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Micronesia, Federated States of

byMark Sensen

Micronesia includes several small islands in the western Pacific. The flag has been in use since 1962, but has varied depending on the number of islands in the federation. The federation has included the following islands/island groups since 1962:
1962-65: Marianas, Carolines, Marshall Islands and Palau
1965-78: Marianas, Marshall Islands, Palau, Yap, Ponape and Kusaie
1978-80: Marshall Islands, Palau, Yap, Ponape and Kusaie
1980-85: Truk, Ponape, Kusaie and Yap
1985-?: Truk, Ponape, Kusaie, Yap and Fichunk
?-present: Truk, Ponape, Kusaie and Yap

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 Is., 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 Is. went their own way. The flag was adopted on 30 November 1978.

Yap

Yap adopted a flag on 30 May 1980, first hoisted 1 March 1981. It's (king's-)blue, proportions 3:5. On the centre in a white ring is the silhouette of a boat with sail hoisted, all in white. On the boat is a blue disk with a white five-pointed star.
Mark Sensen, 1996-07-23

Each one of the federated states might have its own flag. I saw a television report on Yap, which was mostly about the stones used as currency. However, it also showed a flag flying, blue with two diagonal bands in the center, from lower hoist to upper fly, the upper one white, the lower one red (similar to the Marshall Islands, but with the bands of identical size along their length).
Jaume Oll�

Ponape (Pohnpei)

by Jaume Oll�, 1996-09-12

Pohnpei (Ponape) flies a blue flag (blue like the UNO flag) with six stars (one for each island: Pingelap, Mokil, Ponape, Ngatik, Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi), a wreath of coconut leaves, and a ceremonial cup called a "sakau" made from half a coconut shell. The law allowing a flag was passed in 1976 and a competition was held. The flag was created by a student, Rosendo Alex (his was one of 60 designs submitted in the competition), and it was adopted in December 1977.
Jaume Oll�, 1996-09-12