September 11 – Liberation Day in Pohnpei

nPostednon September 11, 2015

nWhennI see a holiday named “Liberation Day,” I automatically wondern“liberated from whom?”

nInnthis case, knowing that Pohnpei is an island in the Pacific nation ofnMicronesia, I assumed that it MIGHT be liberation from the Japanesenat the end of World War II. And…I was right!

Onnthis date in 1945, U.S. Navy forces accepted the surrender of thenJapanese forces on Pohnpei. (The Japanese who had taken Pohnpei fromnGermany during World War I, and then continued to occupy the islandnin the years between the World Wars!) The U.S. flag was raised overnthe island, and America administered this and other Pacific islandsnfor about four decades.

nInread that natives of Pohnpei refer to parts of history, not so muchnby decades and centuries, but as “German times,” “Americanntimes,” “Japanese times,” and so forth.

nHerenis the “so forth”:

n NativenPeriod – before 1825

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n Pre-Spanishn– 1825 – 1886

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n SpanishnPeriod – 1886 – 1899

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n GermannPeriod – 1899 – 1914

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n JapanesenPeriod – 1914 – 1945

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n AmericannPeriod – 1945 – 1986

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n Independencen– 1986 on

nWhat’snspecial about Pohnpei?

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Thencapital city of a long-gone dynasty is now ruins – partly poking upnout of the waters of a lagoon, and partly still underwater. There arenalmost 100 tiny artificial islands linked by canals. The artificialnislands are made of stone- and coral-fill platforms. n

nThenname of this ruined city is NannMadol,nwhich translates to “spaces between,” a reference to the canals.nThe original name was SounnNan-leng,nor Reef of Heaven, and a nickname is “the Venice of the Pacific.”

nThisncity was built from around 1200 to around 1628.

nKepirohinWaterfall feeds a large lake that is a popular spot for swimming.

nSokehsnRock was a teeny island off the coast of Pohnpei – but thennmangroves grew up between and connected the two. The rock is basalt,nwhich is volcanic rock.

nAntnAtoll is a ring-shaped coral atoll off the coast of Pohnpei. An atollnis created when corals slowly grow around an island, forming a ring,nand then the island sinks below the ocean. All that is left is thenring!

Innthis picture of Ant Atoll seen from space, you can see that much ofnthe ring of coral reefs is underwater (that’s the blue part), butnsome of the reef has built up high enough that soil and plantsncolonized sections (that’s the bright green part).

nOfncourse, atolls are great places for diving. Ant Atoll is good fornbirdwatching, too.