[[Image:Pohnpei.png|thumb|right|250px|Map of Pohnpei State]]
[[Image:Pohnpei Island.png|thumb|right|250px|Map of Pohnpei Island]]
[[image:Ponape.jpg|thumb|right|250px|District center of Pohnpei]]

[[Image:Senyavin_island_(FSM).jpg|thumb|right|250px|Diagram of Pohnpei]]

'''Pohnpei''' (also spelled '''Ponape''' and earlier '''Bonabee''') is the name of one of the [[state (subnational)|state]]s in the [[Federated States of Micronesia]] (FSM), and one of the [[Senyavin Islands]]. The FSM's capital [[Palikir]] is located on Pohnpei.

==History==
First sighted by the Russian navigator [[Fyodor Litke]] in 1828, the island was a [[Japan]]ese territory in [[World War II]], Japan having acquired Ponape along with the rest of the [[Caroline Islands|Carolines]], the [[Marshall Islands|Marshalls]], and the [[Marianas]] (less American-owned [[Guam]]) as [[war reparations]] from [[Germany]].  However, the island was one of those bypassed by the [[US Navy]] during the amphibious campaigns of 1943-1945.  The military facilities were shelled on several occasions, including by the [[battleship]]s [[USS Massachusetts (BB-59)|USS ''Massachusetts'' (BB-59)]] and [[USS Iowa (BB-61)|''Iowa'' (BB-61)]], and by the [[aircraft]] of [[USS Cowpens (CVL-25)|''Cowpens'' (CVL-25)]].

The Federated States of Micronesia achieved independence in [[1986]].

==Nearby islands== 
*The atoll of [[Pingelap]], located several hundred miles to the east of Pohnpei, but part of Pohnpei State, is notable for the prevalence of the extreme form of [[color blindness]] known as [[maskun]]. Maskun is relatively rare but often shows up in communities with small gene-pools. Pingelap was featured in the book, ''The Island of the Colorblind'', by neurologist [[Oliver Sacks]].
*The ancient artificial islands of [[Nan Madol]] are near to Pohnpei.
*[[Oroluk Atoll]]

==Pohnpei in fiction==
Pohnpei plays a central role in the fictional [[Cthulhu Mythos]], in which it is only about ten days journey by fast ship from the fictional island of [[R'lyeh]], the place where the [[fictional character]] [[Cthulhu]] currently resides. Several stories by [[H. P. Lovecraft]], [[August Derleth]] and others use this island as a setting or contain references to it.

Pohnpei's role in the Mythos was inspired by the ruins of [[Nan Madol]] (see above), which had already been used as the setting for a [[lost race]] story by [[Abraham Merritt]], ''The Moon Pool'', in which the islands are called Nan-Tauach. Some Occultists see Nan Madol as connected to the [[lost continent]] of [[Lemuria (continent)|Lemuria]].

== External links ==

* [http://www.mymicronesia.com/pohnpei/ myMicronesia/Pohnpei section]
* [http://www.pohnpeiheaven.com Pohnpei-Between Time & Tide]
* [http://www.keteu.org/pohnpei/ A Tour of Pohnpei]
* [http://www.visit-micronesia.com/pohnpei/  FSM Visitors Board/Pohnpei Section]
* [http://www.janeresture.com/fedmic/index.htm Jane's Pohnpei Page]
* [http://nature.org/wherewework/asiapacific/micronesia/features/ Postcards from Pohnpei: marine life]


{{States of Micronesia}}

[[Category:Geography of the Federated States of Micronesia]]

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