Lamotrek

Lamotrek is an atoll in the Western Caroline Islands.

Alternative spellings and historic names include: Lamorsu, Lamureck, Lamutrik, Low, Namotik, Namotikku, Manochikku, Namurrek, Swede

This coral atoll is located at 7° 28' N, 146° 23' E, 39 miles west of Satawal Island, 25 miles east-southeast of Olimarao, and five miles east of Elato, There are three islands on the triangular reef: Falaite in the west, Pugue in the north, and Lamotrek at the eastern tip. The atoll is eight miles long (NW-SE) and three and one half miles broad (N-S), and the lagoon has an area of eight square miles. Of the several entrances the best is located approximately three fourths of a mile south of Fugue. The only inhabited island, Lamotrek, is nearly 1,400 yards long (N-S) and about 800 yards wide in the swampy central portion, becoming narrower toward the north. The village is located on the lagoon in the northwest. All the islands are wooded.

Lamotrek was discovered by Captain James Wilson in 1797.

Lamotrek is a part of the Outer Islands of Yap within Yap State, one of four states in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Subunits

Islands within the atoll include: Lamotrek, Falaite (Flait, or Furaitei), Pugue (Buuku, Fugue , Pik, Puoh, or Puch)

"Lamotrek" is also an island. As with many placenames in Micronesia, this is a geographic 'pars pro toto', in which the name of a constitutive village, island or atoll is often used describe the larger island, atoll or island grouping in which it is the predominate member.

Population, Language and Religion

The 2010 FSM Census reported a population of 329. Woleaian is the spoken language and religious affiliation is predominantly Roman Catholic.

A 1935 count of the population by the Japanese identified 192 residents and one Japanese national. After the war, in summer of 1946, the US Naval Military Government counted 152 local residents on Lamotrek.

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), Lamotrek 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 Lamotrekfell within the Western 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), Lamotrek fell within the Yap 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) Lamotrek fell within the Yap Administrative Unit and then the Yap 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

Lamotrek was part of the "Yap-Ulithi-"Woleai" chain of authority and the related "Sawei" Yap/Outer Island Trade and Tribute Network (sometimes called the "Yap Empire”). Lamotrek was also part of the Sayiniké; Lamotrek/Satawal/Elato Exchange System ("Tribute")

The paramount chief of Lamotrek has at times exercised authority over Elato, Olimarao, Pikelet, Satawal, and Piagailoe, as well as over his own atoll, but even he has had to visit Gachapar in Yap at least once every two years to bring tribute to the paramount chief of Gagil.

Pre-contact social order was characterized by: a social hierarchy with a strong egalitarian ethic and chief(s) with highly circumscribed powers (Goldman Level 1 of 3).; very rare interpersonal violence (between individuals who frequently, but not always, are known to one another); perhaps one death per decade (1 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).

Material Culture

Within the Western Carolines, Lamotrek is well known for its prowess in the manufacture and navigation of proa, traditional Micronesian outrigger canoes.

The late Peter Pakemai, an expert craftsman and advocate for sustaining traditional arts, was from Lamotrek.

Present Day

Traditional chiefly authority is exercised by the Council of Tamol.

In Yap, traditional leaders have a role in governnance that enshrines them as a "Fourth Branch." As John Haglelgam, former President of the FSM observed in his "Traditional Leaders and Governance in Micronesia" (1998), “in Yap, the traditional leaders have formal roles in the government. The Yap state constitution created two councils of chiefs: one for the main islands of Yap and one for the outer island chiefs. These councils are empowered to review and disapprove an act of the state legislature if it violates custom and tradition… The legislature cannot override the veto of these councils but can incorporate their objection in the bill and return it for their review. So far. the councils have used their power sparingly. The councils have also expanded their power to review policy of the executive branch which has forced the governor and his cabinet to justify their policy to the councils… The two councils are in essence public watchdogs, making sure that elected officials and bureaucrats are doing their job.“

Foreign Presence

In 1893 the German Godeffroy Company extended it's copra operations to Ulithi, Ifalik, Lamotrek, Satawal, and Woleai, seven years after Pope Leo XIII awarded Yap and the Caroline Islands to Spain, but granted Germany and other nations commercial rights.

Later, during the German Period, the Jaluit Company maintained a trading station on Lamotrek.

The Nanyo Boeki Kaisha (South Seas Trading Company) was formed in 1906 by the amalgamation of two earlier Japanese firms, the Murayama Shokai and the Nanyo Boeki Hioki Kaisha. At the start of the Japanese Period, in 1914, it fell heir to the extensive interests of the Jaluit Company. Nanyo Boeki Kaisha maintained a branch office on Lamotrek. Onjiro Yamata, the Japanese manager of the office in the mid-1930s, was reported to know agreat deal about copra production, something about phosphate mining, and to be skilled in dealing with natives.

Mid-war reports from the US Navy indicated that "...[Japanese] radio stations have also been reported for Lamotrek and Sorol, but details are not known."

Electoral Divisions

The legislative branch of the Federated States of Micronesia is unicameral. Two types of Senators are elected: at-large senators, one for each of the four states, who serve four-year terms, and population-based senators, representing specific constituencies, who serve two-year terms. The President of Micronesia is elected by the Congress from amongst the four at-large senators, after which a special election is held to (re)fill that seat. Lamotrek is represented in the FSM Congress by the Yap, At-Large Seat Senator, and the Yap, Sole Population-Based District Senator.

Since the establishment of the FSM, Yap State voters have elected and maintained in Congress one Yapese Senator and one Outer Island Senator. This de facto power-sharing arrangement is similar to the requirement in the Yap's State Constitution stating "if the Governor is a resident of Yap Islands Proper, the Lieutenant Governor shall be a resident of the Outer Islands, and if the Governor is a resident of the Outer Islands, the Lieutenant Governor shall be a resident of Yap Islands Proper."

Education

The Local Education Agency, or “school district” for Lamotrek is the Yap State Department of Education and Lamotrek falls within the Satawal Zone.