Ant
Ant is an Atoll in the Eastern Caroline Islands.
Alternative spellings and historic names include: Ahnd, Anto, Andema, Fraser, Hand, and Hants
Ant is coral atoll, located at 6° 47' N., 15° 1' E., is one of the Senyavin Islands, which also include Pakin and Pohnpei. It is six miles in length (E-W), three and one-half miles in width, and trapezoidal in shape, and is separated from Pohnpei to the northeast by a deep channel five and one-half miles wide. The atoll consists of a lagoon surrounded by a reef, on the eastern and southern sides of which are about fifteen low coral islets. The lagoon is entered by a single passage in the southeast, accessible only to small boats.
Ant is a part of the Outer Islands of Pohnpei, within Pohnpei State, itself part of the Nation of the Federated States of Micronesia.
Subunits
Islands within the atoll include: Pasa (Patya), Nikalap (Kalap), Pansanki (Panemuko), Pamuk (Panmuk)
Governance
Spain laid claim to the Carolines from the time of initial discovery in the early 1500's but made no attempt to occupy or administer them. In 1885 a Governor for the Carolines was appointed by the Governor General of the Philippines and presence established in Pohnpei and Yap. In this Spanish Period (1521-1899), Ant fell within the Western District of the Spanish East Indies.
After the Spanish-American War, Spain sold the Palau, Caroline, and Marianas Islands to Germany in 1899. In this German Period (1899-1914), the Caroline, Palau and Mariana Islands (excluding Guam), along with the Marshalls, annexed in 1885, were titled Imperial German Pacific Protectorates. The Carolines become an administrative district of German New Guinea under direction of a vice-governor and Antfell within the Eastern Caroline District.
The Carolines were seized from the Germans by the Japanese early in World War I. Despite protests from the United States, including the Yap Crisis, the Islands were in 1920 mandated to Japan by the League of Nations. In this Japanese Period (1914-1941), Ant fell within the Ponape District of the “Nan'yō Cho” or South Seas Government.
Following liberation of the islands in the War in the Pacific, the islands were administered by the US Navy. The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was formalized by United Nations Security Council Resolution 21 in 1947. The Navy passed governing duties to the Department of the Interior in 1951. During the USN Period (1945-1947) and the TTPI Period (1947-1979) Ant fell within the East Carolines Administrative Unit and then the Pohnpei District.
The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) was established with the end of the Trust Territory. The FSM is one of three “Freely Associated States,” or “FAS” nations that entered into a Compact of Free Association or “COFA” with the US. The treaty and agreements provide economic assistance to the countries, secured US defense rights and set defense responsibilities, and allow FAS citizens to migrate to the United States.
Traditional Culture
Pre-Contact
Ant was part of the Senyavin Grouping, comprised of Pohnpei, Ant and Pakin.
Social hierarchy and order was defined Chieftainship, and the principal elements determining rank and status among kin group were based on priority of settlement; hierarchy claims referred to legends of migration from islands to the east (Sudo Type 1).
Pre-contact social order was characterized by: a social hierarchy with several levels of social stratification and feudal relationship wherein lower chiefs owed tribute and service to higher chiefs (Goldman Level 3 of 3); chronic interpersonal violence (between individuals who frequently, but not always, are known to one another); violence was a major part of the culture (4 on Younger's 0-4 scale); chronic warfare, defined as armed aggression between political communities or alliances of political communities, essentially continuously (4 on Younger's 0-4 scale).
Property rights were characterized by: a land tenure system based on matrilineal ownership but extended patrilineal usage. Land inheritance is inherited mainly patrilineal (Sudo, Type 3). lands are nominally owned by the matrilineage, but are actually used by a small patri-extended family because of the custom of patrilocal residence. An individual living on his father's lineage land may choose to belong to either his mother's or his father's side. The systems of ambilateral inheritance choice and the flexibility in group affiliation are the other means of keeping a balance between group population and food resources.; a system of sea tenure in which a reef and lagoon is owned by all islanders or villages but is controlled by a chief (Sudo Type 1).
Present Day
Traditional chiefly authority is exercised through the Nahnmwarki System.
In Pohnpei, the state constitution does not make specific mention of a formal role for the traditional leaders but chiefs can play an informal role in public sector governance, including swaying election results in favor of a particular candidate.
