Geographical position and nature:

State in the western part Pacific Ocean located in the Caroline Islands. Length coastline 6112 km. The total area of ​​the country is 702 km2. The islands are heterogeneous in geological origin, ranging from high mountainous islands to low coral atolls. Volcanic activity continues on some of the islands. Main natural resources: seafood, wood, phosphorites.

Population:

The population is 122,950 (1995). The two major ethnic groups are Micronesians and Polynesians. Official language English, but local dialects are widespread - Chamorro, Yap, Belau, Carolina, Marshal and others. Most believers are Protestants (Congregationalists, Lutherans) and Catholics. Birth rate - 28.12 newborns per 1,000 people (1995). Mortality - 6.3 deaths per 1,000 people (infant mortality rate - 36.52 deaths per 1,000 newborns). Average life expectancy: men - 66 years, women - 69 years (1995).

The climate of the archipelago in the western part is equatorial and subequatorial, in the eastern part - tropical trade wind-monsoon, with slight temperature fluctuations. Average monthly temperatures are around 25-30°C. Rainfall - from 1,500 to 4,000 mm per year in different parts of the archipelago (on eastern islands heavy showers often occur), the “drier” months are winter months.

Vegetable world:

Volcanic and coral islands differ in the nature of the vegetation. On the coast of volcanic islands - mangroves, coconut palms, bamboo. Coconut palms dominate the coral islands.

Animal world

The fauna of the entire archipelago is extremely poor.

State structure, political parties:

Full name - Federated States Micronesia (FSM). The state structure is a federal republic. The country consists of 4 states: Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap. The capital is Palikir. Micronesia became an independent state on September 17, 1991 (formerly part of Pacific Islands, a United Nations Trust Territory administered by the United States). The President is the head of state and government. Legislative power is represented by a federal unicameral parliament - the National Congress.

Economy, transport communications:

One of the main sectors of the economy is fishing, in addition, Micronesia receives significant income from the sale of licenses that give the right to fish in coastal waters. The development of tourism is hampered by the remote location of the islands and the lack of adequate infrastructure. GNP amounted to $ 160 million in 1994 (GNP per capita - $ 1,500). Main trading partners: USA, Japan, Australia, South Korea. Currency unit- US dollar (1 dollar (US$) is equal to 100 cents).

There are no railways, the main islands have 39 km of paved roads. Ports of the country: Kolonia, Okat, Truk.

Discovered by the Spaniards in the 17th century, the Caroline Islands were sold to Germany in 1899. From 1919 to 1945, the islands were administered under a Japanese mandate. Since 1947, the territory of modern Micronesia became part of the United Nations Trust Territory - the Pacific Islands, which were administered by the United States. Having received the status of free association with the United States in 1986, the islands became independent state Micronesia in 1991

Participation in international organizations.

Micronesia (which in Greek means "small islands") includes the islands: 1) Marianas; 2) Palau and Yap; 3) Caroline: 4) Marshall, consisting of two parallel chains: western - Ralik and eastern - Ratak; 5) Gilbert.

Geographic environment

In Micronesia, one can count over one and a half thousand islands, if each strip of land or rock that protrudes above the water is counted as a separate island. There are more than 800 islands in the Marshall group, and more than 700 in the Caroline group. But in fact there are only about 100 islands in all of Micronesia that really deserve the name; Of these, about 80 are inhabited.

In terms of surface size, the Mariana Islands (15 islands, 1140 km 2) are in the first place, followed by the Caroline Islands (about 40 islands proper, 1000 km 2), Palau (about 10 islands proper, 450 km 2), Gilbert (16 islands, 428 km 2), Marshall Islands (about 30 islands proper, 405 km 2). The total land area of ​​all the islands of Micronesia is less than 3.5 thousand km 2.

How insignificant these areas of land are can be judged by the following figurative remark of the Russian navigator F.P. Litke about the Caroline Islands: “If, except for the high Yualan, Pyinipet and Rug, we would rally together, in a circle, all the other islands and put them on the spitz of the Peter and Paul Fortress , then they would hardly cover the whole of St. Petersburg with its suburban houses" 1 .

But these small pieces of land are scattered over a vast area, over 5200 km from north to south and 2700 km from west to east. Despite the negligible total area of ​​these islands, they are considered a separate part of Oceania.

The islands of Micronesia are divided by their origin and structure into coral and volcanic. All the Gilbert and Marshall Islands belong to the coral ones, all the Marianas belong to the volcanic ones. In the Caroline and Palau groups, the coral islands have a small area, the volcanic ones have a large area. (Truk), which Litke wrote about in the above quotation, are volcanic islands.All the other islands of the Caroline group, if Palau and Yap are not included in it, are coral.

Darwin wrote of coral islands: “The immensity of the ocean and the fury of the surf form a sharp contrast with the low land and the smooth vast expanse of green water inside the lagoon, a contrast that is difficult to imagine for one who has not seen it with his own eyes” 1 .

