Losap

Losap is an atoll in the Central Caroline Islands.

Alternative spellings and historic names include: Duperrey, Losop, Lossop, Louasappe, Luasap, Lukeisel, Rosoppu, Royalist, and Westervelts

The atoll is situated at 6° 54 N, 152° 45. E, 10 miles southeast of Nema and 10 miles north-northwest of Namoluk. It is five miles in length (N-S) and roughly triangular in shape ,and has 17 low islets. There is a good entrance in the southeast and six passages on the west.

Losap was discovered by the Spaniard Juan Baptista Monteverde in 1806; and visited by French explorer Louis-Isidore Duperrey in 1824, Benjamin Morrell in 1830, Frazer in 1832, and Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville in 1838.

Losap is a part of the Nomoi Islands within the Outer Islands of Chuuk, located Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Subunits

Islands within the atoll include: Losap, Piis-Emwar (Piis, Pis)

"Losap" 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 248. Mortlockese is the spoken language and religious affiliation is primarily Roman Catholic, with a minority of Protestants.

A census by the Japanese in 1933 counted 633 natives living on the atoll.

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), Losap 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 Losapfell 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), Losap fell within the Truk 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) Losap fell within the Central Carolines Administrative Unit and then the Truk 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

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).; virtually nonexistent interpersonal violence (between individuals who frequently, but not always, are known to one another); none recorded or just a few incidents per-century (0 on Younger's 0-4 scale); occasional warfare, defined as armed aggression between political communities or alliances of political communities, with wars every few years (2 on Younger's 0-4 scale).

Property rights were characterized by: a land tenure system based on matrilineal ownership and extended matrilineal usage. Children of male members use or inherit partially their father’s lineage land (Sudo, Type 1). The landowning unit is rigidly arranged by descent principle and the residential unit is a large matri-extended family based on matri- local residence. Married-out male lineage members have obligations to pass on some lands or use-right to their children. This custom of land-gifts func- tions to keep a balance between group population and food resources.; a system of sea tenure in which the entire reef-lagoon system is owned by lineages or clans (Sudo Type 3)

Present Day

Traditional chiefly authority is exercised by the Island or sub-island level chiefs (Clan).

In Chuuk, traditional leaders play a negligible, informal role in public sector governance. As John Haglelgam, former President of the FSM observed in his "Traditional Leaders and Governance in Micronesia" (1998), ”in Chuuk, the traditional chiefs have little influence on the governance and politics of the state. Traditionally, the basic political power in Chuuk was, and still is, the head of the lineage.....A candidate who garners enough support from the lineage heads usually wins. This reduces the influence of the traditional chiefs on voting in Chuuk. It has also polarized and fragmented politics in Chuuk and prevented the emergence of consensus among state leaders. These problems make governance difficult and utterly chaotic.”

Spanish Period

American Protestant missionary enterprise spread from Pohnpei to the smaller islands of the Central and Eastern Carolines. In 1873, native evangelists and teachers were sent to Satowan, and by 1878 there were seven mission stations in the Nomoi Islands (Ettal, Lukunor, and Satowan). A native missionary was also sent to Pingelap in 1873, and in the next few years stations were established on Losap, Mwoakilloa, Namu, Namoluk, Sapwuahfik, Nukuoro, and Chuuk Lagoon.

Late in the Spanish Period, a German trading firm, Deutsche Handels und Plantagengesellschaft of Hamburg, established a trading station on Losap.

German Period

The Jaluit Company, into which Deutsche Handels and others competing firms were amalgamated, subsequently operated the trading station on Losap during the German Period.

Japanese Period

Starting in the early 1930s, the Nanyo Boeki Kaisha line served the island. Two voyages a year were made between Chuuk Lagoon and Rabaul, touching Losap, Namoluk, Lukunor, and Kavieng en route, covering a distance of 1,740 nautical miles in 22 days. Nanyo Boeki Kaisha (the "South Seas Trading Company") engaged in shipping, commerce, copra production, and fishing and maintained a trading station on the atoll throughout the Japanese Period.

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.Losap is represented in the FSM Congress by the Chuuk, At-Large Seat Senator, and the Chuuk, District 1 Senator.

Education

The Local Education Agency, or “school district” for Losap is the Chuuk State Department of Education and Losap falls within the Mortlocks Region.