Truk - History and Cultural Relations

Truk was settled by the first century A . D . In the fourteenth century, a cult center was established on Moen Island. It was abandoned in the eighteenth century following a fresh Immigration from neighboring atolls. Japan replaced Germany as the ruling power in World War I and was in turn replaced by the United States under United Nations trusteeship in 1945. In 1986 Truk and its surrounding atolls became a state within the newly independent Federated States of Micronesia. Protestant missionaries and traders came in the 1880$ and Roman Catholic missionaries after 1900. Japan sought to develop Truk economically and introduce elementary education in Japanese. Education was much expanded under American administration, and many Trukese learned English. Some went to college in Guam, Hawaii, and the United States mainland. The American administration introduced representative government.