Ponape: the Tradition of Retaliation

During the first century of contact with the outside world, the history of Ponape has been marked by a series of violent outbreaks against Americans, Spaniards, and Germans. The causes and implications of these surprisingly effective uprisings, in which two governors of the island were killed, have become the direct concern of the American people. Ponape has been governed by the U. S. Navy since 1945, and was assigned to the United States by the United Nations in 1947 as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.