Trust Territory Of The Pacific Islands

The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was a United Nations trust territory in Micronesia administered by the United States from 1947 to 1994.

The Imperial Japanese South Seas Mandate had been seized by the US during the Pacific War, as Japan had administered the territory since the League of Nations gave Japan mandate over the area from Imperial Germany after World War I. However, in the 1930s, Japan left the League of Nations, and then invaded additional lands. During World War II, military control of the islands was disputed, but by the end of the war the islands had come under control of the Allies. The Trust Territory of the Pacific was created to administer the islands as part of the United States, while still under the auspices of the United Nations. Most of the island groups in the territory became independent states, with some degree of ties kept with the United States: the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau are today independent states in a Compact of Free Association with the US, while the Northern Mariana Islands remain under US jurisdiction, as an unincorporated territory and commonwealth.

Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
1947–1994
Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner"
Location of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in the Pacific
Location of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in the Pacific
StatusUnited Nations Trust Territory under the administration of the United States
CapitalSaipan
Common languagesEnglish (official)
Micronesian languages
Chief of State 
• 1947–1953 (first)
Harry S. Truman
• 1993–1994 (last)
Bill Clinton
High Commissioner 
• 1947–1948 (first)
Louis E. Denfeld
• 1981–1987 (last)
Janet J. McCoy
LegislatureCongress
Historical eraCold War
• Trusteeship
July 18, 1947
• Termination of administration (Marshall Islands)
October 21, 1986
• Termination of administration (Micronesia)
November 3, 1986
• Free Association and De jure independence of Palau
October 1, 1994
CurrencyUnited States dollar
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Trust Territory Of The Pacific Islands South Seas Mandate
Marshall Islands Trust Territory Of The Pacific Islands
Federated States of Micronesia Trust Territory Of The Pacific Islands
Northern Mariana Islands Trust Territory Of The Pacific Islands
Palau Trust Territory Of The Pacific Islands
  1. Clinton was President when Palau's Compact of Free Association took effect. Ronald Reagan was President when the RMI, FSM, and CNMI's final status took effect.
  2. McCoy retired as High Commissioner in 1987. As Palau was still a part of the TTPI, it was administered by officials in the Office of Territorial and International Affairs until 1994.
Trust Territory Of The Pacific Islands
Map of the TTPI from 1961

History

Trust Territory Of The Pacific Islands 
Arrival of UN Visiting Mission, Majuro, 1978. The sign reads "Please release us from the bondage of your trusteeship agreement."

Spain initially claimed the islands that later composed the territory of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI). Subsequently, Germany established competing claims over the islands. The competing claims were eventually resolved in favor of Germany when Spain, following its loss of several possessions to the United States during the Spanish–American War, ceded its claims over the islands to Germany pursuant to the German–Spanish Treaty (1899). Germany, in turn, continued to retain possession until the islands were captured by Japan during World War I. The League of Nations formally placed the islands in the former South Seas Mandate, a mandate that authorized Japanese administration of the islands. The islands then remained under Japanese control until captured by the United States in 1944 during World War II.

The TTPI entered UN trusteeship pursuant to Security Council Resolution 21 on July 18, 1947, and was designated a "strategic area" in its 1947 trusteeship agreement. Article 83 of the UN Charter provided that, as such, its formal status as a UN trust territory could be terminated only by the Security Council, and not by the General Assembly as with other trust territories. The United States Navy controlled the TTPI from a headquarters in Guam until 1951, when the United States Department of the Interior took over control, administering the territory from a base in Saipan.

The Territory contained 100,000 people scattered over a water area the size of continental United States. It was subdivided into six districts, and represented a variety of cultures, with nine spoken languages. The Pohnpeians and Kosraeans, Marshallese and Palauans, Chuukese, Yapese and Chamorros had little in common, except they were in the same general area of the Pacific Ocean.

The large distances between people, lack of an economy, language and cultural barriers, all worked against the union. The six district centers became upscale slums, containing deteriorated Japanese-built roads, with electricity, modern music and distractions, which led to alienated youth and elders. The remainder of the islands maintained their traditional way of life and infrastructure.

In the late 1960s, the U.S. opposed the idea of eventual independence. Instead, they aimed for some form of association, perhaps with Hawaii. They estimated that perhaps 10-25% of the population were at that point in favor of independence.

A Congress of Micronesia first levied an income tax in 1971. It affected mainly foreigners working at military bases in the region.

