Micronesians settled the
Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Intern ...
in the 2nd millennium BC, but there are no historical or oral records of that period. Over time, the
Marshallese people learned to navigate over long ocean distances by canoe using traditional
stick chart
Stick charts were made and used by the Marshallese people, Marshallese to navigate the Pacific Ocean by canoe off the coast of the Marshall Islands. The charts represented major swell (ocean), ocean swell patterns and the ways the islands disru ...
s.
Spanish colony
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
explorer
Alonso de Salazar
Toribio Alonso de Salazar, (died 5 September 1526) born in Biscay, was a Spanish navigator of Basque origin, who was the first Westerner to arrive on the Marshall Islands on August 21, 1526.
De Salazar was part of the Fray García Jofre de Loa ...
was the first
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
an to see the islands in 1526, commanding the ship ''Santa Maria de la Victoria'', the only surviving vessel of the
Loaísa Expedition. On August 21, he sighted an island (probably
Taongi) at 14°N that he named "San Bartolome".
On September 21, 1529,
Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón
Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón (often written as Álvaro de Saavedra) (d. 1529) was one of the Spanish explorers in the Pacific Ocean. The exact date and place of his birth are unknown, but he was born in the late 15th century or early 16th century in ...
commanded the Spanish ship ''Florida'', on his second attempt to recross the Pacific from the
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located ...
. He stood off a group of islands from which local inhabitants hurled stones at his ship. These islands, which he named "Los Pintados", may have been
Ujelang. On October 1, he found another group of islands where he went ashore for eight days, exchanged gifts with the local inhabitants and took on water. These islands, which he named "
Los Jardines
Los Jardines or Los Buenos Jardines (Spanish for "the good gardens") are phantom islands supposedly located northeast of the Mariana Islands.
The islands were reportedly visited by Spanish explorers Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón (who named them ...
", may have been
Enewetak
Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...
or
Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Seco ...
.
The Spanish ship ''San Pedro'' and two other vessels in an expedition commanded by
Miguel López de Legazpi discovered an island on January 9, 1530, possibly
Mejit, at 10°N, which they named "Los Barbudos". The Spaniards went ashore and traded with the local inhabitants. On January 10, the Spaniards sighted another island that they named "Placeres", perhaps
Ailuk; ten leagues away, they sighted another island that they called "Pajares" (perhaps
Jemo). On January 12, they sighted another island at 10°N that they called "Corrales" (possibly
Wotho
Wotho Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 13 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only , but it encloses a lagoon of . The name "Wotho" means ei ...
). On January 15, the Spaniards sighted another low island, perhaps Ujelang, at 10°N, where they described the people on "Barbudos". After that, ships including the ''San Jeronimo'', ''Los Reyes'' and ''Todos los Santos'' also visited the islands in different years.
The islanders had no immunity to European diseases and many died as a result of contact with the Spanish.
Other European contacts
Captain
John Charles Marshall and
Thomas Gilbert visited the islands in 1788. The islands were named for Marshall on Western charts, although the indigenous peoples have historically named their home "jolet jen Anij" (Gifts from God).
Around 1820,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n explorer
Adam Johann von Krusenstern
Adam Johann von Krusenstern (also Krusenstjerna in Swedish; russian: Ива́н Фёдорович Крузенште́рн, tr. ; 10 October 177012 August 1846) was a Russian admiral and explorer, who led the first Russian circumnavigatio ...
and the
French explorer
Louis Isidore Duperrey
Louis-Isidore Duperrey (21 October 1786 – 25 August 1865) was a French naval officer and explorer.
Biography
Early life
Louis-Isidore Duperrey was born in 1786.
Career
He joined the navy in 1802, and served as marine hydrologist to Louis Cl ...
named the islands after John Marshall, and drew maps of the islands. British maps later repeated the designation. In 1824 the crew of the American
whaler
A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales.
Terminology
The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...
''Globe'' mutinied and some of the crew put ashore on Mulgrave Island. One year later, the American schooner ''Dolphin'' arrived and picked up two boys, the last survivors of a massacre by the natives due to their brutal treatment of the women.
