Editing Pohnpei (section)

==History==
{{See also|Nan Madol}}
[[File:Nan Madol megalithic site, Pohnpei (Federated States of Micronesia) 2.jpg|thumb|Ruins of Nan Madol, one of the megalithic sites of the Pacific]]
The natives of Pohnpei, especially the 'older' generations, often refer to events in their past as having occurred, e.g., in "German times" or "before the Spaniards," which identifies the historical periods:<ref name=Native/>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Period
! Years
|-
| Native period
| Before 1825
|-
| Pre-Spanish period
| 1825–1886
|-
| Spanish period
| 1886–1899
|-
| German period
| 1899–1914
|-
| Japanese period
| 1914–1945
|-
| US period
| 1945–1986
|-
| Independence period
| Since 1986
|}

===Pre-colonial history===
[[File:Kepirohi Waterfall 3.jpg|thumb|Kepirohi Waterfall, Pohnpei]]
The earliest settlers were probably [[Lapita culture]] people from the Southeast [[Solomon Islands (archipelago)|Solomon Islands]] or the [[Vanuatu]] [[archipelago]].<ref name="McCoy et al">{{cite journal |last1=McCoy |first1=Mark D. |last2=Alderson |first2=Helen A. |last3=Hemi |first3=Richard |last4=Cheng |first4=Hai |last5=Edwards |first5=R. Lawrence |title=Earliest direct evidence of monument building at the archaeological site of Nan Madol (Pohnpei, Micronesia) identified using 230Th/U coral dating and geochemical sourcing of megalithic architectural stone |journal=Quaternary Research |date=November 2016 |volume=86 |issue=3 |pages=295–303 |doi=10.1016/j.yqres.2016.08.002 |bibcode=2016QuRes..86..295M |doi-access=free}}</ref> Pre-colonial history is divided into three eras: ''Mwehin Kawa'' or ''Mwehin Aramas'' (Period of Building, or Period of Peopling, before {{Circa|1100}}); ''Mwehin Sau Deleur'' (Period of the [[Saudeleur dynasty|Lord of Deleur]], {{Circa|1100}}<ref name=Flood>{{cite book |title=Micronesian Legends |first1=Bo |last1=Flood |first2=Beret E. |last2=Strong |first3=William |last3=Flood |publisher=Bess Press |year=2002 |isbn=1-57306-129-8 |pages=145–7, 160 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVVQ46epBqwC |access-date=1 January 2012 |archive-date=7 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007063355/https://books.google.com/books?id=IVVQ46epBqwC |url-status=live }}</ref> to {{Circa|1628}});{{#tag:ref|The Saudeleur era lasted around 500 years.<ref name=Hanlon/> Legend generally dates their downfall to the 1500s,<ref>{{cite book |title=The Lelu Stone Ruins (Kosrae, Micronesia): 1978–81 Historical and Archaeological Research |issue=10 |series=Asian and Pacific Archaeology |first=Ross H |last=Cordy |publisher=Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawaii at Manoa |year=1993 |isbn=0-8248-1134-8 |pages=14, 254, 258 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQMNAQAAMAAJ |access-date=31 December 2011 |archive-date=7 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007063355/https://books.google.com/books?id=hQMNAQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> however, archaeologists date Saudeleur ruins to {{Circa|1628}}.<ref name=Morgan>{{cite book |title=Prehistoric Architecture in Micronesia |first=William N |last=Morgan |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=1988 |isbn=0-292-76506-1 |pages=60, 63, 76, 85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3Z-aH7govUC |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref><ref name=PlaceNames/><ref name=UG>{{cite book |title=Micronesica |publisher=University of Guam |year=1990 |pages=92, 203, 277 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LgAcAAAAMAAJ |access-date=31 December 2011 |archive-date=7 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007063356/https://books.google.com/books?id=LgAcAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> |group=note}} and ''Mwehin [[tribal chief|Nahnmwarki]]'' (Period of the Nahnmwarki, {{Circa|1628}} to {{Circa|1885}}).<ref name=Hanlon>{{cite book |title=Upon a Stone Altar: A History of the Island of Pohnpei to 1890 |volume=5 |series=Pacific Islands Monograph |first=David L |last=Hanlon |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1988 |isbn=0-8248-1124-0 |pages=13–25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OzgF5vZByVoC |access-date=1 January 2012}}</ref><ref name=PlaceNames>{{cite book |title=Place Names of Pohnpei Island: Including And (Ant) and Pakin Atolls |first1=Tom |last1=Panholzer |first2=Mauricio |last2=Rufino |publisher=Bess Press |year=2003 |isbn=1-57306-166-2 |pages=xiii, xii, 101 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h2EWUggiuQIC |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref> Pohnpeian legend recounts that the Saudeleur rulers, the first to bring government to Pohnpei, were of foreign origin. The Saudeleur centralized form of absolute rule is characterized in Pohnpeian legend as becoming increasingly oppressive over several generations. Arbitrary and onerous demands, as well as a reputation for offending Pohnpeian deities, sowed resentment among [[Pohnpeians]]. The Saudeleur Dynasty ended with the invasion of [[Isokelekel]], another semi-mythical foreigner, who replaced the Saudeleur rule with the more decentralized ''[[tribal chief|nahnmwarki]]'' system in existence today.<ref name=Native>{{cite book |title=The Native Polity of Ponape |volume=10 |series=Contributions to Anthropology |first=Saul H |last=Riesenberg |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |year=1968 |pages=38, 51 |isbn=9780598442437 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JV-0AAAAIAAJ |access-date=1 January 2012}}</ref><ref name=Ballinger>{{cite book |title=Lost City of Stone: The Story of Nan Madol, the "Atlantis" of the Pacific |first=Bill Sanborn |last=Ballinger |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1978 |isbn=0-671-24030-7 |pages=45–8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l6oSAQAAIAAJ |access-date=31 December 2011 |archive-date=7 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007063903/https://books.google.com/books?id=l6oSAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Petersen1>{{citation |mode=cs1 |title=Lost in the Weeds: Theme and Variation in Pohnpei Political Mythology |id=OP35 |series=Occasional Papers |chapter=Isokelekel |pages=34 et seq |first=Glenn |last=Petersen |publisher=Center for Pacific Islands Studies, School of Hawaiian, Asian & Pacific Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |year=1990 |chapter-url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/15545/OP35.pdf |access-date=31 December 2011 |hdl=10125/15545 |archive-date=27 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127005944/http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/15545/OP35.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Pohnpeian historic society was highly structured into five tribes, various clans and sub-clans; each tribe headed by two principal chiefs. The tribes were organized on a feudal basis. In theory, "all land belonged to the chiefs, who received regular tribute and whose rule was absolute." Punishments administered by chiefs included death and banishment. Tribal wars included looting, destruction of houses and canoes and killing of prisoners.<ref name=Native/> Pre-Spanish population estimates are deemed unreliable.<ref name=Native/>

