Our Series on Federations takes us to the Federated States of Micronesia, an independent nation located in the North Pacific Ocean. With less than 100,000 nationals, it is one of the smallest countries in the World, and therefore of the smallest federations. It comprises four island groups that form the federated states: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae.
A federated structure makes sense, despite the small size of the population, because of the vast distance that separates its constituant island groups, which cover a maritime area more than 2500km in length. The populations are all from Micronesian origin, that is, people that reached these tiny lands from Southeast Asia thousands of years ago.
While these were mostly cut off from the rest of the World for centuries, they fell first under Spanish control, then under German control. Germany lost all its dependencies after WW1 and Japan became the protector of the islands. Japan in turn lost sovereignty after WW2 and the United States became the UN Trustee of all Japanese territories in the Pacific, including the four island groups, in 1945. Full independence was granted to these four territories, which joined together as a federation.
More on the Federated States of Micronesia
The Federated States of Micronesia in 2022