Volcanic islands rise steeply above the ocean and often reach great heights. There are peaks up to 900 m on Ponape Island, up to 600 m on Kusaye.

Truk Island is a whole group of islands. Inside the lagoon surrounded by a reef, with a diameter of about 60 km, there are 16 volcanic islands, with total area about 70 km 2 (from 0.5 to 12 km 2). All islands are inhabited.

The coral islands are poor in vegetation, while the volcanic ones are rich. So, the islands of Ponape, Kusaye and Truk are covered with dense mountain forests. The climate in Micronesia is tropical, maritime, with an almost constant annual temperature of about +26°C.

General information about Micronesians

The indigenous inhabitants of Micronesia, the Micronesians, are linguistically part of a large group of Malayo-Polynesian Napops.

The long independent history of the Micronesian population groups has led to the emergence of specific differences in their culture. In addition to features common to all of Micronesia, many features varied from island to island.

In this regard, on the one hand, western Micronesia (the Mariana, Palau, Yap Islands) is clearly distinguished, and on the other, the eastern one (Marshall and Gilbert Islands). There are no volcanic islands in eastern Micronesia and therefore no stone, so tools were made from shells, while in western Micronesia stone tools were widespread. Further, in the culture of eastern Micronesia, Polynesian elements prevailed, in western - Indonesian. The Caroline Islands constituted an intermediate group in this respect. These differences developed a very long time ago and on the basis of purely local conditions.

There are also traces of a later, specifically Indonesian influence: rice cultivation in the Marianas; pottery, which was known only on the islands of Palau and Yap; arrow-throwing tube, found only in Palau. Here again the difference between western and eastern Micronesia comes into play - in the latter there are no traces of late Indonesian influence.

Finally, later history developed differently in different parts of Micronesia. The first object of European colonization was western Micronesia, and its population suffered the most.

The inhabitants of the Mariana Islands, the Chamorros, waged a long and stubborn struggle against the Spanish colonialists (XVII century), and all of them - there were about 50 thousand of them - were exterminated. The population of the Palau Islands decreased from 50 thousand to 6 thousand. Eastern Micronesia became the object of colonial conquest later. The population here suffered less, but its growth almost stopped. For example, the population of the Marshall Islands now, as in late XIX century, is about 10 thousand.

The fate of the traditional, original culture of the islanders of western and eastern Micronesia is also different.

The Chamorro culture is completely destroyed. It could not be otherwise, since there was no former population left. Modern Chamorros occurred as a result of the mixing of immigrants from other islands of Micronesia with the descendants of Spaniards, Filipinos, Japanese, etc. An idea of ​​purebred Chamorros and their external culture can only be obtained from the works of early writers and travelers (Pigafetta-1521, Gobien - 1700 g., partly Kotzebue - 1817, Freycinet - 1819).

In the modern population of the Palau Islands, an admixture of Japanese, Chinese and European blood is also noticeable. The culture has undergone fundamental changes. Nevertheless, the people of Palau rightly believe that their culture is the result of their own efforts, and not of external influences. They are convinced, notes one author, that “the culture of Palau can and will endure any catastrophe... Moreover, when they look back at their history, it seems clear to them that their way of life has survived. People live now in a completely different way than people of past generations, but they do not doubt that the basis of their life is preserved” 1 .

The culture of the inhabitants of eastern Micronesia continues to retain its identity to an even greater extent. In it, as foreign authors put it, "the native basis has been preserved."

Now there are about 110 thousand Micronesians. According to the groups of islands, the population is distributed as follows: on the Mariana Islands - 28 thousand, on Palau - 6 thousand, on Yap Island - 3 thousand, on the Carolines - 30 thousand, on the Marshall Islands - 10 thousand, on - wah Gilbert - 32 thousand.

For separate larger islands, this population (in the groups of the Marshall, Caroline, Mariana and Palau islands) is distributed as follows: Guam - 23 thousand, Truk - 10.5 thousand, Ponape - 5.5 thousand, Saipan - 3 .5 thousand, Yaluit-2 thousand, Kusaye - 1.2 thousand, Mayuro - 1.1 thousand. The rest of the population of these four groups of islands lives on 62 islands, often very distant from one another. About half of the islands have a population of less than 250 people each.

On big islands the population is divided into separate village communities. On the Palau Islands, for example, there are 80 separate villages, on the Yap Island - about 100 villages (in the past there were 235 villages, but over the past 50 years the population has greatly decreased). On small islands, the entire population usually forms one community.

Mariana Islands

The indigenous people of the Mariana Islands took the name Chamorro from the local word Chamori (chief). In the 1660s, when Spanish soldiers and Jesuit missionaries arrived in the Marianas, there were up to 100,000 Chamorros. But then followed 30 years of bloody "subjugation" of the cha morro by the Spaniards. During this time, more than 40 thousand people were exterminated. Two devastating hurricanes (1671 and 1693) and epidemics brought the number of purebred Chamorros to several thousand. To replace the exterminated indigenous people, the Spaniards imported colonists from their other possessions, from the Philippines, from America. Among them, the descendants of the former tribes also disappeared.

