Last modified: 2012-11-05 by ian macdonald
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![[Flag of Micronesia]](../images/f/fm.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 20 June 2002
Proportions: 10:19
Federated States of Micronesia: Index of Pages
See also:
From 1962 to 1965, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was Marianas, the Carolines, the Marshalls and Palau. In 1965, the Yap, Chuuk, and Pohnpei districts were created (It appears the Marianas, Marshall Islands, and Palau districts were created before this time). This was the first meaning for the stars. For the next decade, the districts remained the same. Thoughout 1975 to 1978, the Mariana Islands District sought to negotiate their way out of the TTPI government, wanting Commonwealth status. This status was granted in January 1978. During all of this, Kosrae was detached from Pohnpei and became a separate district in 1977. Because of all of this, the six stars on the TTPI flag meant the Marshalls, Palau, Yap, Pohnpei, Chuuk, and Kosrae. In July 1978 the Palau district and the Marshall Islands district rejected the proposed constitution for the Federated States of Micronesia. This action reduced the flag to the current four stars: Yap, Pohnpei, Chuuk, and Kosrae. Other wrtiers seem to bring up the purported district/state of Faichuk. During my research, I couldn't find anything about the existence of Faichuk. However, there does tend to be a lot of anger about their status within Chuuk and Micronesia. For more, see this article from the Marianas Variety.
To sum up:
Sources:
1) World Statesmen.
2) A chronology provided by the Congress of Micronesia.
3) Dan Meekin's chronology of the Northern Mariana Islands
Joshua Holman, 18 September 2006
The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags
and Anthems Manual London 2012) provides recommendations for national flag
designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for
their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm
version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the
official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC
believed the flag to be. For Micronesia: PMS 277 blue. The vertical flag is
simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise.
Ian Sumner,
10 October 2012
![[Six Star Flag]](../images/f/fm1.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 20 June 2002
I've only heard of two versions of the Micronesian flag:
The version with 6 stars was adopted 1962 and approved by the USA in 1965.
The 6 stars represented Palau, Truk, Marshall Islands, Yap, Ponape and the
Northern Marianas. On 1 April 1976 the Northern Marianas achieved commonwealth
status outside the Federation, and in January 1977 the state of Kosrae was
formed out of part of Ponape within the federation. As far as I know the flag
wasn't changed in 1977. The number of stars was reduced to 4 when Palau (or
Belau) and the Marshall Islands went their own way. The flag was adopted on
30 November 1978.
Unattributed
As far as I know, Faichuk has never managed to be recognized as a separate state. Or has it? It briefly appeared, for instance, on the map of Oceania in the Petit Larousse dictionary. From what I heard, Faichuk inhabitants (Faichuk is the name used for a group of larger islands in the western part of the Chuuk lagoon) were tired of receiving scarce funding from the Chuukese government and almost managed to secede, but a veto from the FSM president (himself a Chuukese) prevented them from doing so. I have tried to get info about a Faichukese flag, to no avail. But I did not say that there was no such flag.
Has anybody different information? If there really had been such a state, even for a while, then the FSM flag itself ought to have changed during that period.
Besides, if Kusaie is quoted as a component as soon as 1965, then definitely
Truk should be as well. Truk (now Chuuk) was a constituent entity long before
Kusaie was separated from Ponape, and from then on Kusaie was called Kosrae.
In particular, I would be surprised to hear that the sixth star on the Pacific
Islands Territory Trust flag stood for Kusaie and not for Truk.
Thanh Tâm.Lê, 16 June 1999
When I first quoted Faichuk, its existence was denied and no reference
could be found in Encyclopedias, etc... except the ones that I posted. I searched
and I later found more information, but no flag. After two years the situation
is not changed. Faichuk never was recognized and their government was dissolved.
Their flag, if one existed (and seems very probable that one existed) was
unofficial.
Jaume Ollé, 20 June 1999
The original design of the first flag of Micronesia is credited to Gonzalo Santos of Saipan, Marianas District, who is currently working at the Headquarters Communications Office as principal clerk. Born in Yap Islands, 22-year-old Santos moved to Saipan after the war when the Chamorros of Yap were transferred to Tinian Island in the Marianas. He attended George Washington High School and graduated in 1958. Santos was awarded a prize of $250. A consolation prize of $50 was awarded to Enja Enos of the Marshalls, a student at the Jaluit Elementary School whose entry was somewhat similar to the winning design.
On 3 October 1962, the Second Session of the Council of Micronesia -
convening for the first time upon Trust Territory soil in Koror, Palau -
officially adopted the first flag in the history of Micronesia. The flag was
flown on UN Day with the "Stars Spangled Banner" and the flag of UN at the
Marianas District Administration in Saipan, the provisional capital of
Micronesia.
(Micronesian Reporter, undated)
Ivan Sache, 30
October 2011
According to the website of the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia, the first law passed by the First Congress of Micronesia was to establish the national flag.
§ 501. Design designated.
There shall be and there is hereby adopted an official flag of the Federated States of Micronesia, which shall consist of a circle of four white stars centered on a field of blue. The width of the flag of the Federated States of Micronesia shall bear a ratio to its length of 1 to 1.9, and the width of the flag to the width of a star the ratio of five to one. The flag may be reproduced for unofficial purposes, with different dimensions.
Source: TT Code 1966 § 15; TT Code 1970, 1 TTC 201; TT Code 1980, 1 TTC 201; PL IC-6 § 1.§ 502. Display of flags.
(1) The flag of the Federated States of Micronesia shall be displayed in the open only from sunrise until sunset and during such hours shall be displayed only on buildings, flagstaffs, or halyards.
(2) The flag of the Federated States of Micronesia shall be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.
(3) No person shall display any other flag above or in a position of superior prominence or honor to the flag of the Federated States of Micronesia at any place within the Federated States of Micronesia; provided, that this subsection shall not apply to foreign embassies, consulates, diplomatic missions, or the offices of international agencies.
(4) The President may establish rules and procedures for the half-mast display of the flag of the Federated States of Micronesia and the use of the flag at official funerals.
Source: TT Code 1966 § 16; TT Code 1970, 1 TTC 202; TT Code 1980, 1 TTC 202; PL IC-6 § 2; PL 4-82 § 1.§ 503. Desecration of flag.
(1) Any person who knowingly casts contempt upon any flag of the Federated States of Micronesia by publicly mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning, or trampling upon it shall be fined not more than $100, or imprisoned for not more than six months, or both.
(2) The term "flag of the Federated States of Micronesia" as used in this section shall include an official flag of the Federated States of Micronesia, as described in section 501 of this title, or any reproduction thereof for official or unofficial purposes and having the same or different dimensions as the flag of the Federated States of Micronesia.
Source: COM PL 7-135 § 1; TT Code 1980, 1 TTC 203; PL IC-6 § 3.
Source: FM Legal Information Service
Phil Nelson, 23 February 2006