History of the Marshall Islands

The Marshall Islands is a republic of 29 atolls and 5 coral islands. Th

e islands are
one of the four main groups that make up Micronesia. The nearest neighbor to th
e
Marshalls are the Federated States of Micronesia. They're only 26 populated isl
ands in
the Marshalls because a lot of the islands are too small to support many people
. There
are two roughly parallel chains of islands that make up the western Ralik group
and the
eastern Ratak group. Now that you know what and where the Marshall Islands are
I'll
explain the history.
The very early people of the Marshalls had no written language so it is
very hard
to predict what went on. The only early history has been handed down from gener
ation
to generation in the form of songs, and we can also get some facts from the folk
lore and
legends. One thing that they do know is that powerful chiefs ruled these large
civilizations able to move such large stones to build temples and cities. They
must have
been somewhat advanced because they were able to build huge walls that were prob
ably
there to enclose a city. These walls weighed many tons and were 20 ft. long, an
d even
some walls they have found to be 40 ft. high. Archaeologists are still puzzled
of what
kind of machinery they had to move such large stones.
The real knowledge we know about the Marshall Islands history began in t
he
early sixteenth century. The sea going Europeans were trying to find sources of
the Spice
Islands that were in very large demand in Europe. English, Dutch, Spanish and
Portuguese sea captains were all sailing around on their hunt for riches. One o
f the first
people we know of to definitely land on the Marshall Islands during this time is
Ferdinand Magellan. He landed in Micronesia on his journey to circumnavigate th
e
world. Forty years later in the 1560's after Magellan's voyage Spain claimed mo
st all of
the islands in Micronesia. Spain wasn't really concerned about Micronesia becau
se they
were busy building empires in South America, Central America, and Mexico. For t
he
most part Micronesia was under loose Spanish control for 300 years.
During those 300 years in 1788 Captain John Marshall named the Marshall
Islands. He was sailing between Australia and China on the boat the Scarborough
and
sailed through the islands. Even though many Europeans had been in the Marshall
s
previously he has been said to be one of the first people to "discover" the isla
nds.
In the nineteenth century the dried meat of the coconut called copra bec
ame an
important trade items for European powers. Since there was much money in the co
pra
trade Germany, Spain, and Great Britain started to argue over the control of Mic
ronesia.
In 1885 Germany gained control of the Marshalls while Spain kept control of the
Carolines and the Marianas. In 1886 the English and the Spanish were unhappy wi
th
Germany's claims, but the dispute was settled by Pope Leo XIII in Rome. The Pop
e gave
all right to trade with these islands to Germany. Then shortly after that in 18
98 the
Spanish- American war caused Spain to give the rest of Micronesia to Germany. T
his all
changed though during W.W.I.
In 1914 Japan which was allied with the U.S. and its European Allies too
k control
of the Marshalls and all of Micronesia with naval ships. Then in 1920 the Leagu
e of
Nations gave Micronesia to Japan.
In 1935 against the agreement with the League of Nations Japan began to
fortify
the islands. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations and secretly began to bu
ild
airfields and naval bases on the islands. Japan closed the Marshalls and Micron
esia from
the rest of the world. To show just how secret Japan was in 1937 Amelia Earhart
was on
her famous trip around the world in the air. She disappeared somewhere in the J
apan
held Micronesia and has never been seen since. Many people think that she was s
hort of
gas and made a forced landing on one of the islands. Japan was then upset over
what she
may have seen and executed her.
After the Pearl Harbor bombing in 1941 the Marshall Islands became a ver
y
important strategic location in W.W.II. The Japanese used the islands on their
push
southward toward Australia, and the U.S. wanted the islands on their push northw
ard.
The Marshall islands were the next step for the Allied march toward the Japanese
home
islands. The Kwajalein and Majuro atolls were picked as the two main places to
invade.
This operation was code named Flintlock. D-Day was set for January 31, 1944.
On that day Marines at Kwajalein atoll planned to seize five islands aro
und Roi-
Namur where a major Japanese airbase was. While other Kwajalein Marines were to
capture four islets near Kwajalein where the Japanese major naval base was. The
re was
some confusion at both attacks which led to many more deaths than were needed.
The
two battles turned out to be very bloody and in all 486 Allied casualties result
ed while
1,295 soldiers were wounded.
At the Majuro atoll came much an easier battle. The Japanese had both a
major
naval and air base on the island. When the Allied troops landed there they foun
d no
Japanese troops. Almost all of the Japanese troops had escaped. So no lives we
re spared
and the Allies turned the two bases into their own.