By the end of the XVIII century. There were no more purebred Chamorros. O. E. Kotzebue, who visited the Mariana Islands in 1817, wrote: “If I could return to the time when Magellan discovered these islands, then Rurik would have long been surrounded by many boats of cheerful islanders, but now this was not ... since that time, the entire generation of natural inhabitants of the Ladron (i.e., Mariana) Islands has been exterminated. In vain we looked around to see if we would meet the boats, in vain we looked to see if we would see a man on the shore; it even seemed to us that we were on a desert island. The sight of this beautiful land, Kotzebue continued, gave birth to sorrowful feelings in me: in former times, these fruitful valleys served as a dwelling place for a people who spent their days in peace and happiness; now only lovely palm forests stood here and overshadowed the graves of the former inhabitants.

On the island of Guam, Kotzebue wrote: “Of the indigenous inhabitants of this place, there is only one couple on the whole island; with the death of these two people, the generation of ancient ladrons will die out” 2 .

All early writers and travelers describe the Chamorros as tall and athletic, with a slight tendency to be overweight. “They maintained excellent health until old age,” said the Spanish Jesuit Sanvitores, “and usually lived up to ninety and a hundred years old” 3 . Travelers talk a lot about the great physical strength of Chamorro men. They also note good nature in everyday life, hospitality and other positive traits of their character.

It was a people with a developed culture. Chamorro cultivated rice, made pottery; the exchange between the inhabitants of the various islands of the Mariana group was widely developed; an exchange also existed between the population of the Mariana and Caroline Islands. People from Yap Island came to Guam for the stone. The unit of exchange in the Mariana Islands was shell products.

The main occupation of the population of the Mariana Islands was agriculture. The tools for tilling the soil were a stick with a pointed end (tanum) and a stone hoe (akoa). Rice was harvested with knives made from sharp shells. Rice was the Chamorro's main source of food. Early travelers say that the Chamorros also ate yams, bananas, coconuts, breadfruit, sugarcane; fish, meat of turtles, bats, various birds were eaten.

According to Pigafetta, the division of labor between men and women was as follows: “Women do not do field work, but spend time at home weaving mats, baskets and making other household items from palm leaves" 1 . They looked after the children, and also collected edible roots and leaves in the forest, caught fish on reefs with hand nets, made pottery, coconut oil, and cooked food. Men worked in the fields, fished with nets, built houses and boats; all handicraft work on wood and stone lay on them.

The Chamorros did not have bows and arrows. There were also no swords and shields. The main weapon was a spear with a tip made of human bone. Sling was used. Wars, as far as is known, were rare and not bloody.

The Chamorros went out to sea on double boats with triangular sails.

Clothing was almost non-existent: in most cases they were limited to fiber belts. During the rain and on holidays, clothes sewn from pandanus leaves were used, and the same helmets, but neither the cut nor the look of them is known, since no samples have been preserved. Turtle pendants and shells, common throughout western Micronesia, were used. There was no tattoo, unlike Polyneia. The teeth, and this is characteristic of all western Micronesia, were painted black.

The Chamorros lived in villages (songsong) and hamlets near their fields. According to the missionary Sanvitores (1668), there were 50-150 houses and huts in the coastal villages on Guam, and 6-20 in the villages of the hinterland. In total, there were about 180 villages on Guam. At the end of the XVII century. the main village in the entire group of the Mariana Islands was the village of Agana ("Agadna" near Kotzebue) on the northwestern coast of Guam. People of the highest social rank lived here. They lived in 53 large houses that stood on pillars or on masonry piles. There were also about 150 small leaf huts in the village where the rest of the population lived.

Approximately the same situation existed throughout the archipelago: the common people lived in huts made of leaves, and the nobles built houses on poles or on masonry piles. Such pillars are still preserved on some islands, but, unfortunately, they have not yet been studied archaeologically.

One of the authors, who saw similar pillars on the island of Tinian, describes them as follows: they look like truncated pyramids, the base of which is unequal in size. Their height is about 4 m, and the largest width of the base is 1 m. The column ends at the top with a massive hemisphere, 2 m in diameter. The columns are made of a mixture of sand and lime, so hardened that at first glance they can be considered a mass of stone. Each column is monolithic, the hemisphere is fastened with the same cement. The columns stand in two rows, six columns in each, and so symmetrically that they form, as it were, a street. Their strength is amazing. None of them fell, did not crack, did not crumble. Only two of them cracked the hemispheres. All travelers who visited the Marianas noted these archaeological sites.

Such structures are very peculiar and have no parallels outside of Micronesia. Apparently, these are the remains of a kind pile buildings, but the piles are stone, the result of the Micronesians' adaptation to life on coral islands, where it is easier to make a stone column than to find suitable wood.

The social structure of the population of the Mariana Islands

The entire Chamorro population was divided into three social strata: matu a - the highest stratum, achaot - the middle stratum, mangatchang - the lower stratum.

