| Chuuk — formerly Truk, Ruk, Hogoleu, Torres, Ugulat, and Lugulus — is an island group in the south western part of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), along with Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap. Chuuk is the most populous of the FSM's states. Geographically, Chuuk is also part of the larger Caroline Islands group. Chuuk means mountain in the Chuukese language and was known mainly as Truk (a mispronunciation of Ruk), until 1990.
The main population center of Chuuk State is the Chuuk Lagoon, a large archipelago with mountainous islands surrounded by a string of islets on a barrier reef. The two major geographical and dialectic divisions of the Chuuk Lagoon are Faichuuk, the western islands, and Namoneas, the eastern islands. Chuuk State also includes several more sparsely populated "outer island" groups, including the Mortlock Islands to the southeast, the Hall Islands (Pafeng) to the north, Namonuito Atoll to the northwest, and the Pattiw Region to west. The Pattiw Region is of particular interest in that they are some of the most traditional islands in the Pacific and culturally related to outer islands of Yap. This group, includes the islands of Pollap, Tamatam, Poluwat, and Houk. Today you can still find master navigators— Poluwat and Pollap are considered to have some of the best navigators and ocean-going outrigger canoes in the Pacific. The islands of Pattiw Region and some of the Islands of Yap, you will still today find last two remaining schools of navigation, Weriyeng and Faaluush. Visiting the Pattiw Region in the west, however, is hard due to lack of reliable transportation. Houk has probably the most accessible airstrip in the Pattiw Region, with planes landing every one or two weeks.
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