Sapwuahfik
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Sapwuahfik, formerly Ngatik, or the Raven Islands
/ref> is a
atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...
of the
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 ...
. It is a village and
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
of roughly 430 people on a land area of in the state of
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 ...
.


Geography

It is located southwest of the main island of
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 ...
in the Eastern
Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the centra ...
and consists of 10 individual islands on the reef. The largest and only inhabited island is Ngatik, at the western end. The atoll is long and up to wide. The
lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...
measures in area, and the total area is . The aggregate land area of the 10 islands is , of which the main island Ngatik is , or more than half. While Ngatik is the only inhabited island, the six larger of the remaining islands are used by the population for harvesting coconuts and growing
taro Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Africa ...
, and animal husbandry (pigs and chickens). There are 12 buildings for temporary shelter on those islands.Donald W. Buden: The Reptiles of Sapwuahfik Atoll, Federated States of Micronesia
The islands, clockwise, starting at Ngatik in the west:


Airfield

Sapwuahfik has an airstrip that lies just off the island of Ngatik, the Sapwuahfik Civil Airfield ().
Coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...
has cut the airstrip off from the island by about 20 meters, making it necessary to ferry arriving and departing passengers between it and Ngatik by boat. There are on-call personnel who go to the airfield whenever a flight is expected.


Population

The population of Sapwuahfik is approximately 433 (2010). The culture is closely related to that of
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 ...
, its closest neighbor; however it retains its own distinctive character. The local creole,
Ngatik Men's Creole Ngatikese Creole, also called Ngatik Men's Creole, is a creole language spoken mostly on the atoll of Sapwuahfik (formerly Ngatik) in the Caroline Islands. It is spoken by about 500 on the atoll, and by another 200 on the nearby major island of P ...
, developed as a result of the 1837
Ngatik massacre The Ngatik massacre took place over two days of fighting on the atoll of Sapwuahfik in the Micronesian island chain in July 1837. Captain C. H. Hart and his crew of beachcombers of the trading cutter ''Lampton'' from Sydney, Australia, massacred as ...
, during which the island's male population was wiped out by the crew of
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n captain C.H. Hart and Pohnpeian warriors. Some of the Europeans and
Pohnpeians The Micronesians or Micronesian peoples are various closely related ethnic groups native to Micronesia, a region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They are a part of the Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, which has an Urheimat in Taiwan. Ethn ...
settled and repopulated the island, taking the local women as wives. The island formed a new culture and language, a mixture of English and Ngatikese (a Pohnpeic language). In addition to the creole, which is only spoken by men, all of the residents speak
Ngatikese Ngatikese, or Sapwuahfik, is a Micronesian language originating on Sapwuahfik atoll, Federated States of Micronesia. Of the 700 Ngatikese speakers, only about 450 live on Sapwuahfik. It was previously considered a distinct dialect of Pohnpeian, ...
, a Pohnpeic language closely related to the
Pohnpeian language Pohnpeian is a Micronesian language spoken as the indigenous language of the island of Pohnpei in the Caroline Islands. Pohnpeian has approximately 30,000 (estimated) native speakers living in Pohnpei and its outlying atolls and islands with a ...
.


History

The atoll was first discovered by Westerners on 6 April 1773 by the Spanish naval officer
Felipe Tompson Felipe is the Spanish variant of the name Philip, which derives from the Greek adjective ''Philippos'' "friend of horses". Felipe is also widely used in Portuguese-speaking Brazil alongside Filipe, the form commonly used in Portugal. Noteworthy p ...
when sailing from
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
to San Blas in
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
on board of the vessel ''Nuestra Señora de la Consolación'' also called in short ''Buen Fin''. Tompson charted the island as ''Los Valientes'' (the island of the bold in Spanish). At some point between 1793 and 1796,
William Raven William Raven (1756–1814) was an English master mariner, naval officer and merchant. He commanded the whaler and sealing vessel ''Britannia'' and the naval store ship in Australian and New Zealand waters from 1792 until 1799. While in command ...
, captain of ''Britannia'' gave a firm sighting to the island.


Education

Pohnpei State Department of Education Pohnpei State Department of Education (PDOE) is an agency of Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia that operates public schools. Churchill B. Edward is the department's director. Schools it had 31 elementary schools with 556 preschool ...
operates public schools: * Sapwuafik Elementary SchoolPohnpei Schools
" Pohnpei State Department of Education. Retrieved on February 23, 2018.


Transportation

Just east of the Sapwuahfik is an Sapwuahfik Airfield with a paved runway.


See also

*
Madolenihmw Madolenihmw is one of the administrative divisions of the Micronesian island of Pohnpei. It is located in the central east of the island, to the east of Mount Nahna Laud and south of Mount Kapwuriso. The coast of Madolenihmw includes a large b ...
*
Kitti (municipality) Kitti, also written as Kiti, is one of the twelve administrative divisions of the Micronesian state of Pohnpei. It is located in the southwest of the island of Pohnpei, to the south of Mount Nanlaud. Education Pohnpei State Department of Educa ...
*
U, Pohnpei U, also written Uh, is one of the administrative divisions of Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia. U bears the shortest place name in the Federated States of Micronesia, and one of the shortest in the world. Description U is one of the ...
*
Nett Nett also written as Net, is one of the administrative divisions of Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia. Description Nett is one of the six municipalities located in the main island of Pohnpei. It corresponds to the north-central sect ...
*
Kapingamarangi Kapingamarangi is an atoll and a municipality in the state of Pohnpei of the Federated States of Micronesia. It is by far the most southerly atoll or island of the country and of the Caroline Islands, south of the next southerly atoll, Nukuoro, ...
*
Pingelap Pingelap is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean, part of Pohnpei State of the Federated States of Micronesia, consisting of three islands: Pingelap Island, Sukoru and Daekae, linked by a reef system and surrounding a central lagoon, although only Pinge ...
*
Sokehs Sokehs is a village and municipality on the main island in the state of Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia. It is the location of Palikir, the federal capital. The namesake Sokehs Peninsula is located north of the main island. Education P ...
*
Nukuoro Nukuoro is an atoll in the Federated States of Micronesia. It is a municipality of the state of Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia. It is the secondmost southern atoll of the country, after Kapingamarangi. They both are Polynesian outliers ...
*
Mokil Mokil, or known to the locals as Mwoakilloa, is an atoll and one of 6 outer-island municipalities in the state of Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia. Almost 200 people live on a land area of about 1 square km. The atoll was formerly known as ...
*
Kolonia Kolonia is a coastal town and the capital of Pohnpei State in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). It was also the former FSM capital before being replaced by Palikir in 1989, located nearby to the southwest in the municipality of Sokehs. I ...
*
Oroluk Oroluk waas one of the administrative divisions of Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia. In 1985, it became part of Sokehs Municipality. Description Oroluk municipality included Oroluk Atoll and Minto Reef. This municipality is uninh ...
*
Palikir Palikir () is the capital city of the Federated States of Micronesia located in the western Pacific Ocean. A town of slightly under 5,000 residents, it is part of the larger Sokehs municipality, which had a population of 6,647 , out of the natio ...


Notes


References


External links

*
Deutsches Koloniallexikon
(German)

retrieved December 8, 2010
POHNPEI (Islas Carolinas orientales). 3º parte.
(Spanish) {{authority control Atolls of the Federated States of Micronesia Municipalities of Pohnpei Islands of Pohnpei