It is a village and municipality of roughly 430 people on a land area of 1.5 square kilometers (0.58 sq mi).

Coastal erosion has cut the airstrip off from the island by about 20 meters, making it necessary to ferry arriving and departing passengers between it and Ngatik by boat.

Some of the Europeans and Pohnpeians settled and repopulated the island, taking the local women as wives.

The atoll was first discovered by Westerners on 6 April 1773 by the Spanish naval officer Felipe Tompson when sailing from Manila to San Blas in New Spain on board of the vessel Nuestra Señora de la Consolación also called in short Buen Fin.

[5] At some point between 1793 and 1796, William Raven, captain of Britannia gave a firm sighting to the island.