The Federated States of Micronesia

Micronesia’s Nan Madol is a UNESCO site built across more than 100 artificial islets between 1200 and 1500.

Breadfruit, taro, coconut and fresh fish are important traditional foods in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Micronesia’s Chuuk Lagoon contains the wrecks of dozens of ships sunk during Operation Hailstone in 1944.

Yap Day celebrates local culture through traditional dancing, canoe activities, weaving demonstrations and local food.

Micronesia’s Kapingamarangi atoll is home to a Polynesian community that speaks a Polynesian language, making it a cultural outlier in the Micronesian region.

Micronesia has four states: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae, each with its own governor and legislature.

Yap’s waters are home to resident manta rays, which visit reef cleaning stations where small fish remove parasites from their bodies.

Micronesia’s sakau ceremony is an important Pohnpeian tradition used to show respect and unity at gatherings.

Micronesia’s traditional navigators guide canoes across the Pacific using stars, waves and currents, a skill UNESCO listed as intangible heritage in need of urgent safeguarding in 2021.

Micronesia’s island of Yap uses giant stone discs called rai as traditional money, and ownership can change without moving them.

Micronesia’s traditional canoe making, built from local materials as a community project, was inscribed on UNESCO’s list of intangible heritage in need of urgent safeguarding in 2021.

Micronesia has more than 600 islands spread across 2.6 million square kilometers of the Pacific, but only about 700 square kilometers of land.