Based on archaeological
material found off one of the lagoon islands, people have
inhabited Chuuk for about 2,000 years. Chuuk legends refer to
the first inhabitants as having come from Kosrae, about 1300 km
to the east. The inhabitants were initially coastal dwellers who
produced simple undecorated pottery, but about 1500 years ago
this disappeared from the archaeological record. Over time
settlement patterns changed and people moved up hill slopes and
onto mountain tops and evidence of this can be seen in the shell middens and the large basalt platforms which have been assumed
to have been used for large community meeting houses called
wuuts.
The many islands of Chuuk are
fringed with mangroves that support an abundant and diverse
marine life. The fertile high islands contain native trees and
plants including breadfruit, coconuts, mango, banana, and taro
that, in association with the marine life, have supported a
subsistence lifestyle for the Chuukese for many years. The
Chuukese from the atolls located outside the lagoon were great
navigators using outrigger sailing canoes to sail to the lagoon
and other islands. Paddling canoes dominated the means of
transport, fishing and for fighting inside the lagoon.
The first
Europeans, the Spanish, arrived in 1565, 34 years after Magellan
passed by on his first voyage. Spanish, Portuguese, English,
French, American, Russian, and German explorers, traders,
whalers, and missionaries subsequently visited the islands, but
the Chuukese were reported to be 'hostile', and it was not until
1886 that the Spanish established a presence and rule over
Micronesia, including Chuuk. After the Spanish-American War of
1898, an arrangement among Spain, Germany, and the United States
allowed Micronesia, except for Guam, to be purchased by Germany
from the United States for about $4.2 million. At the beginning
of World War I, Japan seized the islands in a secret and
controversial pact with Great Britain to counter the German
presence in the Pacific.
Japanese traders traveled to Micronesia beginning in the 1880s
as part of the Meiji Restoration initiatives. Over the next 50
years until the beginning of World War II, "the Japanese
cultivation of the islands had wrought a minor agricultural
revolution. Although it had but small impact on the empire as a
whole, the agricultural activities contributed to the general
prosperity of the colony and changed the landscape of the larger
islands." In 1914, Japan formally occupied Micronesia and
considered it a mandated area under the League of Nations in
1919.
However, through a policy of assimilation, alienation of
Micronesians with their land, and intensive migration, the
Indigenous population soon found themselves to be, as Historian
Fran Hezel has stated in his book "strangers in their own land."
The Japanese Navy controlled Micronesia from 1914 to 1922 from
its headquarters on Dublon (now called Tonoas) in Chuuk. In
1922, a civilian administration based in Koror, Palau, took
charge and began aggressively using Micronesia to suit Japan's
needs for economic and strategic expansion. Japanese immigrants
soon out-numbered Micronesians. In 1935, there were 50,000
Japanese throughout Micronesia; in 1942, there were 96,000,
while the population of native Micronesians remained
approximately 50,000.
By 1937, the Japanese navy was again in control in Micronesia,
directing the civilian government in establishing airstrips and
sea-plane bases. Truk (as it was called at that time) was
considered one of the greatest sites for a naval base in the
Pacific because of its deep waters and natural protection. The
base played a major role in Japanese expansion in the Pacific.
During 1944 and 1945, the United States and its allies bombed
Japanese facilities and vessels in Truk Lagoon, sinking more
than 50 ships and destroying over 400 aircraft. At the
conclusion of World War II, the Japanese departed Micronesia and
the United States was designated as trustee by the United
Nations. Administration of Micronesia, called the Trust
Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was assigned to the
United States Navy until 1951 when the U.S. Department of the
Interior took over. Over the next 35 years, an agreement on the
independence of what became known as the Federated States of
Micronesia (FSM) was negotiated through a system of "Compacts of
Free Association" between the United States and the Federated
States. Other regions of Micronesia developed separate
arrangements with the USA. The FSM was officially recognised as
an independent nation by the UN Security Council in 1990. The US
maintains special relationships with all the Micronesian
nations/territories, being responsible for their defence and
providing considerable financial assistance.
