Yap State

Yap State Nam nu Wa'ab
State
Flag Seal
Nickname:  The Island of Stone Money
Map of Yap State
Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia
Coordinates: 9°31′N 138°07′E / 9.52°N 138.12°E / 9.52; 138.12
Country	Federated States of Micronesia
Capital	Colonia
Government
• Governor	Charles Chieng
Area
• Total	119.54 km2 (46.15 sq mi)
Population  (2020)
• Total	11,577
• Density	97/km2 (250/sq mi)
Demonym	Yapese
Time zone	UTC+10
Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)	96943
ISO 3166 code	FM-YAP
Website	www.yapstate.gov.fm

Yap State (Yapese: Wa'ab or Waqab) is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, located in the westernmost portion of the country. The state borders Palau to the southwest, Guam to the north, and Chuuk State to the east. According to the state's population census carried out in 2020, the total population is 11,577 residing across a total area of 119.54 sq km (46.15 sq mi), though a large majority of the area is water. The only town area in the state, Colonia, serves as the state capital.

What is now current-day Yap State and some parts of Chuuk State were the historical Yapese Empire, which at its peak, controlled 1,300 km of the western Pacific comprising all the inhabited islands and atolls between Yap and Chuuk. The rulers of the chiefdom of Gagil in Yap maintained sovereignty of these islands to the east and extracted resources and tribute, maintaining close economic and political relationships with the different island groups.^[1] After losing its influence and becoming incorporated territories of Spain, the German Empire, the Japanese Empire, and the United States through the UN-mandated Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI), Yap and the islands and atolls between Yap and Chuuk formed Yap State upon the founding of the FSM.

According to the FSM Statistics Office, the population of Colonia and the municipalities of Yap State was 11,577 in 2020.^[2] The state has a total land area of 102 km² (39 sq mi).