Hey everybody. Before you watch this episode, just a little disclaimer:
I was stupid and I booked the wrong day at the YouTube space
so we weren't able to film in the studios. So I had to improvise and we filmed in my house.
So the next two episodes are gonna have the same quality of how we used to film the episodes back in like 2016.
Relatively poor echoey, audio quality and very visible black backdrop.
But I did not want to 'not upload a video this week', so I had to give you something
I mean, These Geography Now! videos are mostly just about the information.
Right...
Right......
RIGHT??
I'm sorry guys.
But anyway, I tried my best and I still want to give you a video this week
So without further ado, here we go.
*Intro*
It's time to learn Geography... NOW!!!
Want to hear a Micronesia joke?
NOOO!!!
Too bad!
Imagine a dog named Ray on a dinner date.
When the bill came, he had to use his 'Pohnpei' (paw to pay)
but then was 'Chuuk' (shock) and surprised be-Kosrae ('cause Ray) was broke.
Yap
Alright, that's four strikes, you know the drill...
1 Punch
2 Punch
3 Punch
4 Punch
SO WORTH IT!
Oh hey, Noah is back.
Noah: Hey
(Political Geography)
For the record. In this episode,
I'm just gonna refer to the country as "Micronesia" because the official title is too long...
The Federated States of Micronesia
You get what I'm saying?
Anyway!
I love Pacific island nations because they probably get the least amount of coverage in terms of global awareness
which means Geography Now! gets to be a platform for the obscure.
Plus, you know It kind of adds to the Oceania playlist.
First of all
The country lies in the sub-region of the Pacific Ocean known as Micronesia
which is obviously where the country gets its name from
which also includes the states of Palau, Nauru, parts of Kiribati
and the US Territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands and Wake Island.
The country is made up of 607 islands
sometimes collectively referred to as the "Caroline Islands"
These take up over a million mi² of Oceanic territory
in their exclusive economic zone.
However, in land surface area, they only make up about 217mi².
All the islands are divided into 4 states made up of island clusters:
They are Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei,
-not Pompeii- Pohnpei,
Oh and don't forget this little straggler Kapingaramangi belongs to it.
And finally little Kosrae
which is really only like one little island with a few small islets off its coast.
It's the only state with no atolls.
The capital Palikir is located on Pohnpei, the largest, highest and most populous island in the entire nation.
However, the largest city in itself is actually Weno on the Chuuk atoll.
The country has four International Airports, one for each of the states.
The busiest ones being Pohnpei and Chuuk
whereas one domestic airport lies on Ulithi.
There are also small airfields and air strips located on various islands across the country for shipping and deliveries.
Today, they do kind of have a small dispute with Spain over that little straggler guy, Kapingamarangi.
Apparently when the Spanish sold off their islands to the Germans, this little guy kind of wasn't part of the deal.
Eventually just kind of "de facto landed in Micronesia's claim".
Otherwise
Most of the urban centers are located on the large mountainous islands.
Three of which Pohnpei, Chuuk and Yap hosts shipping harbours.
If you look close to Chuuk's harbour, they kind of have a ship that failed.
Anyway!
Just like we talked about in the Marshall Islands episode
Micronesia is also a "Compact of Free Association Agreement" state with the United States.
Yada yada yada. You've heard it before.
New subscriber: No. I haven't. I'm a new subscriber.
What do you mean?
Oh yeah, some people are new to this channel.
Uh, well basically in the quickest way I can summarize it:
Micronesia: Alright, okay. I think we're kind of ready to be our own thing now.
Woohoo!
USA: Oh, you know I already will all these bases.
We have all these cool trade deals,
diplomatic agreements with other nations. You guys seem to like that 'Spam' stuff as well and the burgers I introduced.
I mean, do you really want to start from scratch? Hmmm?
Micronesia: I mean, yes, but I don't know.
Maybe we can kind of like keep this thing going but also by relinquishing your official hold on us
so we kind of have like a nominal claim to independence?
USA: Oh Mikey, It's like you've been reading my diary!
And that's basically how it happened in the 80s.