Unfortunately, data on these social groups and the relationships between them are extremely scarce. In the hands of the matua was the control of production and exchange on all the islands of the group. Warriors, sailors, fishermen, boat builders, merchants came out of their midst. As for the achaot, all that is known about them is that they helped the matua in all matters. One of the authors calls achaot the younger sons of matua.

The Mangatchang are the "common people" who are barred from participating in the public life of the upper class through various restrictions and taboos. Marriage between mangatchang and matua was forbidden. Mangatchang had no right to be a warrior, navigator, boat builder, merchant. Fishing was limited for him to fishing with spears. The main occupation of mangatchang was agriculture. Mangatchang could not eat or drink in the houses of the matua, he was forbidden even to approach their houses. If he needed to ask a matua anything, he had to speak from a distance. When meeting with a matua, he had to bow low.

Each island was divided into districts, which included one or more villages. At the head of the district was a leader (magalakhe) with his family (wife, younger brothers, descendants). They were matua and achaot. The rest of the population of the area belonged to the Mangatchang layer. It must be assumed that the magalakh disposed of all the lands of the region and fishing areas.

Unfortunately, the economic structure of the Chamorros has remained completely unknown. There is no information about the basis that created these social orders. Apparently, the land has already become the private property of the nobles: the sources speak of their "family estates." It can be assumed that Chamorro society was on the verge of transition from a primitive communal system to a class one.

But along with the emerging class system, the tribal system also continued to exist. Chamorros united in clans, belonging to which was determined by the mother's line. It is possible that the genus still retained signs of exogamy. With all any significant work, members of the clan gathered together and helped each other.

It is also known that in the Marianas there was a society of single youth, called ulitao, or uritao. Its members lived in separate houses of bachelors and, as one of the old authors puts it, "indulged in Epicureanism." Obviously, here we are talking about the age class of young men; they lived in a men's house that served as a club.

A number of features indicate the high position of women.

One of the old authors wrote that “women had no royal rights, but in councils and courts they enjoyed such strong influence that the rule in court was in their hands, and not in the hands of men. In the house, their dominion was unlimited.

The women's gatherings mentioned by Gobien, to which men were not allowed, are characteristic. Women came there in the best clothes and performed various songs and dances, the details of which Gobien could not establish.

There is complete freedom of girls before marriage. Girls were allowed to visit the homes of single youth. During the matchmaking, the mother acted as the matchmaker. Practiced working marriage.

It is difficult to ascertain from conflicting evidence whether the marriage was patrilocal or matrilocal. In any case, the presence of marriage by working off indicates the remnants of matrilocality.

The catch from fishing was given to the wife, who distributed it among relatives.

Curious marriages. According to the story of Gobien and later authors, in case of infidelity of his wife, the husband drove her out of the house, but had no right to punish her. The only thing he could do was challenge his opponent to a duel. On the contrary, if the husband violated marital fidelity, then the wife punished him severely. One of the early observers describes this custom as follows: the wife, having learned that her husband has relations that are unpleasant for her, immediately conveys this news to all the women of the village, who, wearing men's helmets, gather at the appointed place with darts in their hands. In such warlike attire, in battle formation, they approach the guilty man's house, devastate his fields, pick fruits from trees, and attack the dwelling itself. If the husband did not hide or did not get out of the house in advance, they attack him and pursue him until they are driven out into the street. It also happened like this: a woman left her home and notified her relatives that she could not live with her husband; then relatives came to the house of the guilty, broke, smashed and carried away everything that came to hand, and the owner was happy if the avengers limited themselves to this and did not destroy his dwellings.

Upon the death of the husband, all property passed to his wife. After the death of a woman, the property was taken away by her relatives. If a mother died, then the feeding and upbringing of children, especially infants, was taken over by her relatives, obviously from her family.

In general, between people of the same kind and even of the same generation, there was a constant and indispensable obligation to help each other. Assistance was provided in the case of childbirth, marriage, burial, building a house or boat, cultivating fields. If a woman needed a boat and similar items belonging to any of her relatives, then she brought him a circle of tortoiseshell and said: “I give you such and such a thing, take it instead of such and such a thing that I need.” It was impossible to refuse.

Talking about this custom, Gobien tried to emphasize the high value and privileges that women enjoyed. For a tortoise circle, in essence a symbolic gift, a woman could receive from her relatives any thing she needed.

All these data, despite their fragmentary nature, show that there were characteristic features of a matriarchal tribal structure.

The religious beliefs of the Chamorro consisted primarily in the cult of the dead (anita) and ancestors. Their skulls were used by sorcerers for magical purposes.

The Chamorro year was divided into 13 lunar months. At sea, they navigated by the stars. There were healers, or rather healers, with a very developed specialization in the treatment of dislocations and fractures and other diseases. It was known to use some medicinal herbs.

Finally, the Chamorros had developed folklore and music, but no examples have come down to us. From musical instruments only two types of flutes are known, of which one is nasal, that is, of the Polynesian type.

