CAROLINE ISLANDS. A group of small and widely scattered islands in the Pa•itie Ocean, extending from the equator to about latitude 10' N. and front about halgitude to about 164° E. (Map: Australasia. 1 21. They number about 525. including reefs and uninhabited rocks, and their area is estimated at 560 square hey are mostly low iund of coral formation, and their soil is not above the average inr fertility. The main islands of the group are Rug, or Ilogoln. Ponape, and Strong. The chief product is copra. while some of islands also yield shells. The commerce is tunistly in the hands of the German Jaluit Company, which has station, on almost every important island. _Administratively the group is a part of the German New guinea Protectorate. The popula tion of the Caroline Islands is estimated at 36.000, and consists chiefly of Mieronesians, With about 900 Europeans. Most of the natives have been converted to Christianity. They are well developed physically and mentally. a little shorter than the eastern Polynesians, and dolichocephalic. The ruins of stone structures on the islands of Ponape. Ulla, etc., are by some writers (e.g. Christian: in 1899) need lessly attributed to a 'black race.' predeces sors of the present occupants. These 'fatuous' ruins are doubtless remains of the works of the forefathers of the people now inhabiting the archipelago, for elsewhere. as in Tonga, Easter
Island, etc., the Polynesians have demonstrated their ability to surpass these aehievem•nts. The were discovered in 1525 by the Portu guese Diego da Rocha. and further during the Seventeenth Century by the Spanish admiral Francisco Lazeaao, who gave to the group its present name in honor of King Charles II. In the beginning of the Eighteenth Century the group was entirely abandoned by Spain, and it was not until the beginning of the Nineteenth Century that the existence of the Caroline archipelago was again brought to the attention of the civilized world by a numbe• of scientific expeditions. At length German com mercial interests became paramount in the Carolines. and the hoisting, of the German flag over Yap in 1555 called forth the protest of Spain. A settlement reached in the same year, with the Pope as an arbitrator, recognized Spain's claim to the archipelago. but conferred special privileges on In 1899 the Caroline. Pelew, and the Ladrone groups (except Guam), were ceded to Germany in con sideration of the sum of 16.750,000 Marks (about $3,300,000). Consult: Christian. The Caroline Islands (London. 1899) ; (not Finsch, /ifiro/inca 11111/ llarianen I Hamburg, 1900) : id.. _I athropo /ogischf Eryclw5se rincr isc in der Siid•eo (Berlin. 1s83).