Chuuk

Chuuk is a group of high volcanic islands within a great lagoon in the Caroline Islands. A surrounding barrier reef shelters the islands and their communities, whose villages were organized around lineages and local chiefs. Canoes linked the islands across the lagoon and connected Chuuk with outlying atolls. The reefs enclosed low coral islets as well as the volcanic peaks rising within the lagoon.

In 1565 Alonso de Arellano entered the lagoon in the San Lucas and anchored off Toloas. His crew traded with islanders before hostile canoes drove the ship away. In 1824 Louis Duperrey’s Coquille approached the high islands; canoes came out to trade for iron, and the French expedition charted the northern and eastern reef without entering the lagoon.