Time in the Federated States of Micronesia
The Federated States of Micronesia, a country in Oceania consisting of around 607 islands, observes two time zones,[1] UTC+10:00 in its western part, and UTC+11:00 in its eastern part.[2] Micronesia does not have an associated daylight saving time.[3]
Micronesia lies just north of the equator, west of the International Date Line.[4]
History
As part of New Spain, Caroline Islands belonged to Captaincy General of the Philippines, which used the date of the western hemisphere and had the same day of the week as the Americas. After Mexico gained its independence from Spain on September 27, 1821, Caroline Islands began using the same day of the week as Asia and to follow the eastern hemisphere at the end of 1844. The switch was achieved by removing Tuesday, December 31, 1844 from the calendar, so Monday, December 30, 1844 was immediately followed by Wednesday, January 1, 1845. That change redrew the International Date Line from being west to east of the whole archipelago to realign itself from American to Asian dates.[citation needed]
Before time zones were introduced, every place used local observation of the sun to set its clocks, which meant that every location used a different local mean time based on its longitude. For example, Kolonia, a coastal town and the capital of Pohnpei State at the time, at longitude 158°13′E, had a local time equivalent to UTC-13:27:08 under the date of the western hemisphere and UTC+10:32:52 under the eastern hemisphere.[citation needed]
In August 1945, Chuuk Time (CHUT) was established as UTC+10 and Pohnpei Standard Time (PONT) as UTC+11.[citation needed]
Time in the Federated States of Micronesia
| Period in use | Time offset from GMT/UTC[a] | Name of time |
|---|---|---|
| before Monday, December 30, 1844 | GMT−13:52:52 (in Colonia, Yap) | Local Mean Time |
| GMT−13:27:08 (in Kolonia, Pohnpei) | ||
| GMT−14:50 (in Ngulu Atoll, the westernmost point) | ||
| GMT−13:08 (in Kosrae, the easternmost point) | ||
| Wednesday, January 1, 1845 – 1900 | GMT+10:07:08 (in Colonia, Yap) | Local Mean Time |
| GMT+10:32:52 (in Kolonia, Pohnpei) | ||
| GMT+09:10 (in Ngulu Atoll, the westernmost point) | ||
| GMT+10:52 (in Kosrae, the easternmost point) | ||
| 1901 – September 1914 | GMT+10:00 (in Colonia, Yap) | +10 |
| GMT+11:00 (in Kolonia, Pohnpei) | +11 | |
| October 1914 – January 1919 | GMT+09:00 | +09 |
| February 1919 – 1936 | GMT+10:00 (in Colonia, Yap) | +10 |
| GMT+11:00 (in Kolonia, Pohnpei) | +11 | |
| 1937 – March 1941 | GMT+10:00 | +10 |
| April 1941 – July 1945 | GMT+09:00 | +09 |
| August 1945 – present | GMT/UTC+10:00 (in Colonia, Yap) | Chuuk Time |
| GMT/UTC+11:00 (in Kolonia, Pohnpei) | Pohnpei Standard Time |
IANA time zone database
In the IANA time zone database, Micronesia is given the following three time zones:[5]
| c.c.* | coordinates* | TZ* | Comments | UTC offset | DST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FM | +0725+15147 | Pacific/Chuuk | Chuuk/Truk, Yap | +10:00 | +10:00 |
| FM | +0519+16259 | Pacific/Kosrae | Kosrae | +11:00 | +11:00 |
| FM | +0658+15813 | Pacific/Pohnpei | Pohnpei/Ponape | +11:00 | +11:00 |
Notes
- ^ The term UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) begin in use just after the introduction of Unix Time on January 1, 1970. In those days before 1970, the GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) was the term being used.
References
- ^ Micronesia, Federated States of Archived 2021-01-26 at the Wayback Machine at The World Factbook. "note 1: Micronesia has two time zones". Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Retrieved 25 April 2021.
- ^ Timezones in Micronesia. WorldData.info. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
- ^ Time Zones in Micronesia. TimeAndDate.com. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
- ^ Maps of Micronesia. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
- ^ Australasia Archived 2021-05-10 at the Wayback Machine (2020 edition) at the tz database. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Retrieved 20 May 2021.