The population of the atoll was 1,081 in 2000,[2] on an area of 4.5 km2.
Geography
The islands constitute a double atoll forming the number eight, with a total length of 11.5 kilometers (7.1 mi; 6.2 nmi) and up to 7 kilometers (4.3 mi; 3.8 nmi) wide; however, most of reef on the southern rim is submerged or poorly developed. The northern and eastern rims have several relatively large islets. The western lagoon is deeper and larger than its eastern counterpart. Both components are part of the same seamount. The total land area for both components combined is only 4.5 square kilometers (1.7 sq mi).[3]
Falalap, Woleai Atoll
History
The Austronesian ancestors of the Micronesians who make up the indigenous population of the Caroline Islands arrived in the islands c. 0-200 CE. Woleai subsequently became culturally unique among the Caroline Islands because of a script in use among some speakers of the Woleaian language prior to 1913. Woleai was among islands to the southeast of Yap that became tributaries of the Yapese Empire from about 1500 CE.
In 1944, as Allied forces closed in on the Mariana Islands during World War II, a contingent of 6,426 troops from the Imperial Japanese Army's 50th Independent Mixed Brigade and the Imperial Japanese Navy's 44th Base Guard Unit and 216th Base Construction Unit heavily fortified Woleai. They completely leveled Wolfe Islet and made into an airfield with a single 3,290-foot (1,003 m) runway and 2,050-foot (625 m) taxiway. They also constructed a seaplane anchorage off the southwest corner of Woleai Islet and established a weather station on Mariaon island to the west. Allied aircraft bombed the atoll and its military facilities on numerous occasions until the middle of 1945, driving its defenders underground and isolating them from supplies or reinforcements. By the surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, only 1,650 survivors remained of the initial 6,426-strong Japanese garrison, the rest having perished largely because of starvation and disease rather than directly in Allied air raids. The United States Navydestroyer escortUSS Sloat(DE-245) picked up the surviving Japanese on September 17, 1945.[4]
Woleai Civil Airfield, administered by the Federated States of Micronesia Division of Civil Aviation is located at an altitude of 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) on Falalap at 7°22′36″N143°54′30″E / 7.37666°N 143.90833°E / 7.37666; 143.90833 (Woleai Civil Airfield), 681 kilometers (423 mi; 368 nmi) southeast of Yap International Airport and 0.44 kilometers (0.27 mi) northeast of the main settlements on the island.[6][7] The 1,200-foot (370 m) runway has not been maintained since 1992, and the airfield has closed due to severe deterioration of the runway and the government's decision not to perform repairs.[6][7] The runway is now covered with vegetation.[8] Before the airfield closed, Caroline Islands Air provided chartered flights to it.[9] The runway was built by the Empire of Japan during World War II. After the war it was shortly US Naval Base Woleai, Fleet Post Office #3246.[10]
