The Western World Daily Readings on Geography Chapter 24 Pacific Realm Political Geography II

CHAPTER 24 Pacific Realm Political Geography II Created by from Noun Propel What do doctors call it when someone has a little bit of memory problems ?

Ok , that was a pathetic joke . However , micro does mean small , appropriately so for a set of islands in the Pacific Ocean . is a set of quite small islands within our region , the Pacific Realm . There are eight territories in , roughly located north of ( Chapter 13 ) One of the territories is called the Federated States of . Links to the United States are common . Good things come in small packages . Small is beautiful . There are some proverbs that suggest that small can be a fine thing . The bigger they come , the harder they Yes , there are sayings that suggest that bigger is necessarily better . Nevertheless , being a tiny island does have a lot of advantages . Sometimes you get lucky . Read about the rise and fall of tiny in Chapter 21 . 108

PACIFIC REALM POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY ' Cartography by . ii 109 Would it make sense for tiny islands to work together ?

That is the approach taken by the Federated States of ( These islands are centered in the archipelago of the Caroline Islands . The 607 islands that comprise are grouped into four sets Yap , and . It is likely that fewer than of people of the world have ever heard of those four island names . Again , tiny . In fact , the whole Federated States of includes only square miles of land . The area of the city of Chicago is 234 square miles . The average size island , measured by the mathematical mean , is about halfa square mile . In contrast , includes over one million square miles of ocean . That ocean surface area is about the same size as the land area of Alaska , Texas , and Wisconsin combined . Lagoon , Federated States of . Photo by Marek on on . As an individual island , any of these dots of land would struggle , so it is logical to work together politically and economically . The national government is based on . Historically , Spain , Germany , and Japan held territory among these islands , but after World War II , the United Nations established the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands ( That trust included the island sets now in , as well as the Marshall Islands , and the Northern Mariana Islands . In 1978 referendum , residents voted to create the Federated States of , so that this union was formed the following year . Largely due to the American presence , English is the official language , though there are eight major indigenous languages spoken there too .

110 JOEL QUAM AND SCOTT CAMPBELL Politically , the Northern Mariana Islands were part of the , but did not join the . Instead , they formed a commonwealth under the jurisdiction of an American territory . Only 22 islands as compared to the 607 of the Federated States of , these islands are somewhat larger , totaling 464 square miles . Ninety percent of the people live on the island of . In 1979 , the Marshall Islands gained independence , but in 1986 established a free association with the United States , whereby the US provides defense and other services . The Federated States of have the same connection with America . Steam volcano on Pagan in the In 1994 out Of the , secured its status as an Northern Mariana Islands . independent country , but like the Marshall Islands , for its benefit in NASA Earth Observatory . political and economic terms , it created a free association with the United States . is the largest island in . It was a Spanish territory that was ceded to the United States in 1899 . has a somewhat different colonial history , being British subjects until independence in 1979 . Maintaining its connection with the United Kingdom , is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations . Chapter 21 ) too is in the Commonwealth of Nations . Eight of the United State Minor Outlying Islands complete the set of islands in . These are Baker Island , Island , Jarvis Island , Johnson Atoll , Reef , Midway Atoll , Palmyra Atoll ( the largest at square miles ) Wake Island . The islands have no permanent residents and are grouped together for statistical convenience . In the Caribbean Sea , Island , Nuevo Bank , and Bank complete the list of the United State Minor Outlying Islands . Overall , the islands of are too small to be successful economically and politically alone . Thus , all of these islands maintain broader connections . The Federated States of chose to agglomerate , melding over 600 islands into one federation , while also linking with the United States . and have similar associations with America , while and share other countries ties with Britain as members of the Commonwealth of Nations . Trade , tourism , and security are bolstered by these connections . Did You Know ?

Because ofthe International Date Line , experiences dawn as the first piece ofAmerican territory to enter each new day . One of this textbooks authors is Quam , no relation to .

PACIFIC REALM POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY II 111 CITED AND ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 2015 . June 11 , 2014 . Wikipedia . Creative Commons Alike . Federated States of , 2012 . NASA Earth Observatory . 2012 . Steam Plume , Northern .