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History: Kosrae is the second largest island of FSM and, like Pohnpei, one of the most fertile because of its rich volcanic soil and high rainfall.
Almost a thousand years ago the island was settled by a seafaring race with skills much further advanced than comparative societies of their time. Where they came from is still the source of much academic discussion, but like their neighbors, or cousins, on Pohnpei they built a complex society and a stone city using engineering skills that are still not understood today. The city of Lelu was a small man-made island connected to the main island by a stone causeway. Its high walls and major buildings were built from volcanic basalt connected by paved pathways and canals. Today the remnants of these walls are one of the archaeological wonders of the Pacific.
The first Europeans visited Kosrae in 1824 and during the peak of the whaling period of the mid 1800s it was regularly visited by whalers and pirates. The most famous of which was the American pirate, Bully Hayes, whose ship, the Leonora, was sunk in Utwe Harbor and is now the site of an underwater museum. Legend has it that Hayes buried his treasure in the area, but nothing has ever been found.
These ruffians and scoundrels were never popular with Kosrae's paramount chief and when American missionaries followed in the 1850s their influence spread rapidly. It eventually supplanted the traditional feudal system and both the German and Japanese overlords that followed, remaining an integral part of Kosrae culture to this day.
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