Chuuk State Census Report - pacificweb.org

Chapter 1. Introduction2000 FSM Census of Chuuk StateTyphoon Owen passed through the Northern Outer Islands (The Halls and Nomunuito) devastating many of the smallatoll islands.Regional Sub-DivisionChuuk State is divided into five (5) political regions. Chuuk Lagoon has 3 of the regions: (1) Northern Namoneas (7.75square miles), consisting of Weno (formerly known as Moen), Piis-Paneu (formerly Piis-Moen), and Fono;(2) SouthernNamoneas (11.72 square miles), consisting of Tonoas (formerly Dublon), Fefen ,Etten, Siis, Uman, Parem and Totiw;and (3) Faichuk (19.25 square miles), consisting of Eot, Udot, Romonum, Fanapanges, Wonei, Paata, Tol and Polle.Chuuk Outer islands makes up the two remaining regions:(4) The Mortlocks (4.91 square miles) consisting of Nama,Losap, Piis-Emwar, Namoluk, Ettal, Lekinioch, Oneop, Kuttu, Moch, Satowan and Ta; and (5) Oksoritod (10.6 squaremiles) is formally divided into three areas which are: (1) The Halls (Nomwin, Fananu, Ruo, and Murilo), (2)Namonuito (Makur, Onou, Unanu, Onoun and Piherarh), and (3) Pattiw (Houk, Polowat, Pollap, and Tamatam). Justoutside Chuuk Lagoon is small Kuop Atoll, belonging to the people of Uman. The island area of these lagoon islands is38.6 square miles and makes up almost 80 percent of the state's land area. All of Chuuk's Outer Islands are composedof coral and most are atolls. The Outer Islands have a total land area of just 10.6 square miles with approximately 1,200square miles of lagoon area.A Brief History of Census TakingBefore the coming of the Europeans, Chuuk and the islands around Chuuk were much more heavily populated 1 . Thepopulation of Chuuk was estimated at 35,000 in 1827 (Lutke, 1835). In 1874, a Rev. E.T. Doane traveled on the 'Star'from Pohnpei to the Mortlocks, and wrote back to the Geographical Magazine, published in London. The ship wentfirst to Satowan, where Doane counted "about 1500" people, with about 600 on one islet. He recorded "some 600 ormore" on Ettal. The population on Namoluk was "from 300 to 500". When the ship went on to Losap, Doane found:All the surroundings of the people, their language, dress, proas, ornaments, tattooing, dwellings, the children inundress, and the women with the native tapa, showed they were in kith and kin with the islanders alreadyvisited. The population may reach 500. The island seemed fertile, and capable of furnishing plenty of food(Doane 1874:204-5).Doane found no more than 150 to 200 persons on Nama, from reports of Natives on the ship. About 1,500 were onLekinioch. The ship went on to Nukuoro after this.Spanish AdministrationThe early Spanish voyages into Micronesia served to introduce islanders to the marvels of Western technology -- shipsas large as meetinghouses and strange-looking men with impermeable skin (armor). Of all these wonders the mostprecious was iron, the durable material that could be worked into tools and weapons. Islanders were quick toappreciate the advantages of iron as a replacement for their fragile implements of bone, shell, and stone. When theSpanish colonized the Mariana’s at the end of the 17th century, the Chuukese, employing the outer island navigators astheir middlemen, carried on trade with Guam for iron. If Europeans would not come to Chuuk, the islanders would sailhundreds of miles to search them out and barter for the metal that was more precious in their eyes than gold (Gorenflo& Levin, 1992).By the end of the 18th century, Europeans were again plying the Pacific, this time to reap a share of the profits in thelucrative China trade. As they did, they rediscovered the Pacific -- sighting and visiting islands that had never beforebeen seen by white men, correcting erroneous positions recorded 200 years earlier and redrawing the maps of theregion. In 1795, James Mortlock, captain of the British trading vessel Young William, gave his name -- and for a timethat of his ship -- to the group of atolls southeast of Chuuk. Nearly 30 years later, John Hall, while in command ofanother British vessel, sighted the islands that still bear his name. There were dozens of other sightings and brief visits:Monteverde at Nama in 1806; Lutrell at Namoluk, Nama, and Losap in 1808.In the wake of the early pioneers of the China trade came the naval explorers from France and Russia. When Freycinet,the commander of the earliest of them, stood off Houk for a few hours in 1819, he was greeted by a throng of islanderswho chanted "loulou" (the Chamorro loanword for iron). The next of the French naval commanders, Louis Duperrey,1 Part of this section from Hall and Pelzer, 1946.2 Chuuk Branch Statistics Office, Division of Statistics, FSM Department of Economic Affairs