![]() Malem (roughly corresponding to today's Malem municipality).Tafunsak (roughly corresponding to today's Tafunsak municipality).Yepen (mainland part of today's Lelu municipality, with Tofol, the state capital).Until 1977, Kosrae was subdivided into districts or villages at the sub-municipality level: Kosrae is the only single-island FSM state (whereby the seven or eight small nearshore islands within the fringing reef, most importantly Lelu Island, are subsumed under the main island), while the other three states are each composed of many islands. When the Micronesian constitution was defeated in the TTPI districts of Palau and the Marshall Islands, Kosrae joined the remaining districts ( Yap, Chuuk and Pohnpei) to form the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). ĭuring the Trust Territory (TTPI) period, Kosrae was initially administered as one of the municipalities of the Ponape (Pohnpei) District, but in 1977 became a separate district. Aid and investment increased from the 1960s. In 1945, administration over Kosrae passed to the United States, which ruled the island as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The island became part of the vast US Naval Base Marshall Islands. Tunnel bunkers that have multiple entrances were dug into the island's interior peaks and most can still be explored today. The Japanese garrison commanded by Lieutenant-General Yoshikazu Harada consisted of 3,811 IJA men including a company of tanks and 700 IJA men. The island was fortified by the Japanese during World War II, but no battles occurred on Kosrae. The island was practically run by a few missionaries who converted the population Willard Price, when he visited in the 1930s, reported that the island had no jail, there had been no murders in sixty years, and alcohol and tobacco were unheard of. The island came under the control of the Empire of Japan after World War I.Įxtensive economic improvements took place during the Japanese South Seas Mandate of 1919 to 1947. German and Japanese rule (1899-1945) Īfter the Spanish defeat against the United States in the war of 1898, on February the 2nd 1899 Spain sold the Carolinas Islands to Germany for 25 million pesetas (17 million German marks). In 1885, after a dispute between the Spanish Empire and the German Empire, finally resolved under the terms of the Vatican State, the Spanish Navy took effective control of the island. The existence of this buried money is part of the myths that surround Hayes. His treasure may have been left behind, buried somewhere in the forest, although subsequent diggings have failed to uncover it. He was arrested, but then escaped in a 14-foot boat, built of timber from the wreck of the Leonora. In September 1874, HMS Rosario (under the command of Captain Dupuis) arrived to investigate the claims against Hayes. Bully Hayes made his home in Utwe for seven months, during which he terrorized the local people. The notorious captain and blackbirder Bully Hayes was shipwrecked on Kosrae on March 15, 1874, when his ship Leonora was caught in Utwe harbor during a storm. Today, many sects of Christianity are represented on Kosrae, and religion still plays an integral role in culture. The first missionary post was established by Congregationalists in 1852, and virtually the whole island had converted to Christianity by the 1870s. Its cultural features included matrilineal lineage and clans, with a feudal structure of "nobles" controlling land worked by "commoners" and settlements consisting of small groups of close relatives sharing a single cook house. By the time of the island's first contact with European travelers in 1824, Kosrae had a highly stratified society, typical of the surrounding islands of the time. The island was under nominal Spanish sovereignty since 1668, but it was not effectively occupied until 1885. The first recorded sighting by Westerners was by the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Saavedra on 14 September 1529 when trying to return from Tidore to New Spain. During this visit, several crew walked across the island and visited the island of Lelu. La Coquille anchored in Kosrae for ten days. René-Primevère Lesson also traveled on Coquille as a naval doctor and naturalist. Commanded by Louis-Isidore Duperrey, La Coquille, on its circumnavigation of the earth (1822–1825) with Jules Dumont d'Urville as second. La Coquille, arrived at Okat Harbor on 3 June 1824 and visited until 15 June 1824. It featured burial pyramids for the nobility. This includes the city of Leluh that existed from about 1250 to 1850 AD, and in its heyday had a population of about 1,500 and covered some 27 hectares. Archaeological evidence shows that the island was settled at least by the early years of the first millennium AD.
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