===Earliest European contacts===
Pohnpei's first European visitor was Spanish navigator [[Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón]] on 14 September 1529 shortly before his death, when trying to find the way back to [[New Spain]].<ref>Brand, Donald D., ''The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations'', The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.137</ref> He charted it as ''San Bartolomé'' and called this one and the surrounding islands as ''Los Pintados'' (literally, "the painted ones" in Spanish) because the natives were frequently tattooed. It was later visited by the navigator [[Pedro Fernandes de Queirós]], commanding the Spanish ship ''San Jeronimo''.<ref name=Native/> on 23 December 1595; his description is brief, he made no attempt to land.<ref>Coello, Francisco "Conflicto hispano-alemán" ''Boletín de Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid'', t.XIX. 2º semestre 1885, Madrid, pp.244,245,294,296</ref>

===19th-century visitors===
There is good documentation about Australian sailor John Henry Rowe, who arrived in his barque ''John Bull'' on 10 September 1825, though he did not land as his vessel was chased off by native canoes. The first lengthy description of the island and its inhabitants is presented by the Russian explorer [[Fyodor Litke]], whose ship ''Senyavin'' gave the island group of Pohnpei, Ant and Pakin its name. From 14 to 19 January 1828, his boats attempted to land but could not due to the hostility shown by the islanders, but natives then came aboard his ship, "some trading occurred, a short vocabulary was compiled, and a map made."<ref name=Native/> F.H. von Kittlitz, a member of the Litke expedition made a further descriptive account, including the offshore ruins of [[Nan Madol]], and the two reports together provided the first real knowledge of Pohnpei.<ref name=Native/> It is not clear who the next visitors were; however, when Capt. J.H. Eagleston of the barque ''Peru'' sighted the island on 3 January 1832, it was already on his charts as "Ascension Island." Riesenberg writes that it is uncertain who first called it Ascension Island, but the name became established until the Spanish period.<ref name=Native/>

===Miscreants and missionaries===
From this time onward, whaling and trading vessels came in increasing numbers. Very soon a "large colony of beachcombers, escaped convicts, and ship's deserters became established ashore," identified as "chiefly bad characters," according to the log of the Swedish frigate ''Eugenie''.<ref name=Native/> The first missionary to arrive was Father [[Louis Désiré Maigret]], a Roman Catholic priest. He had sailed from Honolulu on the schooner ''Notre Dame de Paix'' and began his efforts in December 1837, but he departed on 29 July 1838 for [[Valparaíso]] after seven unsuccessful months.<ref name=Bunson>Bunson, Maggie. ''Faith in Paradise''. Boston: St. Paul Publishing. 1977, pp. 43, 65</ref> In his company were "several [[Mangareva]]ns and [[Tahitians]]," some of whom remained on Pohnpei and left descendants.<ref name=Native/> Ten years later Maigret returned to the [[Hawaiian Kingdom]] as Bishop of Honolulu.<ref name=Bunson/> A group of Protestant missionaries from New England established themselves permanently on Pohnpei in 1852. Their letters and journals contain a wealth of information about the island and are preserved at [[Harvard University]].<ref name=Native/>

