Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009)

Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
United Nations Trust Territory
← 1947–1994 →   →   →   →
Flag Coat of arms
Location of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in the Pacific.
Capital		Saipan
Languages		English
Government		Trust Territory
Chief of State
-	1993–1994 (last)	Bill Clintona
High Commissioner
-	1981–1987 (last)	Janet J. McCoyb
Historical era		Cold War
-	Trusteeship	July 18, 1947
-	Free Association	October 1, 1994
Area
-	1980	1,779 km² (687 sq mi)
Population
-	1980 est.	132,929
Density		74.7 /km²  (193.5 /sq mi)
Currency		United States dollar
a.	Clinton was President when Palau's Compact of Free Association took effect. Ronald Reagan was President when the RMI, FSM, and CNMI's final status took effect.
b.	McCoy retired as High Commissioner in 1987. As Palau was still a part of the TTPI, it was administered by officials in the Office of Territorial and International Affairs until 1994.

Map of the TTPI from 1961

The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was a United Nations trust territory in Micronesia (western Pacific) administered by the United States from 1947 to 1986.

History [edit]

Arrival of UN Visiting Mission, Majuro, 1978. The sign reads "Please release us from the bondage of your trusteeship agreement."

The territory comprised the former South Pacific Mandate, a League of Nations Mandate administered by Japan and taken by the U.S. in 1944.^[1]

The TTPI entered UN trusteeship on July 18, 1947 and was designated a "strategic area" in its 1947 trusteeship agreement. As such, its formal status as a UN trust territory could be terminated only by the Security Council, and not by the General Assembly as with other trust territories.^{[citation needed]} The United States Navy controlled the TTPI from a headquarters in Guam until 1951, when the United States Department of the Interior took over control, administering the territory from a base in Saipan.^[2]

A Congress of Micronesia first levied an income tax in 1971. It affected mainly foreigners working at military bases in the region.^[3][4]

On October 21, 1986, the U.S. ended its administration of the Marshall Islands District. The termination of U.S. administration of the Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and the Mariana Islands districts of the TTPI soon followed on November 3, 1986. The Security Council formally ended the trusteeship for the Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Mariana Islands, and Marshall Islands districts on December 22, 1990. On May 25, 1994, the Council ended the trusteeship for the Palau District, after which the U.S. and Palau^[who?] agreed to establish the latter's independence on October 1.^{[citation needed]}

Current status [edit]

The area is now divided into four territories:

• The Republic of the Marshall Islands was established in 1979 and signed a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (effective October 21, 1986).
• The Federated States of Micronesia was established in 1979 and signed a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (effective November 3, 1986).
• The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands was set up in 1978 as a commonwealth in political union with the U.S.
• The Republic of Palau was established in 1981 and signed a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (effective October 1, 1994).

See also [edit]

• High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
• Micronesia portal

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Media related to Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands at Wikimedia Commons

• Photos from the records of the Trust Territory Government
• 1967 Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Census Geography
• United States Code: CHAPTER 14 - TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

Coordinates: 10°30′N 152°00′E / 10.500°N 152.000°E / 10.500; 152.000