Marshall Islands & Micronesia students (7750250496) (2)

The flag of the Federated States of Micronesia was adopted on 30 November 1978. The blue field represents the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. In an echo of U.S. heraldic practice, the stars represent the four federated states: Chuuk,

Pohnpei Pohnpei "upon (''pohn'') a stone altar (''pei'')" (formerly known as Ponape or Ascension, Proto-Chuukic-Pohnpeic: ''*Fawo ni pei)'' is an island of the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group. It belongs to Pohnpei ...

Kosrae Kosrae ( ), formerly known as Kusaie or Strong's Island, is an island in the Federated States of Micronesia. The State of Kosrae is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, and includes the main island of Kosrae and a few near ...

and

Yap Yap ( yap, Waqaab) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federated States of Micr ...

, arranged like the points of the compass.

History

The

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. History Spain initially claimed the islands that later composed the territory of the Trus ...

was administered by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

under the auspices of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

after World War II. In the 1950s, the residents had protested the adoption of a flag, citing the lack of a cohesive identity for the disparate group of islands, and the scheme was dropped. The trust territory first adopted a flag on 24 October 1962, which featured a design of six white stars around a shade of blue based on the

flag of the United Nations The flag of the United Nations consists of the emblem depicting the white azimuthal equidistant projection of the world map, centred on the North Pole, with two white olive branches placed on to its right and left, located on the sky blue backg ...

. The flag was designed by Gonzalo Santos and officially approved in 1965 by the National Congress. The six stars represented the districts of

, Truk,

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...

, and

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonw ...

; the latter three did not become part of the eventual

Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (; abbreviated FSM) is an island country in Oceania. It consists of four states from west to east, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosraethat are spread across the western Pacific. Together, the states comprise a ...

(FSM) in 1979. A four-star variation of the former trust territory flag was adopted on 30 November 1978 prior to independence;

was split from Pohnpei and is represented by the fourth star. The blue shade based on the United Nations flag was substituted for a darker blue after the FSM ascended to the

Compact of Free Association The Compact of Free Association (COFA) is an international agreement establishing and governing the relationships of free association between the United States and the three Pacific Island sovereign states of the Federated States of Micronesia (F ...

with the United States on 3 November 1986.

Design

The four white stars are oriented in a circle with none of the "rays" pointing inwards, adorning a shade of blue representing the

. The ratio of the flag is 10:19 and the width of each star to the flag is 1:5, though it is permissible to reproduce the flag in other dimensions for unofficial purposes.

Historical flags

File:Flag of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.svg,

Flag of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands The flag of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands ( TTPI) consisted of a light blue field that contained six white stars centered in a circle pattern. The stars symbolized the six districts of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands: t ...

; was used in the FSM 1965 to 1978. File:Flag of Pohnpei (1977-1992).svg, Former Flag of Pohnpei from 1977 to 1992

State flags

File:Flag of Chuuk.svg, File:Flag of Kosrae.svg, File:Flag of Pohnpei.svg, File:Flag of Yap.svg,

References

Flags introduced in 1978 National flags

Flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

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