tradition also dictates that every male member of a village who will go fishing must spend the night alone in the men's house. The houses also serve as a place to study. The elders of the village pass on their knowledge and skills and teach the boys the arts of fishing, sailing and local crafts.
economy
Today Yap is partly developed for tourism and is especially known for its diving area , where you can dive with large manta rays .
Foreigners are not allowed to own land. However, land leases are permitted for a term of up to 50 years.
language
Yapese is spoken on the main islands ( Yap Proper ) . Own languages are spoken on the Outer Islands : Ulithic , Woleaian , Satawalesian . In addition to these, English is the official language. Some older people still speak Japanese fluently .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ FSM 2010 Census of Population and Housing. (PDF; 1.32 MB) Accessed August 19, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Location of Ulithi. Pacific Worlds (pacificworlds.com), accessed on June 15, 2016 (English, The sentence "... previously, all the islands that comprise Yap State were linked in a tribute system ..." should still be translated in a generally understandable way.): "... Today The Outer Islands are subdivided into four electoral districts, with Yap Island making the fifth. But previously, all the islands that comprise Yap State were linked in a tribute system that reached from the Yap islands, all the way East to the outer islands of Chuuk. This connection still plays an important role in understanding the relationships and connections within modern Yap State. "
- ^ Sherwood G. Lingenfelter : Yap: Political Leadership and Culture Change in an Island Society. The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu 1975, p. 79
