View source for History of the Marshall Islands

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[[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]] settlers arrived in the [[Marshall Islands]] 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 ''[[walap]]'' canoe using traditional [[stick chart]]s.

==Prehistory==
[[File:HH1883 pg102 Canoe Marshall Inseln.jpg|thumb|German illustration of a Marshallese oceangoing ''[[walap]]'', {{circa|1883}}<ref>{{harvnb|Mückler|2016|p=107}}</ref>]]

Linguistic and anthropological studies have suggested that the first [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]] settlers of the Marshall Islands arrived from the [[Solomon Islands (archipelago)|Solomon Islands]].<ref name="weisler113">{{Harvnb|Weisler|p=113|2000}}</ref> [[Radiocarbon dating]] of [[earth oven|''um'' earth ovens]], post holes, and trash pits at [[Bikini Atoll]] suggests that the atoll may have been continuously inhabited from 1200 BCE to at least 1300 CE,<ref>{{Harvnb|Streck|p=256|1990}}</ref> though samples may not have been collected from secure [[Stratigraphy|stratigraphic]] contexts and older driftwood samples may have affected results.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kirch|Weisler|p=292|1994}}</ref> Archaeological digs on other atolls have found evidence of human habitation dating around the 1st century CE,<ref name="weisler113" /> including earth ovens at the [[Laura, Marshall Islands|Laura village]], [[Majuro]], with a date range of 93 BCE to 127 CE<ref>{{Harvnb|Weisler|p=114|2000}}</ref> and [[Kwajalein Atoll|Kwajalein]] with a range of 140 BCE to 255 CE.<ref>{{Harvnb|Shun|Athens|p=236|1990}}</ref>

[[File:Stick chart-BHM 1920.530.0032-P8260228.JPG|thumb|A Marshallese [[Marshall Islands stick chart|stick chart]]. Most were made from a grid of coconut frond midribs with small shells representing the relative location of islands.<ref name="Finney479"/>]]

The Marshallese sailed between islands on [[proa]]s made from breadfruit-tree wood and coconut-fiber rope.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hezel|p=92|1983}}</ref> They navigated by using the stars for orientation and initial course setting, but also developed a unique [[piloting]] technique of reading disruptions in [[Swell (ocean)|ocean swells]] to determine the location of low coral atolls below the horizon.<ref>{{Harvnb|Finney|p=475|1998}}</ref> The Marshallese recognized four different types of swells coming from the cardinal directions, and noticed that swells refracted around the undersea slope of atolls. When refracted swells from different directions met, they created noticeable disruption patterns, which Marshallese pilots could read to determine the direction of an island.<ref>{{Harvnb|Finney|pp=476–478|1998}}</ref> When interviewed by anthropologists, some Marshallese sailors noted that they piloted their canoes by both sight and feeling changes in the motion of the boat.<ref name="Finney479">{{Harvnb|Finney|p=479|1998}}</ref> The Marshallese preferred to sail between July and October, because Pacific [[trade winds]] made the swells harder to read during the rest of the year.<ref>{{Harvnb|Finney|p=476|1998}}</ref> Sailors also invented [[Marshall Islands stick chart|stick charts]] to map the swell patterns, but unlike western navigational charts, the Marshallese stick charts were tools for teaching students and for consultation before embarking on a voyage; navigators did not take charts with them when they set sail.<ref>{{Harvnb|Finney|p=443|1998}}</ref> The Marshallese made three types of charts: mattang charts, which were instructional tools for teaching the principles of piloting, and meddo and rebbelib charts, which represented the relative positions of actual swells and islands.<ref name="Finney479"/>

The Austronesian settlers [[Domesticated plants and animals of Austronesia|introduced Southeast Asian crops]], including [[coconut]]s, [[Cyrtosperma merkusii|giant swamp taro]], and [[breadfruit]], as well as domesticated chickens throughout the Marshall Islands. They possibly seeded the islands by leaving coconuts at seasonal fishing camps before permanently settling years later.<ref>{{harvnb|Reséndez|2021|pp=107–108}}</ref> The southern islands receive heavier rainfall than the north, so communities in the wet south subsisted on prevalent taro and breadfruit, while northerners were more likely to subsist on [[pandanus]] and coconuts. Southern atolls probably supported larger, more dense populations.<ref name="weisler113" /> Archaeological digs have found [[adze]]s and [[chisel]]s made from [[tridacna]] and [[Cassis (gastropod)|cassis]] shells as well as ornaments, jewelry, beads, fishhooks, and fishing lures made from shell and coral.<ref>{{Harvnb|Shun|Athens|p=237|1990}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Weisler|pp=118–129|2000}}</ref>

When Russian explorer [[Otto von Kotzebue]] visited the Marshalls in 1817, the islanders still showed few signs of western influence, aside from a few scraps of metal and stories of passing ships. He observed that the Marshallese lived in thatched-roof huts, but their villages did not include the large-ornate meetinghouses found in other parts of Micronesia. They did not have furniture, except for woven mats, which they used for both floor coverings and clothing. The Marshallese had pierced ears and tattoos. Kotzebue noted that the Marshallese tried to keep women away from foreigners, similar to other [[Micronesians]] and unlike [[Polynesians]]. On the islands he visited, Kotzebue learned that Marshallese families practiced infanticide after the birth of a third child as a form of [[Human population planning|population planning]] due to frequent famines. He also noted that Marshallese [[Iroijlaplap|iroij]] (chieftains) held considerable authority and rights to all property, though he had a more favorable view of the condition of Marshallese commoners than of Polynesian commoners.<ref name="Hezel9294">{{Harvnb|Hezel|pp=92–94|1983}}</ref> The Marshalls' two island groups, the [[Ratak]] and [[Ralik]] chains were each ruled by a paramount chief, or iroijlaplap, who held authority over the individual island iroij.<ref name="Fortune287">{{harvnb|Fortune|2000|p=287}}</ref>

==European exploration==
{{see also|Exploration of the Pacific}}

===Spanish exploration===
[[File:Reception of the Manila Galleon by the Chamorro in the Ladrones Islands, ca. 1590.jpg|thumb|400px|[[Manila galleon|Manila Galleon]] in the [[Mariana Islands|Marianas]] and [[Caroline Islands|Carolinas]], c. 1590 [[Boxer Codex]]]]

Spanish explorer [[Alonso de Salazar]] led the first European expedition to see the Marshall Islands on August 21, 1526. While commanding the ''Santa Maria de la Victoria'', the only surviving vessel of the [[Loaísa Expedition]], his crew sighted an atoll with a green lagoon, which may have been [[Bokak Atoll|Taongi]]. The crew could not land on the island, because of strong currents and water too deep for the ship's anchor. Salazar named the island "San Bartolomé," and the ship sailed for [[Guam]] on August 23.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=11–13}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=13}}</ref>

In late December 1527, the Spanish ship ''Florida'' arrived in Marshall Islands as the expedition of [[Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón]] crossed the Pacific from Mexico to the [[Maluku Islands]]. The expedition probably saw the [[Utirik Atoll|Utirik]], [[Toke Atoll|Toke]], [[Rongelap Atoll|Rongelap]], and [[Ailinginae Atoll|Ailinginae]] atolls,<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=17–18}}</ref> though Francis Hezel suggests the islands could have also been [[Fais Island|Fais]] and [[Yap]] in the [[Caroline Islands]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=15}}</ref> Saavedra named the island grouping "''Islas de los Reyes''" ({{langx|en|Islands of the Kings}}) due to the proximity of the Christian feast of the [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]]. Canoes from the islands approached the ship but did not make contact with the Europeans. On January 2, 1528, the expedition landed on an uninhabited island in Ailinginae Atoll, where they resupplied and stayed for six days. Natives from a neighboring island briefly met the Spanish before fleeing. Saavedra's expedition sailed toward the Philippines on January 8.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=16–18}}</ref> Saavedra made two unsuccessful attempts to recross the Pacific and return to Mexico. On September 21, 1529, on the second recrossing attempt, the expedition may have passed [[Ujelang Atoll]], and on October 1, the ship anchored at [[Enewetak Atoll]] where the crew went ashore for eight days, exchanged gifts with the indigenous inhabitants and resupplied.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=19–23}}</ref> Saavedra named the atoll "''[[Los Jardines]]''" ({{langx|en|The Gardens}}).<ref>Wright 1951: 109–10</ref>

On December 26, 1542, a fleet of six Spanish ships commanded by [[Ruy López de Villalobos]] sighted an island in the Marshalls while sailing from Mexico to the Philippines. They landed and named the island "Santisteban" in honor of [[Saint Stephen's Day]]. The island was inhabited, though many of the people fled the Spanish landing. The Spaniards found some women and children hiding in the island's vegetation and gave them gifts. Before leaving the islands on January 6, 1543, Villalobos sighted islands that may have included [[Wotje Atoll|Wotje]], [[Erikub Atoll|Erikub]], [[Maloelap Atoll|Maloelap]], [[Likiep Atoll|Likiep]], [[Kwajalein Atoll|Kwajalein]], [[Lae Atoll|Lae]], [[Ujae Atoll|Ujae]], [[Wotho Atoll|Wotho]] or Ujelang.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=26–29}}</ref>

[[Miguel López de Legazpi]] commanded a fleet of four Spanish ships that sailed from Mexico in November 1564 en route to the Philippines. The ''San Lucas'' under the command of [[Alonso de Arellano]] broke away from the others, possibly because pilot [[Lope Martín]] and other crew members intended to engage in piracy in the East Indies, and sailed into the Marshall Islands in their attempt to avoid the fleet's other ships. The ship passed Likiep on January 5, 1565; Kwajalein on January 7, where they met two Native families; and [[Lib Island]] on January 8. Lib was heavily inhabited, and Arellano described the Natives as warlike and expert at throwing stones with [[Sling (weapon)|slings]], so the ship sailed on without landing.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=32–34}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=21–23}}</ref> Meanwhile, Legazpi's other three ships arrived at [[Mejit Island|Mejit]] on January 9, 1565. On the island, they found a settlement of one-hundred people who subsisted by fishing, farming root vegetables and millet-like grains, and raising poultry. Most of the inhabitants had fled into the interior, but the Spaniards had peaceful relations with an elderly couple and a woman who stayed behind.<ref>{{harvnb|Reséndez|2021|pp=102–104}}</ref> Legazpi named the island "''Los Barbudos''" ({{langx|en|The Bearded Ones}}), because of the inhabitants' facial hair. On January 10, the Spaniards sighted [[Ailuk Atoll]] and [[Jemo Island]], which they named "''Los Placeres''" ({{langx|en|The Banks}}) and "''Los Pajaros''" ({{langx|en|The Birds}}). On January 12, they sighted Wotho Atoll, and on January 15, Ujelang, before sailing to the Philippines.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=36–39}}</ref>

The ''San Lucas'' returned to Mexico on July 17, 1565,<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|p=36}}</ref> and one of Legazpi's other ships returned from the Philippines on September 18.<ref name="Sharp 1960 39">{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|p=39}}</ref> On May 1, 1566, the ''San Jeronimo'' sailed from [[Acapulco]] to resupply Legazpi in the Philippines. Lope Martín, who had returned to Mexico on the ''San Lucas'', served as pilot of the ''San Jeronimo'' and led a mutiny and executed the captain. While sailing through the Marshalls, the ''San Jeronimo'' nearly wrecked at Ujelang before anchoring in the atoll's lagoon on July 6.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=40–41}}</ref> The mutineers spent several days resupplying on an island, which was inhabited though the residents had fled in canoes.<ref name="Hezel3031"/> On July 16, four loyalist crew members snuck back to the ship and took control from the mutineers aboard. Lope Martín had taken the ships instruments and sails ashore. Unable to take back the ship, he negotiated to return of the ship's instruments in exchange for food and supplies.<ref>{{harvnb|Reséndez|2021|pp=181–187}}</ref> After regaining the sails, the loyalist crew members marooned Lope Martín and twenty-six other mutineers on the island before sailing for Guam on July 21.<ref name="Hezel3031">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=30–31}}</ref>

By the late 16th century, Spanish galleons sailing between the Americas and the Philippines kept to a sea lane [[13th parallel north|thirteen degrees north]] and provisioned at Guam, avoiding the Marshalls, which Spanish sailors saw as unprofitable islands amid hazardous waters.<ref name="Sharp 1960 39"/><ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=34}}</ref> One of the last known Spanish expeditions occurred when [[Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira]]'s ships ''Los Reyes'' and ''Todos los Santos'' arrived at [[Namu Atoll]] on September 18, 1568, while searching for ''[[Terra Australis]]''. Mendaña named the atoll "San Mateo" shoals. They found many houses as well as a chisel made from a nail and pieces of rope, which may have been left behind by Villalobos or Lope Martín. On October 20, the ships arrived at [[Wake Island]], which Mendaña named "San Francisco."<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|p=47}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=33}}</ref>

===Later European exploration===
The British ships ''[[Charlotte (1784 ship)|Charlotte]]'' and ''[[Scarborough (1782 ship)|Scarborough]]'' visited the islands in 1788 under the commands of captains [[Thomas Gilbert (sea captain)|Thomas Gilbert]] and [[John Marshall (Royal Navy officer, born 1748)|John Marshall]], respectively.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|p=152}}</ref> The vessels had been part of the [[First Fleet]] taking convicts from England to [[Botany Bay]] in [[New South Wales]], and were en route to [[Guangzhou]] when they passed through the [[Gilbert Islands]] and Marshall Islands.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=63–64}}</ref> On June 25, 1788, the British ships traded with islanders at [[Mili Atoll]]; their meeting may have been the first contact between Europeans and Marshallese in over 200 years.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=64–65}}</ref><ref name="Fortune287"/> Gilbert and Marshall also sighted [[Arno Atoll|Arno]], [[Majuro]], [[Aur Atoll|Aur]], Maloelap, Wotje, and Ailuk atolls in late June, but made no further landings.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=154–155}}</ref> Subsequent navigational charts and maps named the islands for John Marshall.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=64}}</ref>