On October 21, 1986, the U.S. ended its administration of the Marshall Islands District. The termination of U.S. administration of the Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and the Mariana Islands districts of the TTPI soon followed on November 3, 1986. The Security Council formally ended the trusteeship for the Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Mariana Islands, and Marshall Islands districts on December 22, 1990, pursuant to Security Council Resolution 683. On May 25, 1994, the Council ended the trusteeship for the Palau District pursuant to Security Council Resolution 956, after which the U.S. and Palau agreed to establish the latter's independence on October 1.

Geography

In 1969, the 100 occupied islands comprised 700 square miles (1,800 km2) over an area of 3,000,000 square miles (7,800,000 km2) of sea. The latter area was comparable in size to the continental United States. The water area is about 5% of the Pacific Ocean.

Demographics

The population of the islands was 200,000 in the latter part of the 19th century.[citation needed] The population decreased to 100,000 by 1969 due to emigration, war, and disease. At that time, the population inhabited less than 100 out of 2,141 of the Marshall, Mariana, and Caroline Islands.

  • 1958 : 70 724
  • 1970 : 90 940

Education

In 1947 the Mariana Islands' Teacher Training School (MITTS), a normal school serving all areas of the Trust Territory, opened in Guam. It moved to Chuuk in 1948, to be more central in the Trust Territory, and was renamed Pacific Islands' Teacher Training School (PITTS). It transitioned from being a normal school to a comprehensive secondary school, so it was renamed the Pacific Islands Central School (PICS). The school moved to Pohnpei in 1959. At the time it was a three-year institution housing students who graduated from intermediate schools. The school, later known as Pohnpei Island Central School (PICS), is now Bailey Olter High School.

Palau Intermediate School, established in 1946, became Palau High School in 1962 as it added senior high grades. From the late 1960s to the middle of the 1970s, several public high schools were built or received additions in the Trust Territory. They included Jaluit High School, Kosrae High School, Marshall Islands High School in Majuro, Palau High, PICS, and Truk High School (now Chuuk High School). The Micronesian Occupational College in Koror, Palau was also built. It later merged with the Kolonia-based Community College of Micronesia, which began operations in 1969, into the College of Micronesia-FSM in 1976.

Current status

Following the termination of the trusteeship, the territory of the former TTPI became four separate jurisdictions:

Sovereign states in free association with the United States

The following sovereign states have become freely associated with the United States under the Compact of Free Association (COFA).

Commonwealth in political union with the United States

See also

References

Bibliography

  • Howard, Paul (November–December 1999). "Pioneering in the Trusts: Postwar Airline Pioneering in US Trust Territory". Air Enthusiast (84): 35–40. ISSN 0143-5450.

Trust Territory Of The Pacific Islands  Media related to Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands at Wiki Commons

10°30′N 152°00′E / 10.500°N 152.000°E / 10.500; 152.000

Tags:

Trust Territory Of The Pacific Islands HistoryTrust Territory Of The Pacific Islands GeographyTrust Territory Of The Pacific Islands DemographicsTrust Territory Of The Pacific Islands EducationTrust Territory Of The Pacific Islands Current statusTrust Territory Of The Pacific Islands BibliographyTrust Territory Of The Pacific Islands

🔥 Trending searches on Wiki English:

NetherlandsQuincy (actor)NetflixFighter (2024 film)The Bear (TV series)Victoria AzarenkaFelix of BurgundyLarry PageBoris YeltsinKatt WilliamsLeonardo DiCaprioAnne WojcickiSingaporeAdam NeumannNazi GermanyArnold SchwarzeneggerSoviet UnionIvan ToneyAlexander the GreatMiami Open (tennis)ArgylleRebecca FergusonDebbie ReynoldsVinayak Damodar SavarkarRobert PattinsonRosalind ChaoUEFA Euro 2024 qualifyingUnthinkableXXXXList of countries by GDP (nominal) per capitaEaster2024 Indian general election in KarnatakaIndonesiaCharlie SheenViral videoWilliam Adams (pilot)Rocco SiffrediJack KevorkianWeCrashedElle FanningXXXX (album)Remembrance of Earth's PastInterstate 695 (Maryland)Animal (2023 Indian film)Meghan, Duchess of SussexList of ports in the United StatesList of American films of 2024Toyota Hilux ChampBad Boy RecordsRussell SimmonsChennai Super KingsPriyanka ChopraLisa BluderTeri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha JiyaIppei MizuharaSuge KnightCanadaReba McEntireThe Bachelor (American TV series)2023 Indian Premier LeagueMillie Bobby BrownShohei OhtaniDani AlvesThe White LotusKyle RichardsSocial mediaAquaman and the Lost Kingdom2020 United States presidential electionMillennialsIslamic StateAlex SharpFlorence PughAbraham OzlerTulsi GabbardThailand🡆 More