And speaking of which,
some notable sites that the country might include:
Nan Madol
The Yap stones
Chuuk Lagoon, one of the world's biggest wartime ship graveyards
Tamilyog trail
The Lelu and Menke ruins on Kosrae
The petroglyphs on Phonpei
Japanese era sites like the old lighthouse
Nefo cave
The Yap art gallery studio
Yaps Living History Museum
And honestly,
probably the coolest thing to do would just be walking around the streets of any village and finding cool cafe or mom-and-pop shop.
Just chill. You're in Micronesia.
The entire country in itself is kind of a spectacle to be a part of.
And especially when you notice the landscape.
Which brings us too:
(Physical Geography)
Now unlike some of their neighbors,
Micronesia got lucky and snagged a few solid fully formed mountainous islands.
And when you have hills, you have an advantage.
First of all
The country is spread across the western Pacific Ocean on a smaller sub region of the greater Pacific plate
known as the Caroline plate formed by the underwater sorrel trough.
Mount Nanlaud on Pohnpei is the highest peak of the country, with the longest river the Lehdau flows.
Yap and the atolls around it are the only parts of the country that cross over the Philippine plate over the Yap Trench.
The islands were basically formed from underwater volcanoes
that either partially or fully breached the surface or both.
The ones that had the edges breached became atolls.
The ones that had the center breached became full-on islands.
And then there was a third kind which the center and a few edges were breached which became lagoons.
So there you go: Oceanic geology 101.
And this is part where I take a triple shot of espresso break.
That means making his triumphant for return,
you love him. My physical geography segment co-host, Noah!
Hey, you look a little different.
Hmm,
then what you mean?
The good news is the islands get quite a bit of rain so fresh water is never too hard to come by.
Most people collect it for daily use.
The islands with mountains are able to harbor small rivers and creeks.
Pohnpei alone having over 40
Some creating beautiful waterfalls.
Otherwise, you can hike at beautiful natural science like the
Sokens rock
or scuba dive in many spots like the Blue Hole.
Country doesn't have a national animal
but it is a bird haven.
Species like the Truk monarch,
the Phonpei Lori,
the Kosrae Greater white eye
Are all endemic to the islands.
Economy-wise, the country mostly depends on agriculture and fishing.
Whatever, let's be honest,
they only have about 100,000 people.
So they cope with a great idea on how to capitalize off of their vast open ocean territory.
Hey, you have a lot of ocean?
Micronesia: Yeah?
Foreign investor: I'm fishing it.
Micronesia: Yeah, so?
Foreign investor: I wanna go fishing it.
Micronesia: Pay up a couple million dollars and we'll give you a seasonal license.
And that's how they subsidize part of their GDP.
Food wise, you get the typical island staples.
Taro, breadfruit, bananas
and of course pretty much any kind of fish they can catch will be on the menu.
Don't be surprised to find betel nuts everywhere,
a sort of chewing tobacco substitute that people on all islands used.
Sakau is a popular drink, especially on Phonpei.
It has relaxing effects of his made from
squeezing the roots of the pepper shrub in the inner bark of a hibiscus tree.
Kind of like the Kava drip we talked about the Fiji episode.
Its a great social drink the locals enjoy it, and casual get together.
And that brings us to:
(Demographics)
Thank You Noah, follow him on Instagram.
All right. So if you're new to this channel,
one thing you'll have to learn is when it comes to ocean people,
There's a difference between Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.
Micronesians are interesting because it's kind of like each island has its own story and tradition.
It's like if you met your cousin once and didn't see them again for 15 years, they'd probably change a lot
but you'd still be family.
First of all
The country's about 105,000 people and has about a 3% birthrate.
The majority of the country is ethnically Micronesian
However
Split up into four distinct ethno-linguistic groups.
About half of the population are Chuukese.
A quarter are Pohnpeian and 10% Yapese and outer Yapese.
About 6% Kosraean, and the rest of the country is made up of other groups
Mostly Americans, Asians and Polynesians.
They use the American dollar as their currency.
They use the types A, B plug outlets
and they drive on the right side of the road.
However, some of the cars might have steering wheels on the right side
so it's kind of weird.
English is the official language used between all peoples.
But there are eight other recognized indigenous languages spoken throughout the islands.
