50 free Micronesia trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Micronesia is both a country and a region: the Federated States of Micronesia is a nation of 607 islands strung across 2,700 km of the western Pacific, while the wider region of some 2,000 small islands is shared by six sovereign states and several US territories. This quiz covers both. It starts with the four states of Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae, the tiny capital of Palikir, the flag with four white stars, the Compact of Free Association with the United States and the 1986 independence that followed decades as a UN Trust Territory. Then it heads for the things Micronesia is famous for: the giant stone money of Yap, quarried in Palau and still valued even when lying on the sea floor; Nan Madol, the 'Venice of the Pacific' built from basalt on Pohnpei; the Ghost Fleet of Truk Lagoon sunk in Operation Hailstone; the colour-blind islanders of Pingelap; the rainiest mountain on Earth; and the Spanish, German, Japanese and American rulers who came before. Region questions ask which archipelagos make up Micronesia, who coined the name and where Guam and Kiribati fit. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the Federated States of Micronesia, the Micronesia region, Nan Madol, Rai stones, Chuuk Lagoon and the flag, and each question carries the sentence that supports it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Federated States of Micronesia is made up of how many states?
Four
From west to east they are Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae.
Q 02Which of these is NOT a state of the Federated States of Micronesia?
Palau
Palau chose not to join in 1979 and became a separate republic.
Q 03What is the capital of the Federated States of Micronesia?
Palikir
It sits on the island of Pohnpei; the largest town, Weno, is in Chuuk Lagoon.
Q 04The FSM comprises roughly how many islands?
607
Together they add up to only about 702 square kilometres of land.
Q 05The FSM's territory forms most of which larger archipelago?
The Carolines
Palau holds the western end of the same chain.
Q 06The FSM's exclusive economic zone ranks where in the world by size?
14th-largest
Its waters cover nearly three million square kilometres of ocean.
Q 07The FSM became independent under a Compact of Free Association in which year?
1986
The islands had ratified their constitution in 1979 and the UN formally ended trusteeship in 1990.
Q 08From 1947 to 1994 the FSM was administered by Washington under which UN arrangement?
Trust Territory of the Pacific
The trusteeship ran from 1947 to 1994 and also produced the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Northern Marianas.
Q 09Which country is wholly responsible for the FSM's defence?
The United States
FSM citizens may join the US military without residency or citizenship.
Q 10How many members sit in the FSM's unicameral Congress?
14
Four senators, one per state, serve four-year terms and the other ten serve two.
Q 11Who elects the president of the FSM?
Congress, from the four state senators
There are no formal political parties.
Q 12What do the white stars on the FSM flag represent?
The states of the federation
They are arranged like the points of a compass on a field of Pacific blue.
Q 13What is the official language of the FSM?
English
Local Austronesian languages dominate outside the four state capitals.
Q 21Yap's stone money is made of which mineral?
Calcite
Earlier reports wrongly called it aragonite.
Q 22What happened to the value of a rai stone that sank to the sea floor while being transported?
It was still traded as if it were on land
Everyone agreed the stone must still be there, so ownership kept changing hands.
Q 23A rai stone's value depended on its size, craftsmanship and what else?
Its history
A stone brought by a famous sailor, or one whose transport cost lives, was worth more.
Q 14Which state's people make up almost half the FSM population?
Chuuk
Chuukese are 48.8 percent, Pohnpeians 24.2 percent.
Q 15Nan Madol, the ruined city on Pohnpei, is often nicknamed what?
The Venice of the Pacific
It is a series of artificial islets linked by canals in a lagoon.
Q 16Nan Madol was the seat of which dynasty, which united Pohnpei until about 1628?
Saudeleur
Legend says the first ruler, Olosohpa, was one of twin sorcerers.
Q 17How many artificial islets make up Nan Madol?
92
The stone-and-coral platforms are bordered by tidal canals.
Q 18Nan Madol's megalithic walls are built from which volcanic rock?
Basalt
Construction began around AD 1180 with stone hauled from a volcanic plug across the island.
Q 19The island of Yap is famous for what unusual form of money?
Giant stone discs
About 6,500 rai stones, some four metres across, are scattered around the island.
Q 20Most of Yap's rai stones were quarried on which other island group?
Palau
They were carried hundreds of kilometres home by canoe and raft.
Q 24Chuuk Lagoon was known by what name until 1990?
Truk
Truk was a mispronunciation of Ruk.
Q 25What was Truk Lagoon's role in World War II?
Japan's main naval base in the South Pacific
Its supposed fortifications earned it the nickname 'the Gibraltar of the Pacific'.
Q 26What was the name of the February 1944 US attack that sank dozens of Japanese ships in Truk Lagoon?
Operation Hailstone
The two-day carrier raid crippled Japan's naval capacity in the Pacific.
Q 27Whose 1971 television documentary turned Truk Lagoon into a world-famous wreck-diving destination?
Jacques Cousteau
The sunken ships are known as the Ghost Fleet.
Q 28Which colonial power sold the archipelago to Germany in 1899?
Spain
Spain had just lost the Spanish-American War.
Q 29Who was asked in 1885 to rule on whether Spain or Germany had authority over the islands?
Pope Leo XIII
He confirmed Spanish authority but gave Germany free access.
Q 30Which country ran the islands as a League of Nations mandate between the world wars?
Japan
Japan had captured them from Germany during World War I.