The speed at which Kwajalein Atoll fell allowed Admiral Chester W. Nimit
z to
speed up his attack on Enewetok. This mission was called Catchpole. The forces
moved
in on February 18, 1944. They first went to small Engebi supported by gunfire a
nd by
shore based artillery placed the day before on small islets. It took them two d
ays to
secure the island in the Allies favor with a death count of 349 and 555 wounded.
The results of the capturing of the Marshall Islands were a big success.
Having
the Marshall's helped in moving the U.S. a lot closer to Japanese and also it ga
ve them a
good place to attack other Japanese held islands. It really cut down the air an
d naval
power the Japanese had in the Central Pacific.
There are other good things that came out of the war too. One is all of
the sunken
ships and landing barges, airplane crashes, tanks, and big guns are still found
in the
Marshall's. So in result scrap metal turned into the second leading exporter to
copra.
What is kind of interesting is that Japan was the main place that bought the met
als from
their own battles with the U.S.
As a result of the U.S. taking over the Marshall Islands the United Nati
ons
granted the U.S. authority to administer them as a strategic trust. Even though
with the
U.S. in charge that led to improvements in public health, education, and was obl
igated to
"protect the inhabitants against the loss of their lands and resources" the Mars
hallese
people were very unhappy. The removal and evacuation of the Bikini and Enewetak
atolls for nuclear testing was what made them angry with the new U.S. system. S
ee the
Marshall Islands land had no alarming value to the U.S. , but what the U.S. want
ed was
the great military location and also a small secluded place to test nuclear weap
ons. So
pretty much from the late 1940's to the present a lot of the history has been th
e nuclear
testing on the island.
The first test came in 1946. The U.S. had the Navy evacuate 167 Bikini
Islanders
to Rongerik, 125 miles away to the east. They were going to test atomic-bombs t
he same
size of Hiroshima's. They were named "Able" and "Baker". Since everyone was
evacuated there were no apparent problems with and Marshallese people. The peop
le
weren't having trouble with the tests but many Bikinians were on the verge of st
arvation
on the Rongerik atoll. They had to be moved to Kwajalein where the U.S. provide
d them
with resources.
Then in the1950's the U.S. discovered the H-bomb or a hydrogen device th
at is
hundreds or thousands times more destructive than the U.S.'s first atomic-bombs.
The
first to be tested was in 1952 at Enewetak island. The force of this hydrogen d
evice was
estimated at 10.4 megatons or 750 times greater force than the Hiroshima one. T
his
bomb vaporized pretty much the whole island, but again the people didn't know so
weren't that upset. The people were upset though after the testing of the next
H-bomb the
U.S. decides to drop.
This test was in 1954 at the Bikini Atoll. It was set to be dropped on
February 28
and the high winds weren't going to stop them. At just seven hours before drop
time
there were high winds at 10,000 to 25,000-foot levels with the winds blowing tow
ard
some inhabited islands. The U.S. though decided to drop the bomb. It was repor
ted at 15
megatons which is 1,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. Within hours peo
ple
on surrounding islands were enveloped with white ash or kind of a mist. People
that
were exposed experienced naseau, vomiting, and itching of the skin and eyes. Th
e
people were taken Kwajalein for observation. Skin burns developed and hair of t
hose
people began to fall out. Secret medical groups were established to observe the
exposed
Marshallese people. The group decided that the people had been exposed to so mu
ch
harmful material that they should never be exposed again because fear of what co
uld
happen.
The U.S. continues to detonate nuclear weapons on the small islands thro
ugh the
1950's and the last one was set off in 1958. Bringing the total number of nucle
ar
weapons tested on Bikini and Enewetak Atolls up to 66. The damage had been done
and
many Marshallese people were very mad.
One of the reasons people were mad was that they couldn't return to thei
r
homelands. Thousands of people had been evacuated due to the radioactive materi
als
spread to their islands. Although almost all of the islands were declared safe
but maybe
slight lingering radiation people were scared and in effect were very mad at the
U.S.
Another one of the reasons was all of the health problems people were ha
ving.
Like it says before people were having very bad skin and eye irritations and the
ir hair was
falling out. In 1963 the first signs of thyroid cancer starting showing up, an
d people
were just sick and literally "sick" of all of the nuclear testing results. Mars
hall Islands
officials started demanded billions and billions of dollars in compensation for
all of the
people and the land. They also started going to the U.S. government demanding t
hey
were purposely exposed to the radiation just so the U.S. could study the long te
rm effects
of radiation.
In 1986 the Marshall Islands became self-governing because they thought
they
could manage their country a lot better than the U.S. thousands of miles away.
They
established compact of free association and it was finalized. Even though offic
ial
recognition of the Marshall's did not come until 1991 when the United Nations re
moved
them from the trusteeship.
The Marshall Islands is definitely on its way to be a lot happier. They
are still
getting billions of dollars a year for compensation and the islands are getting
more
radioactive free every year.