A drastic population decline occurred after 1854, due to a [[smallpox]] epidemic.<ref name=Native/>

During the [[American Civil War]], to counteract the [[Union Navy]] [[Union blockade|blockade]] of their ports, [[Confederate States Navy]] ships hunted Yankee merchant shipping. On 1 April 1865, the ''[[CSS Shenandoah]]'' surprised four United States whalers at Ascension Island (Pohnpei) and destroyed them all. The local king, Nananierikie, was delighted to receive much of the spoils from this action.<ref>''CSS Shenandoah'', Lieutenant James I Waddell, Annapolis 1960, pages 144-155</ref>

===Spanish rule===
By 1886 the Spaniards claimed the Caroline Islands which were part of the [[Manila]]-based [[Spanish East Indies]] and began to exert political authority. They founded the city ''Santiago de la Ascensión'' in what today is ''Kolonia'' (from Spanish ''colonia'' or colony). The Spanish built several government buildings, a fort, a church and a school. Spanish Capuchin friars were also sent from Manila to Pohnpei to preach the Catholic faith. After the 1898 [[Spanish–American War]], the [[German Empire]] purchased the Caroline island group from Spain in 1899 together with the Marianas (except Guam) and four years later the Marshall Islands for 17 million [[German gold mark|goldmark]].

===German rule and land reform===
During the German administration a fundamental change in land ownership was implemented on Pohnpei and throughout the Carolines. Beginning in 1907, the feudal system, in which all land is held in fief, was gradually replaced with the issuance of individual deeds to land. The chief's economic advantages were thus reduced, and only force of tradition granted a first harvest tribute to chiefs.<ref name=Native/>

With land holding, taxes came due and new owners, in lieu of payment, were obliged to work 15 days per year on public projects, such as wharf construction, road building, etc. One such work for taxes engagement sparked the [[Sokehs rebellion]]. It began as an insubordination event during road construction on Sokehs Island, then escalated into the murder of nine people, the subsequent apprehension and trial of 36 Sokehs rebels, the execution of 15 insurgents, and banishment for others to [[Babelthuap]] in the German Palau Islands.

The German census of 1911–12 shows 3,190 Pohnpeians, 585 Central Carolinians and 279 Melanesians. Many of the outer islands were resettled (mainly on Sokehs Island) as a consequence of destructive typhoons in their home islands.

A special census conducted in late 1947 shows a total population of 5,628, of which 4,451 were Pohnpeians, and 1,177 were natives of other Pacific islands. By 1963, the population had grown to nearly 10,000.<ref name=Native/>

===Japanese rule===
[[File:Tanks on Pohnpei Island.jpg|thumb|Relics of WW2, derelict tanks]]
With the [[Treaty of Versailles]], Japan as [[League of Nations mandate|mandatory power]] assumed control of all German colonial possessions north of the equator, having occupied Pohnpei along with the rest of the [[Caroline Islands|Carolines]], the [[Marshall Islands|Marshalls]], the [[Marianas]] (except for American-owned [[Guam]]) and [[Kiautschou Bay concession|Kiautschou Bay]] during [[World War I]]. In subsequent years and during [[World War II]] the Japanese garrison strength was composed of about 2,000 men of the [[Imperial Japanese Navy|IJN]] under Captain Jun Naito and 5,984 [[Imperial Japanese Army|IJA]] men under Lieutenant General Masao Watanabe.<ref name=Takizawa>{{cite web |first1=Akira |last1=Takizawa |first2=Allan |last2=Alsleben |url=https://warfare.gq/dutcheastindies/japan_garrison.html |title=Japanese garrisons on the by-passed Pacific Islands 1944–1945 |date=1999–2000 |work=Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106231303/http://www.dutcheastindies.webs.com/japan_garrison.html |archive-date=6 January 2016}}</ref> However, Pohnpei was bypassed by the [[United States Navy]] during the [[island hopping|island-hopping]] amphibious campaigns of 1943–1945.<ref name=Takizawa/>

The island was shelled on several occasions, including by the battleships [[USS Massachusetts (BB-59)|USS ''Massachusetts'']], USS ''Alabama'', and {{USS|Iowa|BB-61|6}}, as well as air attacks launched from [[USS Cowpens (CVL-25)|USS ''Cowpens'']]. Japan surrendered in 1945, and the Pohnpei was turned over to the United States without a battle. After the war, Japanese nationals were repatriated to Japan by the US Navy. The people on Pohnpei would be in a United Nations trusteeship to determine their own fate.

===United States administration, under United Nations oversight===
[[File:Ponape.jpg|thumb|District center of Pohnpei Circa 1971]]
The Federated States of Micronesia achieved independence in 1986 after being administered by the United States under UN auspices since 1947 as part of the [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]]. Pohnpei is an island part of Federated States of Micronesia, which is recognized by the United Nations. It has maintained a defense and aid agreement with the United States after becoming independent.