A number of vessels visiting the islands were attacked and their crews killed. In 1834 Captain DonSette and his crew were killed. Similarly, in 1845 the schooner ''Naiad'' punished a native for stealing with such violence that natives attacked the ship. Later that year a whaler's boat-crew were killed. In 1852 the San Francisco-based ships ''Glencoe'' and ''Sea Nymph'' were attacked and everyone aboard except for one crew member were killed. The violence was usually attributed as a response to the ill-treatment of the natives in response to petty theft, which was a common practice. In 1857 two missionaries successfully settled on Ebon, living among the natives through at least 1870.
[
The international community in 1874 recognized the ]Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
's claim of sovereignty over the islands as part of the Spanish East Indies
The Spanish East Indies ( es , Indias orientales españolas ; fil, Silangang Indiyas ng Espanya) were the overseas territories of the Spanish Empire in Asia and Oceania from 1565 to 1898, governed for the Spanish Crown from Mexico City and Madri ...
.
German protectorate
The first documented German to visit the Marshall Islands, Adolph Capelle, arrived in Ebon from pre-colonial Samoa in 1859. Jose deBrum, a Portuguese whaler, arrived in 1864, and the two established a trading post on Ebon and married local women.
Several German companies began to arrive in the Marshall Islands, chiefly among them Godeffroy & Son of Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, which pioneered the production of copra
Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from co ...
on Ebon in the 1870s; Godeffroy & Son later expanded tradition stations to Jaluit
Jaluit Atoll ( Marshallese: , , or , ) is a large coral atoll of 91 islands in the Pacific Ocean and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is , and it encloses a lagoon with an area of . Mo ...
, Maloelap
The Maloelap Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) (also spelled Maleolap) is a coral atoll of 71 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its land area is only , but that encloses a lagoon of ...
, Mili, and Namdrik
Namdrik Atoll or Namorik Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of two islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only , but it encloses a lagoon with an ...
, with another German company, Hernsheim & Co
Hernsheim & Co was a German trading company in the Western Pacific Ocean with main offices on Yap (Caroline Islands), Jaluit (Marshall Islands) and Matupi ( Bismarck Archipelago). The company was specialized in the copra export to Europe and tri ...
., also trading from Jaluit.[ The Capelle-deBrum partnership began the most profitable copra production on ]Likiep
Likiep Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 65 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. It is approximately northwest of Wotje. Its total land area is only , but that enclo ...
.
Although the Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
had a residual claim on the Marshall Islands in 1874, when Spain began asserting its sovereignty over the Carolines, it made no effort to prevent the German Empire from gaining a foothold there. Britain also raised no objection to a German protectorate over the Marshall Islands in exchange for German recognition of Britain's rights in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Imperial Germany established a consulate in 1875, and signed a treaty with various Ralik chiefs.[ On October 13, 1885, the German gunboat under Captain Fritz Rötger brought German emissaries to Jaluit. They signed a treaty with '']Iroijlaplap
Iroijlaplap ( Marshallese: ; feminine: Leroijlaplap, ) are the traditional paramount chiefs in the Marshall Islands. Ordinary chiefs bear the title of Iroij (feminine: Leroij); -' is a superlative suffix.
Legal basis
Article III of the Consti ...
'' (paramount chief) Kabua, whom the Germans had earlier recognized as "King of the Ralik Islands", on October 15.
Subsequently, seven other chiefs on seven other islands signed a treaty in German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
and Marshallese, and a final copy witnessed by Rötger on November 1 was sent to the German Foreign Office
, logo = DEgov-AA-Logo en.svg
, logo_width = 260 px
, image = Auswaertiges Amt Berlin Eingang.jpg
, picture_width = 300px
, image_caption = Entrance to the Foreign Office building
, headquarters = Werderscher Mark ...
. The Germans erected a sign declaring an "Imperial German Protectorate" at Jaluit. It has been speculated that the 1885 crisis over the Carolines with Spain, which almost provoked a war, was in fact "a feint to cover the acquisition of the Marshall Islands", which went almost unnoticed at the time, despite the islands being the largest source of copra
Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from co ...
in Micronesia
Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...
