Kosrae

Kosrae is a mountainous island in the eastern Caroline Islands, encircled by a reef and coastal islets. On the small island of Leluh, its rulers built a political centre of stone-walled compounds and canals. The ruler, high chiefs, lesser chiefs and commoners formed a hierarchy that governed the island. The high walls of Leluh enclosed compounds near the rulers’ burial places.

Archaeological evidence places the emergence of this stratified polity between the mid-fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Leluh’s royal tombs held rulers’ remains, while high chiefs were buried in their own residential compounds. In 1824 a French expedition reached Kosrae, where the Tokosra ruled a unified kingdom. The stonework of Leluh reveals a long history of organized labour and authority before European contact.