The Federated States of Micronesia or FSM is an independent, sovereign island nation, made up of fourstates from west to east: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae. It comprises approximately 607 islands with c. 700 square kilometers of area in the Western Pacific Ocean spread over almost 2,700 km longitudinally just north of the equator some 4,000 km southwest of the main islands of Hawaii and about 2,900 km north of eastern Australia, lying northeast of New Guinea, south of Guam and the Marianas, west of Nauru and the Marshalls, and east of Palau and the Philippines.
The Federated States of Micronesia consists of 607 islands extending 2,900 km across the archipelago of the Caroline Islands east of the Philippines. The four constituent island groups are Yap, Chuuk (called Truk until January 1990), Pohnpei (known as “Ponape” until November 1984), and Kosrae (formerly Kusaie). These four states are each represented by a white star on the national flag. The capital is Palikir, on Pohnpei.