. Germany officially purchased the islands from Spain in 1885, after a dispute over commercial and territorial claims in Micronesia; Nauru was added to the German protectorate in 1886.[
A new German trading company, the ''Jaluit Gesellschaft'', formed via a merger of all German trading interests, and administered the islands from 1887 until 1906. With a trading monopoly, they pushed out American and British competition and conscripted islanders as laborers.][ Copra became the dominant industry of the islands, and a head tax of copra was instituted, with the ''Iroij'' tasked with collecting the tax in return for a share of the copra. After the German–Spanish Treaty of 1899, in which Germany acquired the Carolines, ]Palau
Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...
, and the Marianas from Spain, Germany placed all of its Micronesian islands, including the Marshall Islands, under the governor of German New Guinea
German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...
.
Catholic missionary Father A. Erdland, from the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC; la, Missionarii Sacratissimi Cordis; french: Missionnaires du Sacré-Coeur) are a missionary congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1854 by Servant of God Jules Chevalier (182 ...
of Hiltrup, Germany, lived on Jaluit from around 1904 to 1914. After conducting considerable research on Marshallese culture and language, he published a 376-page monograph on the islands in 1914. Father H. Linckens, another Missionary of the Sacred Heart, visited the Marshall Islands in 1904 and 1911 for several weeks. He published a small work in 1912 concerning the Catholic mission activities and the people of the Marshall Islands.[
]
The 1914 outbreak of World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, as well as the passage of time, destroyed all remaining German buildings on the Marshall Islands. The sole surviving German-era wood building in all of Micronesia is the deBrum house on Likiep
Likiep Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 65 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. It is approximately northwest of Wotje. Its total land area is only , but that enclo ...
, built by Joachim deBrum in 1904–05.[
]
Japanese mandate
Under German control, and even before then, Japanese traders and fishermen from time to time visited the Marshall Islands, although contact with the islanders was irregular. After the Meiji Restoration
The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
(1868), the Japanese government adopted a policy of turning the Japanese Empire into a great economic and military power in East Asia.
In 1914, Japan joined the Entente during World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and captured various German Empire colonies, including several in Micronesia
Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...
. Because Germany had viewed the Marshall Islands purely as an economic colony, they made no attempt to defend or fortify the islands in case of attack.[ On September 29, 1914, Japanese troops occupied ]Enewetak
Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...
, and on September 30, 1914, Jaluit
Jaluit Atoll ( Marshallese: , , or , ) is a large coral atoll of 91 islands in the Pacific Ocean and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is , and it encloses a lagoon with an area of . Mo ...
, the administrative centre of the Marshall Islands. After the war, on June 28, 1919, Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
, renouncing all of its Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...
possessions, including the Marshall Islands. On December 17, 1920, the Council of the League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide Intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by ...
approved the South Seas Mandate for Japan to take over all former German colonies in the Pacific Ocean located north of the Equator. The administrative center of the Marshall Islands remained on Jaluit.
The German Empire had had primarily economic interests in Micronesia, while the Japanese interests were in land. Despite the Marshall Islands' small area and few resources, the absorption of the territory by Japan would to some extent alleviate Japan's problem of an increasing population with a diminishing amount of available land to house it. During its years of colonial rule, Japan moved more than 1,000 Japanese to the Marshall Islands although they never outnumbered the indigenous peoples as they did in the Mariana Islands and Palau.
The Japanese enlarged administration and appointed local leaders, which weakened the authority of local traditional leaders. Japan also tried to change the social organization in the islands from matrilineality
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...
to the Japanese patriarchal system, but with no success. Moreover, during the 1930s, one third of all land up to the high water level was declared the property of the Japanese government. Before Japan banned foreign traders on the archipelago, the activities of Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
missionaries were allowed.
