United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
United Nations Trust Territory
1947–1994
Flag Coat of arms
Location of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in the Pacific.
Capital		Saipan
Languages		English (official) Micronesian languages, Marshallese, Chamorro, Palauan
Government		Trust Territory
Chief of State
•	1947–1953 (first)	Harry S. Truman
•	1993–1994 (last)	Bill Clintona
High Commissioner
•	1947–1948 (first)	Louis E. Denfeld
•	1981–1987 (last)	Janet J. McCoyb
Historical era		Cold War
•	Trusteeship	July 18, 1947
•	Termination of administration (Marshall Islands)	October 21, 1986
•	Termination of administration (others)	November 3, 1986
•	Free Association	October 1, 1994
Area
•	1980	1,779 km² (687 sq mi)
Population
•	1980 est.	132,929
Density		74.7 /km²  (193.5 /sq mi)
Currency		United States dollar
Preceded by Succeeded by South Pacific Mandate Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Northern Mariana Islands Palau
a.	Clinton was President when Palau's Compact of Free Association took effect. Ronald Reagan was President when the RMI, FSM, and CNMI's final status took effect.
b.	McCoy retired as High Commissioner in 1987. As Palau was still a part of the TTPI, it was administered by officials in the Office of Territorial and International Affairs until 1994.

The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was a United Nations trust territory in Micronesia (western Pacific) administered by the United States from 1947 to 1986.

Spain initially claimed the islands that later comprised the territory of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI). Subsequently, Germany established competing claims over the islands. The competing claims were eventually resolved in favor of Germany when Spain, following its loss of several possessions to the United States during the Spanish–American War, ceded its claims over the islands to Germany in 1899 pursuant to the German–Spanish Treaty (1899). Germany, in turn, continued to retain possession until the islands were captured by Japan during World War I. The League of Nations formally placed the islands in the former South Pacific Mandate, a mandate that authorized Japanese administration of the islands. The islands then remained under Japanese control until captured by the United States in 1944 during World War II.

The TTPI entered UN trusteeship pursuant to Security Council Resolution 21 on July 18, 1947 and was designated a "strategic area" in its 1947 trusteeship agreement. Article 83 of the UN Charter provided that, as such, its formal status as a UN trust territory could be terminated only by the Security Council, and not by the General Assembly as with other trust territories. The United States Navy controlled the TTPI from a headquarters in Guam until 1951, when the United States Department of the Interior took over control, administering the territory from a base in Saipan.