Yap State – Home of the famous rai stone money
Yap is famous for its rai stones, large carved stone discs that once served as currency. Because the stone could not be quarried on Yap itself, it had to be brought by risky sea voyages, mainly from Palau, and the value of each stone reflected the dangers of the journey.
Around 950 AD Yap is said to have been the seat of a Yapese empire, while its outer islands were settled from Polynesia. In 1525 the Portuguese navigator Diogo da Rocha became the first Westerner to arrive, and in 1885 Pope Leo XIII settled a dispute between Spain and Germany over the Carolines. Today Yap is the westernmost state of the Federated States of Micronesia. Share your own stories of Yap with the community.