Including two Polynesian languages spoken by the people on Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi.
Micronesian languages are all related. However, some of the words are completely unintelligible.
For example:
Yeah, they don't even sound anything alike and each one has less than 50,000 speakers
so it shows how far the cousins can change when you're separated by thousands of miles of water for centuries.
Culturally speaking, the people here come from a long yet mysterious line of chiefdoms clans traditions and customs
mostly rooted in oral tradition passed down through generations.
There's the legend of the twin sorcerers that created Nan Madol.
Supposedly, they had the help of a flying dragon and that's how the first dynasty was supposedly started.
Not only that but on Yap,
the residents literally use these huge stone disks known as Rai stones as their currency.
Technically the largest currency in the world.
About 6,500 of them can be found all over the islands.
You can also find traditional meeting houses called Pe'ebai and Faluw.
They also use canoes with plaited leaves sails.
The Chuuk Islands has a tradition of love sticks that they kind of use for dating.
The man is supposed to poke his crush and if she accepts she's supposed to grab the sharp stick and pull him in.
Essentially though, you see a lot of remnants of the former colonizers in their society.
For example, no shocker
they speak English with an American accent and generally keep up with American media and trends.
They love rice too even though it doesn't grow there.
It was introduced from various nations especially the Japanese.
Most Micronesians at about 97% are Christians,
introduced mostly through the Americans, Germans and Spanish.
About half of them are Protestant have our Catholic.
The more west you go closer to the Philippines, it becomes more Catholic.
The more east, it becomes more Protestant.
Speaking of the introduction of outside influences,
History:
Ancient Austronesian people, probably from Southeast Asia sailed in
Chieftain based societies established
Yap people developed quite a unique economic and religious culture
Nan-Madol is built starting the Saudeleur dynasty
Portuguese come by but they don't really care too much
Spanish pass by and care very much
Hold on to it to make it part of the Spanish East Indies
They built the town of Kolonia on Phonpei
Spanish-American war caused Spain to sell the islands to Germany
Then it became German New Guinea
WWI the Japanese come in and take it
WWII operation hailstone
UN agrees that the US should administer the islands as a Trust Territory
Yap, Chuuk, Phonpei and Kosrae agreed to join up and create a constitution for independence
Then they all signed the Compact of Free Association with the US in 1986
compact renewed in 2004,
And here we are today.
Some notable people who are either Micronesian or from the Federated States of Micronesia might include people like:
To be honest, it was a little difficult to find some of those people.
I had to search Micronesian message boards.
I don't know. If you just so happen to be a Micronesian person watching this video,
please feel free to revise that list if you want.
Anyway,
Friendzone!
(Friendzone)
Since independence in the 80s, Micronesia has built up a lot of international ties.
They have ties to over 80 countries and four permanent embassies in China, Fiji, Japan and the US.
For one, China and India have both kind of competed to see who can cozy up to the islands more.
China has built things like a gymnasium, they donated police cars and built a giant clam farm on Kosrae.
India has given them farming machinery and offers scholarship grants.
Of course the USA is the biggest trade partner and supporter of overall infrastructure and development
As part of the Compact Association,
Micronesians have access to US services like postal and communications.
They can move about freely working and living in each other's countries.
Micronesians are even allowed to serve in the US military.
However, they don't share the same benefits as US citizen military personnel.
Micronesia is part of the Nauru agreement, a union of 8 signatories in Oceania that control nearly a third of the world's tuna supply.
They regulate fishing laws and manage business together.
Of these nations, of course,
Their closest friends would probably be their Micronesians siblings: the Marshall Islands and Palau.
These two are also Compact Association agreement members with the US.
Out of these two though, Micronesia might be a little bit closer to Palau.
They have a little closer history. Those Yap stones were actually mined and transported from Palau.
They love each other's music and whenever they get the chance to see each other,
It's like family reunion all over again, but the Marshall Islands are invited too.
In conclusion:
The Federated States of Micronesia are kind of like the four musketeer cousins that hadn't seen each other in a long time.
They could barely speak to each other, but somehow they came together in 1986
and showed the world that an island culture can thrive well into the new era.
Stay tuned, Moldova is coming up next.