Leo A. Falcam
President

(pronounced "LEE-oh fahl-KAHM")

"At the dawn of this new millennium, for the first time in all history, we proudly look beyond our borders to take our place in the world, and in this community of nations."

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) consists of 607 islands lying in a broad eastward sweep across 2.5 million sq km (965,250 sq mi) of the Western Pacific Ocean, between the equator and 14 degrees south latitude. These are part of an archipelago that originally appeared on European maps as the Caroline Islands. (Another Caroline Island group now constitutes the Republic of Palau.) Total land area is only 701.4 sq km (270.8 sq mi), with an additional 7,189 sq km (2,776 sq mi) of lagoons. About 65 of the islands are inhabited. Islands within the FSM are of two basic geologic types: large...