Pohnpei's capital — Nan Madol's floating stone city ruins, sakau culture, and the most biodiverse rainforest in Micronesia
Kolonia is the capital of Pohnpei State in the Federated States of Micronesia — a small island-capital with the feel of a Pacific frontier town, remarkable mainly for what lies just outside it. Nan Madol, 5km east by boat, is one of the Pacific's greatest archaeological mysteries: a city of 92 artificial islands built from enormous basalt logs on a coral reef, the ceremonial and political capital of the Saudeleur dynasty that ruled Pohnpei for several centuries. The surrounding island of Pohnpei is also among the most biodiverse in Micronesia — an elevated volcanic island with nearly 8,000mm…
Nan Madol ('spaces between' in Pohnpeian) was the Venice of the Pacific — a ceremonial complex built on artificial islands in a tidal lagoon from approximately 1100–1628 CE by the Saudeleur dynasty. The basalt columns used in construction — some weighing 50 tonnes — were quarried from across the island and transported by raft, a logistical achievement that rivals any pre-industrial construction project in the Pacific. The Saudeleur dynasty was overthrown around 1628 by the legendary figure Isokelekel, who is said to have come from the island of Kosrae with 333 warriors. Spanish colonialism fr…