Indigenous people were educated in Japanese schools, and studied the Japanese language
is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...
and Japanese culture. This policy was the government strategy not only in the Marshall Islands, but on all the other mandated territories in Micronesia. On March 27, 1933, Japan gave notice of withdrawal from the League of Nations, but continued to manage the islands, and in the late 1930s began building air bases on several atolls. The Marshall Islands were in an important geographic position, being the easternmost point in Japan's defensive ring at the beginning of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
World War II
In the months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Kwajalein Atoll was the administrative center of the Japanese 6th Fleet Forces Service, whose task was the defense of the Marshall Islands.
In World War II, the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, invaded and occupied the islands in 1944, destroying or isolating the Japanese garrisons. In just one month in 1944, Americans captured Kwajalein Atoll, Majuro and Enewetak, and, in the next two months, the rest of the Marshall Islands, except for Wotje, Mili, Maloelap and Jaluit.
The battle in the Marshall Islands caused irreparable damage, especially on Japanese bases. During the American bombing, the islands' population suffered from lack of food and various injuries. Of the 5100-man Japanese garrison (2600 Imperial Japanese Navy and 2500 Imperial Japanese Army) on the Mili Atoll
Mili Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 92 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. It is located approximately southeast of Arno. Its total land area is making it the s ...
only half survived to the end of the war.
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
Following capture and occupation by the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the Marshall Islands, along with several other island groups located in Micronesia
Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...
, passed formally to the United States under United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
auspices in 1947 as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was a United Nations trust territory in Micronesia administered by the United States from 1947 to 1994.
History
Spain initially claimed the islands that later composed the territory of the Trus ...
established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 21.
Nuclear testing during the Cold War
From 1946 to 1958, the early years of the Cold War, the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons at its Pacific Proving Grounds
The Pacific Proving Grounds was the name given by the United States government to a number of sites in the Marshall Islands and a few other sites in the Pacific Ocean at which it conducted nuclear testing between 1946 and 1962. The U.S. tested a ...
located in the Marshall Islands, including the largest atmospheric nuclear test
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, Nuclear weapon yield, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detona ...
ever conducted by the U.S., code named Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo was the first in a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapon design tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as part of '' Operation Castle''. Detonated on March 1, 1954, the device was the most powerful ...
. "The bombs had a total yield of 108,496 kilotons
TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. The is a unit of energy defined by that convention to be , which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a m ...
, over 7,200 times more powerful than the atomic weapons used during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
." With the 1952 test of the first U.S. hydrogen bomb, code named "Ivy Mike
Ivy Mike was the codename given to the first full-scale test of a thermonuclear device, in which part of the explosive yield comes from nuclear fusion.
Ivy Mike was detonated on November 1, 1952, by the United States on the island of Elugelab ...
," the island of Elugelab
Elugelab, or Elugelap ( mh, Āllokļap, ), was an island, part of the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. It was destroyed by the world's first true hydrogen bomb test on 1 November 1952, a test which was codenamed shot "Mike" of Operation ...
in the Enewetak
Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...
atoll was destroyed. In 1956, the United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President ...
regarded the Marshall Islands as "by far the most contaminated place in the world."
Nuclear claims between the U.S. and the Marshall Islands are ongoing, and health effects from these nuclear tests linger.[ Project 4.1 was a medical study conducted by the United States of those residents of the ]Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Seco ...
exposed to radioactive fallout
Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
. From 1956 to August 1998, at least $759 million was paid to the Marshallese Islanders in compensation for their exposure to U.S. nuclear weapon testing.
Independence
In 1979, the Government of the Marshall Islands was officially established and the country became self-governing.
In 1986, the Compact of Free Association
The Compact of Free Association (COFA) is an international agreement establishing and governing the relationships of free association between the United States and the three Pacific Island sovereign states of the Federated States of Micronesia (F ...
with the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
entered into force, granting the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) its sovereignty. The Compact provided for aid and U.S. defense of the islands in exchange for continued U.S. military use of the missile testing range at Kwajalein Atoll. The independence procedure was formally completed under international law in 1990, when the UN officially ended the Trusteeship status pursuant to Security Council Resolution 683. The Republic was admitted to the UN in 1991.
