History

Little is clearly understood about the prehistory of the Marshall Islands. That successive waves of migratory peoples from Southeast Asia spread across the Western Pacific about 3 000 years ago and that some of them landed on and remained on these islands is about all that researchers agree upon.

The Spanish explorer Alvarode Saavendra landed there in 1529. The islands were claimed by Spain in 1874. They were named for English explorer John Marshall who visited them in 1799. Germany established a protectorate in 1885 and set up trading stations on the islands of Jaluit and Ebon to carry out the flourishing copra (dried coconut meat) trade. Marshallese Iroij (high chiefs) continued to rule under indirect colonial German administration. At the beginning of World War I Japan assumed control of the Marshall Islands. Their headquarters remained at the German center of administration Jaluit. U.S. Marines and army troops took control from the Japanese in early 1944 following intense fighting on Kwajalein and Enewetak atolls.

In 1947 the United States as the occupying power entered into an agreement with the UN Security Council to administer Micronesia including the Marshall Islands known as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. On May 1 1979 in recognition of the evolving political status of the Marshall Islands the United States recognized the constitution of the Marshall Islands and the establishment of the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The constitution incorporates both American and British constitutional concepts. 0