Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, former United Nations (UN) strategic-area trusteeship that was administered by the United States from 1947 to 1986. The territory consisted of more than 2,000 islands scattered over about 3,000,000 square miles (7,770,000 square km) of the tropical western Pacific Ocean, north of the Equator between latitudes 1° and 22° N and longitudes 130° and 172° E. Most of the islands are quite small, the total land area being only about 700 square miles (1,800 square km). The trust territory covered the region known as Micronesia (“tiny islands”) and comprised three major island groups—the Marianas, the Carolines, and the Marshalls. Guam, the southernmost of the Marianas, was excluded. The islands of Kapingamarangi and Nukuoro, which are culturally Polynesian rather than Micronesian, were included. The trust territory’s seat of government was Saipan in the Northern Marianas.

Portuguese and Spaniards first began to explore the Micronesian region in the 16th century. Later explorers, traders, and whalers included the British, Germans, Russians, Japanese, and Americans. Spain at first expanded its control throughout Micronesia with little opposition from the other European powers. In the late 19th century, however, Spain’s domination of the region was challenged by Germany and the United Kingdom. To consolidate its hold in the region, Spain proclaimed sovereignty over the Marshall and Caroline groups in 1874. Germany moved into the Marshall Islands uncontested, and the two countries shared power in Micronesia until the Spanish-American War (1898). Spain’s defeat in that conflict caused it to cede Guam to the United States and sell its remaining possessions in Micronesia to Germany, which then controlled virtually the entire region.

At the outbreak of World War I, Japan immediately moved militarily to take over Germany’s possessions in Micronesia. After Germany was defeated, Japan sought to incorporate Micronesia into its empire, but the League of Nations made the islands a mandate to be administered by Japan. Nevertheless, the Tokyo government developed the territory as though it exercised full sovereignty. The region became a strategic battleground during World War II, the United States finally securing the islands in the course of its Pacific campaign. After Japan’s defeat the United States remained in control of the islands, and in 1947 they became a United Nations trusteeship under U.S. administration.

The legal basis for government within the area was laid down in the Code of the Trust Territory, enacted in 1952. The code defined citizenship, provided a formal law code, and created six administrative districts. The code recognized customary law and allowed for appointed, rather than elected, officials. The U.S. government was responsible for the territory’s civil administration. During the 1950s, criticisms of the administration of the territory from the UN Trusteeship Council and from within the United States brought increased attention to a movement toward autonomy. In 1965 the territory elected the Congress of Micronesia, endowing it with legislative powers. In a 1975 plebiscite the Northern Marianas group voted to become a commonwealth of the United States and, from 1976, was administered separately from the rest of the territory. The remaining island groups were reorganized again into six districts, which in 1978 voted on a proposed constitution for the Federated States of Micronesia. Four of these districts (Kosrae, Pohnpei, Truk, and Yap; all in the Carolines) approved the constitution and were established as the new federation in 1979. The two dissenting districts, the Marshall Islands and Palau (or Belau, in the Carolines), formed republics in 1979 and 1981, respectively. The Federation and two republics approved and voted in popular referenda (1982–83) for compacts of free association with the United States. Free association, as defined in the compacts, gave the republics full internal self-government and substantial authority in foreign affairs but vested the United States with full responsibility and authority for their defense for a number of years.

In 1986 the U.S. government declared the Trust Territory agreements no longer in effect. (The approval of the UN Security Council was technically necessary for the cessation of the trusteeship, but politically motivated efforts by the Soviet Union to obstruct the decolonization process necessitated a unilateral U.S. termination of the trusteeship, which was approved by a majority vote of the Trusteeship Council of the UN.) The Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands thus became sovereign, self-governing states with the United States responsible for their security and defense, and the Northern Mariana Islands formally became a commonwealth of the United States. The Republic of Palau entered into a compact of free association with the United States and became a sovereign state in 1994.