Kosrae - History

History

Archaeological evidence shows that the island was settled at least by the early years of the first millennium AD. This includes the city of Leluh that existed from about 1250 AD, and in its heyday had a population of about 1,500 and covered some 27 hectares. It featured burial pyramids for the nobility.

By the time of the island's first contact with European travellers in 1824, Kosrae had a highly stratified society, typical of the surrounding islands of the time. Its cultural features included matrilineal lineage and clans, with a feudal structure of "nobles" controlling land worked by "commoners" and settlements consisting of small groups of close relatives sharing a single cook house.

The first missionary post was established by Congregationalists in 1852, and virtually the whole island had converted to Christianity by the 1870s. Today, many sects of Christianity are represented on Kosrae, and religion still plays an integral role in culture.

The pirate Bully Hayes was shipwrecked on Kosrae on March 15, 1874, when his ship the Leonora was caught in Lelu harbor during a storm. Bully Hayes made his home in Utwe for seven months, during which he terrorized the local people. In September 1874, HMS Rosario (under the command of Captain Dupuis) arrived to investigate the claims against Hayes. He was arrested, but then escaped in a 14 foot boat, built of timber from the wreck of the Leonora. His treasure may have been left behind, buried somewhere in the forest, although subsequent diggings have failed to uncover it. As with all of the Caroline Islands, sovereignty passed to the Empire of Germany in 1899. The island came under the control of the Empire of Japan after World War I.

Extensive economic improvements took place during the Japanese South Pacific Mandate of 1914 to 1945. The island was practically run by a few missionaries who converted the population; Willard Price, when he visited in the 1930s, reported that the island had no jail, there had been no murders there in sixty years, and alcohol and tobacco were unheard of. The island was fortified by the Japanese during World War II, but no battles occurred on Kosrae. The Japanese garrison commanded by Lieutenant-General Yoshikazu Harada consisted of 3,811 IJA men including a company of tanks and 700 IJA men. Tunnel bunkers were dug into the tops of some of the island's interior peaks and some are still intact.

In 1945, administration over Kosrae passed to the United States, which ruled the island as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Aid and investment increased from the 1960s.

During the Trust Territory (TTPI) period, Kosrae was initially administered as one of the municipalities of the Ponape (Pohnpei) District, but in 1977 became a separate district. When the Micronesian constitution was defeated in the TTPI districts of Palau and the Marshall Islands, Kosrae joined the remaining districts (Yap, Chuuk and Pohnpei) to form the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Kosrae is the only one-island FSM state (whereby the seven or eight small nearshore islands within the fringing reef, most importantly Lelu Island, are subsumed under the main island), while the other three states are each composed of many islands.

Until 1977, Kosrae was subdivided into districts or villages at the sub-municipality level:

  1. Lelu (consisting of Lelu Island only)
  2. Yepen (mainland part of today's Lelu municipality, with Tofol, the state capital
  3. Tafunsak (roughly corresponding to today's Tafunsak municipality)
  4. Malem (roughly corresponding to today's Malen municipality)
  5. Utwa (roughly corresponding to today's Utwa municipality)

By 1980, five municipalities had been created from the former villages or districts:

  1. Lelu (created from the villages of Lelu district (island) and Yepen district)
  2. Tafunsak (created from the northeastern part of Tafunsak district)
  3. Walung (created from the southwestern part of Tafunsak district)
  4. Malem (created from Malem district)
  5. Utwa (created from Utwa district)

The number of municipalities has subsequently been reduced to four (by integrating Walung into Tafunsak).

Read more about this topic:  Kosrae

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