In 2003, the US created a new Compact of Free Association for the Republic Marshall Islands and Micronesia, with funding of $3.5 billion to be made over the next 20 years.
21st century
A report in mid 2017 by Stanford University, some 70 years after 23 atomic bombs were detonated on Bikini Atoll, indicates abundant fish and plant life in the coral reefs. That area of the islands was still not habitable by humans, however, due to contamination by radioactivity. A 2012 report by the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
had indicated that the contamination was "near-irreversible".
In January 2020, David Kabua
David Kabua (born May 26, 1951) is a Marshall Islands, Marshallese politician who has served as President of the Marshall Islands since 13 January 2020. He has represented Wotho Atoll in the Legislature of the Marshall Islands since 2008 and serve ...
, son of founding president Amata Kabua
Amata Kabua (November 17, 1928 – December 19, 1996) was the first President of the Marshall Islands from 1979 until his death in 1996 (five consecutive terms).
Background
Amata Kabua was a scion of Marshallese Royalty. Amata Kabua is the son ...
, was elected as the new President of the Marshall Islands
The following is a list of presidents of the Marshall Islands, since the establishment of that office in 1979. The president of the Republic of the Marshall Islands is the head of state and government of the Marshall Islands. The President is el ...
. His predecessor Hilda Heine
Hilda Cathy Heine (born April 6, 1951) is a Marshallese educator and politician, who served as the eighth President of the Marshall Islands. Prior to assuming office, she served as the Minister of Education. She was the first individual from the ...
lost the position after a vote.
Climate crisis
In 2008, extreme waves and high tides caused widespread flooding in the capital city of Majuro and other urban centres, above sea level. On Christmas morning in 2008, the government declared a state of emergency. In 2013, heavy waves once again breached the city walls of Majuro.
In 2013, the northern atolls of the Marshall Islands experienced drought. The drought left 6,000 people surviving on less than of water per day. This resulted in the failure of food crops and the spread of diseases such as diarrhea
Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin w ...
, pink eye, and influenza. These emergencies resulted in the United States President declaring an emergency in the islands. This declaration activated support from US government agencies under the Republic's "free association" status with the United States, which provides humanitarian and other vital support.
Following the 2013 emergencies, the Minister of Foreign Affairs
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...
Tony deBrum
Tony deBrum (also Anton deBrum) (February 26, 1945 – August 22, 2017) was a Marshallese politician and government minister. His cabinet posts included Minister in Assistance to the President of Marshall Islands, Minister of Finance, Minister of ...
was encouraged by the Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
administration in the United States to turn the crises into an opportunity to promote action against climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
. DeBrum demanded new commitment and international leadership to stave off further climate disasters from battering his country and other similarly vulnerable countries. In September 2013, the Marshall Islands hosted the 44th Pacific Islands Forum summit. DeBrum proposed a Majuro Declaration for Climate Leadership to galvanize concrete action on climate change.
Rising sea levels are threatening the islands. Regardless of the cause, much of the area of the islands may become uninhabitable if the levels become excessive. Major flooding occurred in 2014 leading to a state of emergency for Majuro. Thousands of islanders have already moved to the US over the past decades for medical treatment and for better education or employment, many settling in Arkansas; emigration is likely to increase as sea levels rise. The right of residents to do so ends in 2023 unless the Compact with the US is renewed. The United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
in 2014 warned that rising sea levels will salinize the fresh water on the islands, "thus likely forcing inhabitants to abandon their islands in decades, not centuries, as previously thought".
See also
*History of Oceania
The History of Oceania includes the history of Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and other Pacific island nations.
Prehistory
The prehistory of Oceania is divided into the prehistory of each of its major areas: Poly ...
*Politics of the Marshall Islands
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
* Elections in the Marshall Islands
*Government of the Marshall Islands
The government of the Marshall Islands operates under a mixed parliamentary-presidential system as set forth in its Constitution. Elections are held every four years in universal suffrage (for all citizens above the age of 18), with each of the 24 ...
Notes
References
External links
U.S. State Department Background Note: Marshall Islands
{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The Marshall Islands