Pohnpei State

Pohnpei State (IPA: /pɔ:n peɪ/) is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The other states are, from east to west, Kosrae State, Chuuk State, and Yap State. The state's main island is Pohnpei. The pre-colonial history of Pohnpei is divided into three stages: Mwehin Kawa or Mwehin Aramas (ca. 1100); Mwehin Sau Deleur (from ca. 1100 to ca. 1628); and Mwehin Nahnmwarki (from ca. 1628 to ca. 1885). In Pohnpei there are historic ruins of a Micronesian civilization, especially the ruins of Nan Madol. The Caroline Islands, within which the island of Pohnpei is currently included, were visited on 22 August 1526 by the Spanish explorer Toribio Alonso de Salazar. On 1 January 1528, the explorer Alonso de Saavedra took possession of the islands of Uluti in the name of the King of Spain. The archipelago was visited in 1542, by the Matelotes Islands in 1543 and 1545, and by Legazpi in 1565. The first European visitor to Ponapé was Pedro Fernández de Quirós, commanding the Spanish ship San Gerónimo. He sighted the island on 23 December 1595; his description of it is brief and he never landed there. The second known European visit did not occur until much later, by the Australian John Henry Rowe, his ship John Bull arrived on the island on September 10, 1825, being attacked by the natives. Pohnpei, together with the Senyavin Islands, was definitely included in the European navigation charts after being sighted by the Russian navigator Fyodor Litke in 1828, more than two centuries after the rest of the Caroline Islands. The main seat of government of the Carolinas was found on this island. The Spaniards called the island Ponapé and established the city of Santiago de la Ascensión, which became their first capital. As it was the seat of the Spanish colony (composed of officials, military, missionaries and Filipino workers) it became known simply as Colonia or Kolonia, adjacent to the current capital, Palikir.