Fais Island
 NASA picture of Fais Island |
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| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | North Pacific |
| Coordinates | 9°45′37″N 140°31′15″E / 9.76028°N 140.52083°E |
| Archipelago | Caroline |
| Total islands | 1 |
| Area | 2.6 km2 (1 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 18 m (59 ft) |
| Country | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 215 (as of 2000) |
| Ethnic groups | Micronesian |
Fais Island is a raised coral island in the eastern Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia. Fais Island is located approximately 87 kilometres (54 mi) east of Ulithi and 251 kilometres (156 mi) northeast of Yap and is the closest land to Challenger Deep, about 180 miles away.
The population of Fais Island was 215 in 2000.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Geography
Fais Island is an oblong, oval-shaped raised coralline mass with a maximum elevation of 18 metres (59 ft), surrounded by a narrow lagoon and fringing reef except for its northeast and southwest extremities. It has a total land area of 2.6 square kilometres (1.0 sq mi).[2]
[edit] Legend
Friedrich Ratzel in The History of Mankind[3] related in 1896 that the Polynesian legend of the fishing up of the land from the depths of the sea took the following form in Yap: Mathikethik went out fishing with his two elder brothers. First, he hooked up crops of all sorts, and taro; then the island of Fais. His hook was kept by the priests; and since, if it were destroyed, Fais also would disappear, the inhabitants of that island were in constant subjection to the menaces of the Yap chiefs.
[edit] History
French naval captain Louis Tromelin is sometimes credited for the western discovery of Fais Island, during a journey through the Pacific 1828-29, although that honour might also belong to Francisco de Castro, whose sixteenth century journey to the Philippines took him through the Caroline Islands, where he was forced to make a landing when wind blew him off course.[4]
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, and was subsequently administered under the South Pacific Mandate. Allied forces occupied Fais Island from January 1, 1945 and built an airstrip. Following World War II, the island came under the control of the United States of America and was administered as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands from 1947, and became part of the Federated States of Micronesia from 1979.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Dunmore, John (1992); Who's Who in Pacific Navigation, Australia:Melbourne University Press, ISBN 052284488X
- ^ Yap State Census Report, 2000 ( PDF)
- ^ Oceandots
- ^ Ratzel, Friedrich. The History of Mankind. (London: MacMillan, 1896). URL: www.inquirewithin.biz/history/american_pacific/oceania/legend.htm accessed 30 May 2010.
- ^ Dunmore, pp 52 & 250
