Yap

Yap consists of high islands enclosed by reefs in the western Caroline Islands. Its villages were connected by paths, canoe landings and a hierarchy of chiefly relationships. The islands were home to communities of navigators and skilled canoe builders. Yapese valuables included large stone disks, called rai, whose histories of quarrying, transport and ownership gave them significance in important exchanges.

Tradition tells of voyages to Palau to obtain the stone. Yapese chiefs offered gifts to Palauan chiefs for quarrying rights, and crews carried the finished disks across the sea. Yap also stood at the western end of the sawei network: visitors from low outer islands brought gifts, while ties with Yap provided recognition and assistance. These voyages joined communities separated by hundreds of miles of open water.