yap

 

  • The name “Yap” in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federated States of Micronesia, inclusive of the Yap Main Islands and its various outer islands,
    the Yap Neighboring Islands.

  • [11] Largest of the three types is the “p’ebay”, a place for the community to come together for school, dances or meetings.

  • In 1874, Irish American sea captain David O’Keefe hit upon the idea of employing the Yapese to import more “money” in the form of shiploads of large stones, also from Palau.

  • [6] Many of them were brought from other islands, as far as New Guinea, but most came in ancient times from Palau.

  • Although today the United States dollar is the currency used for everyday transactions in Yap, the stone disks are still used for more traditional or ceremonial exchange.

  • The caste ranking of each village in modern Yap thus remains the same as it was when the system was frozen in place by the Germans.

  • Winning villages would rise in rank as a part of a peace settlement, while losing villages would have to accept a decline in comparative rank.

  • Their size and weight (the largest ones require 20 adult men to carry) make them very difficult to move around.

  • Yap (Yapese: Waqab,[1] sometimes written as Wa’ab, Waab or Waqaab) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a
    part of Yap State.

  • Finally, “Reng” is the name of money made of turmeric, which is ground and mixed with water and the paste shaped into a ball, typically used for tribal ceremonies.

  • Further information: Nimpal Channel Marine Conservation Area and Yap tropical dry forests Administration [edit] Administratively, the Yap Main Islands are divided into ten
    municipalities that sometimes cross the water features that divide Yap into its constituent islands.

  • Although some of the O’Keefe stones are larger than the canoe-transported stones, they are less valuable than the earlier stones due to the comparative ease with which they
    were obtained.

  • Yap was a major German naval communications center before the First World War and an important international hub for cable telegraphy, with spokes branching out to Guam, Shanghai,
    Rabaul, Nauru and Manado (on the north tip of Celebes).

  • The U.S. held it and the rest of the Caroline Islands as a trusteeship, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, under a United Nations mandate until 1986.

  • [5] Culture Stone money [edit] Further information: Rai stones A large (approximately 2.4 m [7.9 ft] in height) example of Yapese stone money (Rai) in the village of Gachpar
    Yap is known for its stone money, known as Rai, or Fei: large doughnut-shaped, carved disks of (usually) calcite, up to 4 m (13 ft) in diameter (most are much smaller).

  • [19] In World War II, Japanese-held Yap was one of the islands bypassed in the U.S. island-hopping strategy, although it was regularly bombed by U.S. ships and aircraft, and
    Yap-based Japanese bombers did some damage in return.

  • [13][14][15] At Yap, the Villalobos expedition received the same surprising greeting as previously in Fais Island from the local people approaching the ships in canoes, crossing
    themselves and calling out “Buenos días Matelotes!”

  • Prior to World War I, women had been kidnapped and taken to the faluw.

  • Social structure [edit] Yapese society is based on a highly complex “caste system” involving at least seven tiers of rank.

  • Until the arrival of the German colonizers, the caste ranking system was fluid and the ranks of villages and families changed in response to inter-village intrigues and confrontations.

  • [12] Historically, the caste rank of an entire village could rise or fall in comparison to other villages depending on how it fared in inter-village conflicts.

  • The four islands are encircled by a common coral reef and are separated by relatively small water features.

  • [10] Living structures [edit] There are three types of traditional buildings on Yap.

  • [11] Traditional style structure with stone money indicating great wealth.

  • [20] At the end of World War II, Yap was occupied by the U.S. Military.

  • [18]: 204–212  After their defeat by the United States in 1898, and subsequent loss of the Philippines, Spain sold Yap and its other minor Pacific possessions to Germany.

  • Women considered it an honor to be chosen for the faluw, because only the most beautiful women would be taken there.

  • There are a few men’s houses that women are allowed to enter; however, people must always ask for permission.

 

Works Cited

[‘”Yap”. Yapese Dictionary: English Finderlist. Updated 15 June 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
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6. ^ Gillilland, Cora Lee C. (1975). “The Stone Money of
Yap. A Numismatic Survey”. Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology. 23. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
7. ^ Goldberg, Dror (October 2005). “Famous Myths of ‘Fiat Money'”. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking. 37 (5): 957–967.
doi:10.1353/mcb.2005.0052. JSTOR 3839155.
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Patterson, Carolyn Bennett; et al. (October 1986). “At the Birth of Nations: In the Far Pacific”. National Geographic. p. 492.
13. ^ Coello, Francisco (1885). “Conflicto hispano-alemán”. Boletín de Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid. 19. Madrid: 233–234,
238, 282.
14. ^ Brand, Donald D. (1967). The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations. New York: The American Geographical Society. p. 123. OCLC 361174.
15. ^ Sharp, Andrew (1960). The discovery of the Pacific Islands. Oxford:
Clarendon Press. p. 28.
16. ^ Spate (1979), p. 98.
17. ^ Colección de documentos inéditos del Archivo de Indias. Vol. v. Madrid. 1866. pp. 117–209., vol.xiv (Madrid, 1870), pp.151–65.
18. ^ Alvarez, Santiago V. (1992). Recalling the revolution:
memoirs of a Filipino general. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, Center for Southeast Asian Studies. ISBN 1-881261-05-0.
19. ^ Text in League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 12, pp. 202–211.
20. ^ Takizawa, Akira; Alsleben, Allan (1999–2000).
“Japanese garrisons on the by-passed Pacific Islands 1944–1945”. Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016.
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/brainy_bee/6732261031/’]