Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
Trust Territory  of the United States
← 1947–1994 →   →   →   →
Flag Coat of arms
Location of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in the Pacific
Capital	Saipan
Language(s)	English
Political structure	United Nations Trust Territory
Chief of State
- 1993–1994	Bill Clinton1 (last)
High Commissioner
- 1981–1987	Janet J. McCoy2 (last)
Historical era	Cold War
- Trusteeship	July 18, 1947
- Free Association	October 1, 1994
Area
- 1980	1,779 km2 (687 sq mi)
Population
- 1980 est.	132,929
Density	74.7 /km2  (193.5 /sq mi)
Currency	USD
1Clinton 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. 2McCoy 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.

The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was a United Nations trust territory in Micronesia (western Pacific) administered by the United States from 1947 to 1986.

Arrival of UN Visiting Mission, Majuro, 1978. Sign reads "Please release us from the bondage of your trusteeship agreement."

History

The territory comprised the former South Pacific Mandate, a League of Nations Mandate administered by Japan and taken by the U.S. in 1944.

The TTPI entered UN trusteeship on July 18, 1947 and was designated a "strategic area" in its 1947 trusteeship agreement. 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.

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 only formally ended the trusteeship for the Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Mariana Islands, and Marshall Islands districts on December 22, 1990. On May 25, 1994, the Council ended the trusteeship for the Palau district, after which the U.S. and Palau agreed to establish the latter's independence on October 1.^{[citation needed]}

Current status

This area is now divided into four territories:

• The Republic of the Marshall Islands was established in 1979 and signed a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (effective October 21, 1986).
• The Federated States of Micronesia was established in 1979 and signed a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (effective November 3, 1986).
• The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands was set up in 1978 as a commonwealth in political union with the U.S.
• The Republic of Palau was established in 1981 and concluded a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (effective October 1, 1994).

See also

• High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

Map of the TTPI from 1961

External links

Media related to Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands at Wikimedia Commons

• Photos from the records of the Trust Territory Government
• 1967 Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Census Geography
• United States Code: CHAPTER 14 - TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS