Chuuk State (; also known as Truk) is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The other states are Kosrae State, Pohnpei State, and Yap State. It consists of several island groups: Namoneas, Faichuuk, the Hall Islands, Namonuito Atoll (Magur Islands), Pattiw (Western Islands), and the Mortlock Islands. Chuuk is the most populous state of the FSM with 50,000 inhabitants on . Chuuk Lagoon is where most people live. Weno Island in the lagoon functions as state capital and is FSM's biggest city. It is scheduled to possibly vote for independence as proposed. History Indigenous settlement Chuuk was first settled by Austronesians, believed to be from the Lapita culture of Island Melanesia. Archaeological evidence indicates that islands of Feefen and Wééné Islands had human settlements in the first and second century BC. Later evidence indicates that widespread human settlements appeared in Chuuk during the 14th century AD, as the Chuukese culture was formed. Spanish colonization The first sighting recorded by Europeans was made by the Spanish navigator Alvaro de Saavedra on board the Florida during August or September 1528. They were later visited by the Spaniard Alonso de Arellano on 15 January, 1565 on board the galleon patache San Lucas. As part of the Caroline Islands, Truk was claimed by the Spanish Empire, which struggled to control the islands in the late 19th century. The Chuuk Lagoon was then inhabited by Chuukese people (an Austronesian group) that participated in intermittent wars, as well as a small population of foreign merchants and missionaries, mostly linked to the Catholic Church. Spanish control over the islands was in part nominal. The Spanish stopped to raise a flag over Chuuk in 1886, and returned in 1895 as part of an attempt to assert control and negotiate peace between the tribes of Chuuk. No major Spanish settlement was established and traditional life continued until the German colonial era. German and Japanese rule The Caroline Islands were sold to the German Empire in 1899, after Spain withdrew from the Pacific after the Spanish–American War in which it lost its main colony in Asia, the Philippines. Germany incorporated the territory into its domain in the German New Guinea. During World War I, the Japanese navy was tasked with pursuing and destroying the German East Asian squadron and protecting the shipping lanes of Allied trade in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. During the