Oooh, you touched on post offices - now you're in my bailiwick.
The CIA doesn't mention these because the post offices in the
Marshalls, Palau, and the other countries/nation states that have
compacts of free association with the USA are not US post offices.
They are post offices of those countries - the USPS assigned a ZIP
code to them, nothing more. Mail from Japan to Palau, for example,
doesn't need the US ZIP Code - if it did, the mailer in Japan would
have to pay postage to the USA. The postmaster general and staff of
the Republic of Palau Postal Service are not Americans nor employees
or agents of the U.S. Postal Service. These countries issue and use
their own stamps. The US does provide some foreign aid to these
former trust territories, and the aid does take the form of shipments
of US postal forms (like registered mail receipts, etc.), to save
these relatively poor countries from having to spend money on printing
their own. When the trusteeships ended, and these countries began
issuing their own stamps, there was a time when US stamps could be
affixed side-by-side with the local issues to make up needed postage -
in fact the USPS stamp stock was on hand during these interim
post-trusteeship - pre-independence periods, but as they were
exhausted, the remittances to the USPS was phased out. These
countries are indpendent now, and that dual-franking practice is no
longer allowed.
Regards
LN
--- In
BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Lowell G. McManus"
<mcmanus71496@m...> wrote:
> I think that the CIA's reasons for giving the capitals of the
Marshall Islands,
> the Northern Marianas, and American Samoa as they do is because
those are the
> names of the United States Post Offices serving as the addresses of
the various
> governments.
>
> At http://www.rmiembassyus.org/Government.htm , the official site of
the Embassy
> of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in Washington, is a photo of
their
> "Capitol Complex, Majuro Atoll."
>
> Lowell G. McManus
> Leesville, Louisiana, USA
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "raedwulf16" <raedwulf16@y...>
> To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 11:57 AM
> Subject: [BoundaryPoint] capitals or administrative centers for
small places
>
>
> >
> >
> > I have noticed that the CIA and other compilers of geographical
> > knowledge often dodge the bullit when it comes to giving the names of
> > the capitals of smaller political entities....por ejemplo..They will
> > state that the capital of the Marshall Islands is "Majuro" which is
> > not really the capital but is the island on which the capital"Dalap
> > Uliga Darrit" is located.They say that the capital of Tuvalu is
> > Funafuti instead of Fongafale..The capital of Kiribati is listed as
> > Tarawa instead of Bairiki etc.(and yes..I am aware that Bairiki is no
> > longer the capital..it is now the village of "South Tarawa").That
> > would be somewhat like saying that the capital of Hawai'i is "Hawai'i
> > instead of "Honolulu". It would seem to me that every place has some
> > central area.(however small and insignificant it might seem to the
> > Cia) that provides some means of contact for its citizens with
> > either their elected or appointed officials or with other political
> > entities..Therefore I find it difficult to believe that the capital
> > of the Northern Mariana Islands is listed as "Saipan".Surely one of
> > the communities on the island of Saipan is the nerve center and not
> > the entire island?...I have seen Chalan Kanoa and other towns
> > listed ,but which is the actual nerve center? Also ..is Pago Pago the
> > capital of American Samoa..or is it "Fagatogo"..The CIA says Pago
> > Pago..but a tourist agency person who lives there tells me that Pago
> > Pago is the harbour in which the capital "Fagatogo" is located.