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Micronesia, Federated States of

10:19
by Zeljko Heimer, 20 June 2002

Flag adopted 30 November 1978, coat of arms adopted 10 May 1979

In this page:

Presentation of Micronesia

See also:

Presentation of Micronesia

Micronesia includes several small islands in the western Pacific. The flag has been in use since 1962, but has varied depending on the number of islands in the federation. The federation has included the following islands/island groups since 1962:
1962-65: Marianas, Carolines, Marshall Islands and Palau
1965-78: Marianas, Marshall Islands, Palau, Yap, Ponape and Kusaie
1978-80: Marshall Islands, Palau, Yap, Ponape and Kusaie
1980-85: Truk, Ponape, Kusaie and Yap
1985-?: Truk, Ponape, Kusaie, Yap and Faichuk
?-present: Chuuk (Truk), Ponape, Kusaie and Yap

Six Star Flag (1962-1978)

by Zeljko Heimer, 20 June 2002

I've only heard of two versions of the Micronesian flag:
The version with 6 stars was adopted 1962 and approved by the USA in 1965. The 6 stars represented Palau, Truk, Marshall Islands, Yap, Ponape and the Northern Marianas. On 1 April 1976 the Northern Marianas achieved commonwealth status outside the Federation, and in January 1977 the state of Kosrae was formed out of part of Ponape within the federation. As far as I know the flag wasn't changed in 1977. The number of stars was reduced to 4 when Palau (or Belau) and the Marshall Islands went their own way. The flag was adopted on 30 November 1978.
Unattributed

As far as I know, Faichuk has never managed to be recognized as a separate state. Or has it? It briefly appeared, for instance, on the map of Oceania in the Petit Larousse dictionary. From what I heard, Faichuk inhabitants (Faichuk is the name used for a group of larger islands in the western part of the Chuuk lagoon) were tired of receiving scarce funding from the Chuukese government and almost managed to secede, but a veto from the FSM president (himself a Chuukese) prevented them from doing so. I have tried to get info about a Faichukese flag, to no avail. But I did not say that there was no such flag.

Has anybody different information? If there really had been such a state, even for a while, then the FSM flag itself ought to have changed during that period.

Besides, if Kusaie is quoted as a component as soon as 1965, then definitely Truk should be as well. Truk (now Chuuk) was a constituent entity long before Kusaie was separated from Ponape, and from then on Kusaie was called Kosrae. In particular, I would be surprised to hear that the sixth star on the Pacific Islands Territory Trust flag stood for Kusaie and not for Truk.
Thanh Tâm.Lê, 16 June 1999

When I first quoted Faichuk, its existence was denied and no reference could be found in Encyclopedias, etc... except the ones that I posted. I searched and I later found more information, but no flag. After two years the situation is not changed. Faichuk never was recognized and their government was dissolved. Their flag, if one existed (and seems very probable that one existed) was unofficial.
Jaume Ollé, 20 June 1999