All this peculiar and in its own way rich culture has now completely disappeared. Life modern population The Mariana Islands is completely subordinated to the capitalist order, there is little originality in it. The old culture gave way to a new, very colorful one, formed from a variety of elements introduced by many ethnic groups: Spaniards, Mexicans, Japanese, Filipinos, who brought with them crafts and arts, new clothes and entertainment ( cock-fights), new religions (Christianity of the Catholic confession, Buddhism). All this is combined with the few remnants of the original Chamorro culture.

Until World War II, the Chamorros lived in villages and small towns near the coast. During the war, all cities were destroyed, including the capital of Guam - the city of Agana.

- a state on 607 islands in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. Former name - Caroline Islands.

The name of the country comes from the ancient Greek "mikros" and "nesos", which means "small" and "island", meaning "micro-island".

Official name: Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)

Capital - Palikir.

Square - 702 km2.

Population - 130 thousand people

Administrative division - The state is divided into 4 states: Truk, Kostrae, Ponape, Yap.

Form of government - Republic.

Head of State - The president.

Official language - English (official and inter-ethnic), 8 local languages: Japanese, Woleai, Uliti and Sonsorol, Carolina, Truk, Kosrae, Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi.

Religion - 50% - Catholics, 47% - Protestants, 3% - others..

Ethnic composition - 41% - Chuukese, 26% - Ponpeians, 7 other ethnic groups - 33%.

Currency - US dollar = 100 cents.

Internet domain : .fm

Mains voltage : ~120 V, 60 Hz

Phone country code: +691

Country Description

Micronesia - means "small islands", and this absolutely accurately reflects the essence of this country. Although the islands are firmly tied to US economic and political interests, Micronesia stubbornly pursues its traditional path - a country where people flaunt loincloths and stone coins still circulate as legal tender. Micronesians are very proud of their past, especially since they have every right to do so - their ancestors crossed the Pacific Ocean in fragile canoes long before Europeans entered these waters.

The islands have some of the best diving, snorkelling and surfing conditions in the world and are being considered as a potential international center for beach holidays and aquatic species sports. The waters around the islands are teeming with many forms of exciting marine life. There are a large number of species of hard and soft corals, anemones, sponges, fish, dolphins and shellfish, including the giant clam tridacna. Large herds of whales pass through these waters every year. Several species of sea turtle lay their eggs on these shores, and the islanders are allowed to use both turtle meat and eggs for food. The islands are also famous for over 200 species of seabirds.

Climate

The climate of Micronesia is equatorial, more humid in the east of the archipelago, where the zone of cyclones passes. Conventionally, two seasons are distinguished: dry (January - March) and wet (April - December). From November to December, the northeast trade winds prevail, the rest of the year, southwest monsoon winds blow, bringing heavy rainfall. Pohnpei has an average of 300 rainy days a year. The average annual rainfall is 3000–4000 mm. Seasonal fluctuations in air temperature are insignificant, the average monthly temperatures are 24–30 ° C. The length of daylight hours is the same throughout the year. The part of the Pacific Ocean, where Micronesia is located, is the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe origin of typhoons (on average, there are up to 25 typhoons per year). The typhoon season is from August to December.

Geography

The Federated States of Micronesia is an island country in the western part of Oceania and the Pacific Ocean. It borders the Palau Islands to the west, the Mariana Islands to the north, and the Marshall Islands to the east. Occupies most of the Caroline Islands (with the exception of Palau). Outside the main island arc are numerous atolls that make up the country. Micronesia consists of 607 islands, the largest of which are Pohnpei (342 sq. km), Kosrae (Kusaie, 111 sq. km), Chuuk (126 sq. km), Yap (118 sq. km). The total area of ​​the islands is 720.6 sq. km, and the water area - 2.6 million square meters. km.

The most mountainous are about. Pohnpei (with the highest point - Mount Ngineni, 779 m), and about. Kosrae (Mount Finkol, 619 m). On about. Yap is dominated by rounded hills; the islands of Kosrae, Chuuk and Pohnpei are of volcanic origin. Most of the islands are low atolls on coral reefs. The most extensive sea lagoon is Chuuk (surrounded by 80 small islands).

Flora and fauna

Volcanic and coral islands differ in the nature of the vegetation. On the coast of volcanic islands - mangroves, coconut palms, bamboo. Coconut palms dominate the coral islands.

The animal world is represented by bats, rats, crocodiles, snakes, lizards are found. The world of birds is diverse. Yap, unlike other "high" islands, is of non-volcanic origin, it is covered with hills and meadows. The waters of coral reefs and lagoons are rich in fish and sea animals.

Banks and currency

United States dollar (USD) equal to 100 cents. In circulation there are denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars. As well as coins: penny (1 cent), nickel (5 cents), dime (10 cents), quarter (25 cents), half-dollar (50 cents) and 1 dollar. The dollar is the official currency of the country, so there is no point in importing anything else. American dollar traveller's checks are accepted almost everywhere, and most major hotels, restaurants and shops accept them as cash. There are no commercial banks on either Truk (Chuuk) or Kosrai, so make sure you have enough cash before you travel to these islands. Credit cards are widely accepted in Pohnpei and are increasingly being used in Truk and Yap.

general characteristics

Definition 1

Micronesia is a combination of several groups of small islands in Oceania: the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Mariana Islands and some others - more than 1.5 thousand islands in total. Micronesia is distinguished by small land areas (2.6 thousand square kilometers) and significant maritime economic zones.

