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  Micronesia
Paleontology related stamps (dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals)

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Micronesia, The Federated States of Micronesia, a UN Trust Territory under US administration, adopted a constitution in 1979. Independence came in 1986 under a Compact of Free Association with the US, which was amended and renewed in 2004. Present concerns include large-scale unemployment, overfishing, and over dependence on US aid.
The states comprise around 607 islands that cover a longitudinal distance of almost 2,700 km just north of the equator. They lie northeast of New Guinea, south of Guam and the Marianas, west of Nauru and the Marshall Islands, east of Palau and the Philippines, about 2,900 km  north of eastern Australia and some 4,000 km southwest of the main islands of Hawaii.


The islands first used stamps of Germany for the Caroline Islands and then stamps of Japan from 1914 to 1946. The islands then became part of the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific and used American stamps from 1946. The first stamps of independent Micronesia were issued in 1984 and depicted the four federated states that make up the country, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae, in a se-tenant design.