Micronesia owns the following dependent territories and states:

• Nauru;
• Kiribati (Gilbert Islands);
• Marshall Islands (United States of America);
• Federated States of Micronesia;
• Guam (United States of America);
• Palau (United States of America);
• Northern Mariana Islands (United States of America).

Geographically, Micronesia is divided into: the Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Kiribati Islands, the Mariana Islands and the island of Nauru. The Marianas and the Western Carolinas are islands of volcanic origin.

The largest atolls: Rongelap (Rimsky-Korsakov); Bikini (Eschsholtz); Maloelap (Arakcheeva); Eniwetok (Brown); Majuro; Kusaie, Tarava, Uliti, Senyavina, Truk.

Marshall Islands

The Marshall Islands are a group of islands and atolls located north of the equator in the Pacific Ocean. The islands and atolls form two chains: Ralik and Ratak, stretching from the northwest to the southeast for 1200 km. The largest islands are Majuro and Kwajalein. Kwajalein is an atoll with the largest lagoon in the world.

The nearest archipelagos are the Gilbert Islands (Republic of Kiribati) and the Caroline Islands (Federated States of Micronesia). The Marshall Islands occupy 181.3 square kilometers. km, lagoons - 11,673 sq. km.

The relief of all the islands is low, highest point(10 m) is located on the Likiep Atoll. The atolls are made up of a large number of motu - small islands formed as a result of the rise of a coral reef.

The outermost atolls of the Marshall Islands are:

• Bokak Island (Taongi) - north;
• Ebon Atoll - south;
• Ujelang Atoll - west; Knox atoll - east.

The Marshall Islands is a huge exclusive economic zone, which is characterized by limited natural resources, shortage of qualified specialists, remoteness from the main world sales markets. Economic difficulties are manifested in the state budget deficit, the low level of domestic savings, and the lack of balance of payments. The country is highly dependent on finance provided by the Asian Development Bank.

The most stable components in the economy at present are the public sector, economic and financial revenues from the Reagan Test Site (United States) located on Kwajalein Atoll.

Main sectors of the economy: agriculture and services. Food crops are grown mainly for personal consumption (breadfruit, coconut palm, bananas, pandanus, taro, cucumbers, watermelons, pineapples, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, cabbage, etc.). The most important agricultural product is copra.

The priority sector of the economy is fishing. The population catches coastal fish, crabs. The main export is tuna. Pearl farms operate on the atolls of Majuro and Namorik, and a station for growing tridacnids operates on Likiep.

Tourism is developing dynamically. The state is a popular offshore zone.

Caroline and Mariana Islands

The Caroline Islands include about 1000 grouped and individual islands and atolls. The total area of ​​the territory is about 1160 sq. km. The largest islands and groups: the western group - Palau (Babeltuap Island) and Yap; the eastern group is the islands of Senyavina, Truk, Kusaiye.

All large islands of volcanic origin are surrounded by coral reefs. The islands of the eastern group formed on the ocean floor, while the islands of the western group belong to the totality of island arcs and experience a constant slow rise.

The Mariana Islands is an island arc located in a seismically active zone in the western Pacific Ocean. The islands are located at an equal distance (2500 km) from the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.

The Mariana Islands include such large islands as: Agihan, Alamagan, Agrihan, Anatahan, Guam, Asuncion, Guguan, Maug, Rota, Pagan, Saipan, Tinian, Sarigan, Farallion de Medinilla, Farallion de Pajaros.

There are many underwater volcanoes around the islands. More than 10 volcanoes form the islands themselves.

Islands of Kiribati. Nauru

All the islands of Caribati are atolls (32 low-lying atolls and one elevated - Banaba). The total land area is 812.34 sq. km.

All islands of Kiribati are divided into groups:

• Gilbert Archipelago.
• Banaba Island.
• Phoenix archipelago.
• Archipelago Line.

Kiribati is an agricultural country. Its economy is dominated by the public sector. characterized by slow economic growth and low level services. Difficulties economic development associated with remoteness from world markets, vulnerability to natural disasters, geographical dispersion, limited domestic market, small labor resources.

The only way for economic development lies in attracting monetary assistance and financial transfers from other states, attracting migrants.

The main source of income for the islands of Kiribati are fish products and copra. The main employer is the state.

There are natural obstacles for the development of agriculture - small areas of atolls. High level of land cultivation technology. The development of agriculture has had an adverse effect on the vegetation cover of the islands and led to deforestation. The most important agricultural crop is the giant marsh taro. Pandanus, papaya, breadfruit are also cultivated. Recently, the production of copra, the main export product of the country, has increased.

Nauru is a coral island located in southern Micronesia in the western Pacific Ocean near the equator. The total area of ​​the territory is 21.3 square meters. km. Nauru is one of the rare coral islands - a raised atoll. The island has several small lakes Anabar and freshwater lake Buada (remnant of an ancient lagoon).

micronesia

Micronesia (Greek: Small Island) includes the Volkano, Bonin, Mariana, Caroline, Marshall, Gilbert, Ellis and Nauru and Ocean archipelagos. As the name suggests, all these islands are small; the largest of them, Guam (the Mariana Islands), has an area of ​​583 km2. The western archipelagos of Micronesia from Volkano to the western Caroline Islands are located in the belt of geosynclinal structures of the Pacific Ocean floor and are the tops of volcanoes rising from a folded underwater ridge. The relief of the ocean floor in western Micronesia is extremely dissected. It is here, along the eastern edge of the Mariana Island Arc, that one of the world's deepest depressions, the Mariana Trench, lies (the greatest depth is 11,034 m). The tectonic activity of the earth's crust is very pronounced. There are frequent and strong earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The islands have a mountainous relief (height from 400 to 1000 m), framed by abrasion terraces and coral reefs. Some of them, composed only of limestone, have a very strongly karst and rugged surface. The islands of eastern Micronesia are coral. They crown the volcanic peaks of the platform bottom of the Pacific Ocean and rarely rise above the water by more than 1.5-2.5 m. Very many of them have the shape of typical atolls. The islands lie in latitudes from equatorial to subtropical, but under the influence of the warm Kuro-Sivo current, the climate northern islands as hot and humid as the south. The largest number precipitation (from 1500 mm to 2000 mm) falls on the eastern slopes of the mountainous islands windward with respect to the northeast trade winds. In its natural state, the slopes were covered with dense moist evergreen tropical forests of areca palms (Areca catechu), pandanus (Pandanus spp.), breadfruit (Artocarpus spp.), Polynesian iron tree (Casuarina equisetifolla). These forests have not only drastically shrunk in area, but have also been altered by the felling of valuable species. The leeward slopes of the islands are occupied by cereal savannahs, most likely secondary. The atolls of eastern Micronesia are dominated by the coconut palm, and the inland lagoons are lined with mangroves.

Polynesia

Polynesia (Greek: Multi-island) unites islands lying generally east of the 180 meridian, between 30 ° N. sh. and 30°S sh .: Hawaiian, atoll and reef islands Line (Sporades), coral archipelagos of Phoenix and Tokelau, volcanic archipelago of Samoa with active volcanoes, a two-row chain of volcanic (western row) and coral (eastern row) islands of Tonga, Cook Islands, Tubuai, Society with volcanic island Tahiti, 76 Tuamotu atolls, or Russians, Marquesas and, finally, the secluded Easter Island, with which the myth of the Pacific Atlantis is associated. The islands are the peaks of basalt volcanoes, mostly decapitated by weathering and abrasion, completely or partially covered by reef limestones. Coral islands are a product of the ocean, stony corals and calcareous algae. The atolls are in the form of a ring of low reefs from 2 to 150 km in diameter. Rings are solid or open and surround inland shallow lagoons. Strong surf destroys the outer edge of the coral shores; waves throw debris at the edges of the atolls, where an outer ridge grows, cemented by salts sea ​​water. In strong winds, detrital material is transported deep into the atolls and fills the lagoons. The organic world is represented by reef-loving plants and animals not only on land, but also on the sea, and in some cases it is difficult to determine where the ocean biotope ends and the land biotope begins. Along the outer edge of the atoll, on reefs and beaches at low tide, there are many marine organisms that endure a short stay in the air, seaweed, unicellular foraminifera animals with a limestone skeleton, sponges, sea urchins and starfish remaining in deep puddles, some holothurians burrowing in sand, crabs and shrimps. Behind the outer crest of the atoll, on thin carbonate soils, terrestrial vegetation appears, which tolerates soil salinity and a high salt content in the air, thickets of evergreen xerophytic shrubs, forests of coconut palms, pandanus trees, banana thickets and groves of breadfruit trees. Apparently, this vegetation is largely of anthropogenic origin; in its natural state, the flora of the islands is limited to very few species of shrubs and trees. On the atolls, one can observe the operation of the great law of nature, according to which living beings, born in the ocean, subsequently moved to land. Palm thief crab lives in coconut groves and forests, living in sandy burrows. It climbs palm trees, pierces the dense shells of nuts with powerful ticks and feeds on their pulp. This crab has long adapted to a land-based lifestyle, but still goes to the sea for the breeding season.

Another, even more striking example is the mudskipper, a fish that lives in murky waters among the mangroves that surround the inner lagoons of the atolls. With the help of strong fins, she climbs tree trunks and spends up to 10-20 minutes in the air, hunting for insects. Mangrove forests are an indispensable frame for lagoons. In the muddy bottom of the bottom, along with mangroves, some seaweeds live, and limestone algae are entwined with mangrove roots. Almost all types of landscapes of Polynesia are represented on the largest archipelago of the Hawaiian Islands, stretching for 2500 km. They mark the highest peaks of the underwater Hawaiian Ridge, more than 6500 km long, and are concentrated in its southern third, the most elevated. The Hawaiian archipelago consists of 24 islands with a total area of ​​16,700 km2, of which 16,273 km2 falls on the island of Hawaii (10,399 km2 and the islands of Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Molokan and Lanai. The island of Hawaii is formed by five merged volcanoes, of which Mauna Kea (4170 m) and Kilauea (1247 m) continue to be active.Other volcanoes, including highest peak in Polynesia Mauna Kea (4210 m), extinct. The volcanoes of the island have retained the flatness of the slopes characteristic of shield cones, Mauna Loa and Kilauea have huge flat-bottomed craters with lakes of gushing lava, which, during eruptions, overflows over the edges of the craters and rushes down the slopes at high speed, burning everything living in its path. On others major islands volcanic activity ceased at the beginning of the Quaternary, and the primary forms of the volcanoes were transformed by erosion and denudation into a heavily rugged mountainous terrain. On small islands, volcanism waned at the end of the Neogene, and prolonged weathering and abrasion destroyed the volcanoes almost entirely. The central link of the archipelago is formed by small rocky peaks and reefs (Nihoa, Necker, Gardner, etc.), the northwestern one is coral atolls and reefs. Most of the islands are stretched in the tropical climate zone and are under the continuous influence of the northeast trade winds. Abundant orographic rains moisten the windward slopes of the mountainous islands (up to 4000 mm at an altitude of about 2000 m, and the island of Kauai receives more than 12500 mm of precipitation per year, almost as much as in Cherrapunji, India). On the leeward slopes, a lot of precipitation falls only at high altitudes, the rest of the regions are dry (no more than 700 mm of precipitation per year) and hot; tropical heat is aggravated by foehn winds flowing down the slopes. In winter, moist Kona winds blow on the islands, which drag equatorial air along the western periphery of the Hawaiian anticyclone into the cyclonic depressions of the polar front passing over the northwestern part of the Kona archipelago, often reaching storm strength and bringing sudden showers.

The northwestern islands of the archipelago lie in the subtropical climate belt, but, far from the cold California current, they have higher average seasonal temperatures; precipitation is cyclonic, with a maximum in winter (on Midway Island, 1070 mm falls annually). The flora of Hawaii is highly endemic (up to 93 species) and monotonous, as a result of which it stands out in a special Hawaiian subregion of the Paleotropics. It lacks gymnosperms, ficuses, epiphytic orchids. Palm trees are represented by only three species. Mountain-forest landscapes with vertical zonality are developed on the northern and northeastern slopes; dry forests, savannahs, and even arid shrubs predominate on the southern and southwestern slopes. In the lower forest belt (up to a height of 600-700 m), where moisture is not yet high enough, seasonally wet mixed (deciduous-evergreen) forests develop, in the middle zone (up to 1200 m) permanently wet evergreen forests. From 1200 m to the upper forest line (3000 m) they are replaced by tropical mountain hylaea. In the Hawaiian forests, now heavily cut down, there are many trees with valuable timber. Significance in the 19th century had sandalwood (Santalum album) with aromatic wood, now almost destroyed. On the summit volcanic plateaus, lying in the temperate mountain zone on fresh, unweathered lavas, ferns are the first settlers, followed by shrubs, composite and xerophytic grasses. Savannahs do not rise on slopes higher than 300-600 m. Xerophytic herbs hilo (Heteropogon contortus) and pili (Cynadon dactylon) form a dense sod cover in them, preventing the appearance of woody vegetation, which is why trees (Pandanus spp., erythri-na monosperma) grow scattered rare groups. Vegetation on small islands is represented by rare xerophytic shrubs and hard grasses, many rocky islands are completely bare. Under the savannas, especially under the forests, soils of the lateritic series develop, highly saturated with titanium and iron oxides in accordance with the chemical composition of the lavas. The complete reduction of forests for plantations led to intense erosion, and the long-term use of soils without the addition of the necessary fertilizers led to their severe depletion. The avifauna (67 genera) is very richly represented on the islands. More than half of the birds are sedentary and nest on the islands (mainly on small ones, which, with the exception of Midway Island, are declared a bird reservation). Many forest bird species have beautiful plumage. Among them stand out the endemic family of Hawaiian flower girls and the endemic genus of honeyeaters.

Some birds come to the islands for the winter from North America and northeast Asia. In addition to birds from the Hawaiian fauna proper, there is one species of bat, several species of lizards (geckos, skinks), and beetles. A lot of plants from all over the world were deliberately and accidentally brought to the Hawaiian Islands, including weeds that got on them, which greatly spread and displaced the local flora in many areas; many animals, as well as birds and insects, also came to the islands, some of which also bring great harm. Rabbits, cats, pigs and rats have bred incredibly.