[[File:Inside of A house in the Radack Islands (cropped).jpg|thumb|Interior of a house in the [[Ratak|Ratak Chain]], {{circa|1821}}, from the first English edition of [[Otto von Kotzebue]]'s account of his 1815–1818 voyage]]

Beginning in the 1790s, British [[East Indiaman|East Indiamen]] began passing through the Marshall Islands en route to China and charted the islands they encountered.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=82}}</ref> Most of the islands and atolls had been sighted and plotted on navigation charts by 1815, with the exception of a few northern islands.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=86}}</ref>

Russian explorer [[Otto von Kotzebue]] spent three months exploring the [[Ratak|Ratak Chain]] in early 1817, and returned to explore the islands on two occasions in 1824 and 1825.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=193–194}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=88–90}}</ref> According to Kotzebue's account, the Marshallese people showed few signs of western influence on his first visit in 1817. He gifted the islanders metal knives and hatchets and set up a temporary forge to craft fishhooks and harpoons. He also introduced new crops, including yams, as well as livestock, including pigs, goats, dogs, and cats. Kotzebue also noted that in 1817, Lamari, the [[Iroijlaplap|iroij]] of [[Aur Atoll]], had successfully conquered the other atolls of northern Ratak Chain and was preparing to go to war with Majuro Atoll.<ref name="Hezel9294" /> On his return trips in the 1820s, Kotzebue found that the Marshallese were still tending to crops that he had given them, but that the livestock and metal tools were concentrated among the island chieftains. He also found that the metal hatchets had played a decisive role in Lamari's victory over the people of Majuro; by the time of Kotzebue's second visit, Lamari was planning to further expand his power and begin making incursions into the [[Ralik|Ralik Chain]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=94}}</ref>

==Early colonialism==
In February 1824, the American [[whaler]] ''[[Globe (1815 whaleship)|Globe]]'' anchored at [[Mili Atoll]] after the crew mutinied and killed the ship's officers. While the mutineers were ashore, five dissenting crew members made off with the ship and marooned the mutineers. Two years later, the American navy schooner ''[[USS Dolphin (1821)|Dolphin]]'' arrived and found that mutineers had been massacred by the Marshallese due to their brutal treatment of the local women.<ref>{{harvnb|Beardslee|1870|p=2}}</ref> The only survivors were two boys, who had been spared and adopted by the Marshallese.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=197–199}}</ref>

From the 1830s through the 1850s, the Marshallese Islanders became increasingly hostile to western vessels, possibly because of violent punishments that sea captains exacted for theft as well as the [[Blackbirding|abduction]] of Marshallese people for sale into slavery on Pacific plantations.<ref name="Hezel200"/> In 1833, the inhabitants of [[Ebon Atoll]] seized a dozen crew members of the British whaler ''Elizabeth'' when they went ashore. The sailors were never seen again. In 1834, the captain of a trading schooner and two of his crew members were killed at [[Bikini Atoll]]. Three vessels were sent to search for the captain, and when the [[Hawaiian Kingdom|Hawaiian]] [[brig]] ''Waverly'' discovered evidence of his death, the crew killed 30 Marshallese hostages in retaliation. In 1835, the inhabitants of [[Namdrik Atoll]] boarded the Massachusetts whaler ''Awashonks'', killing the captain and five crew members before their iroij was killed by a musket shot. The inhabitants of Mili Atoll attacked whalers in 1837 and 1844.<ref name="Hezel199">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=199}}</ref> In 1845, a fight broke out on the deck of the ''Naiad'' after the captain violently punished a native for stealing from the ship.<ref name="Beardslee">{{harvnb|Beardslee|1870|p=3}}</ref> Several Marshallese were killed and four crew members were seriously wounded.<ref name="Hezel199"/> In 1850, two passengers of the ''William Melville'' were killed after going ashore at [[Kwajalein Atoll]]. In 1851 and 1852, the Marshallese attacked three ships and massacred their crews: the ''Glencoe'' at Ebon, the ''Sea Nymph'' at [[Jaluit Atoll]], and an unnamed ship at Namdrik.<ref name="Hezel200">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=200}}</ref> There were no survivors from the ''Glencoe'', and only one ''Sea Nymph'' crew member escaped.<ref name="Beardslee"/> By some accounts, both ships were abducting Marshallese women to sell to plantation owners in other parts of the Pacific.<ref name="Hezel200"/>

European and American missionaries and traders had peaceful contact with the Marshallese beginning at Ebon Atoll in the mid-1850s. The atoll saw increased ship traffic and exposure to foreigners beginning, which also led to outbreaks of western diseases. In February 1859, an [[influenza]] outbreak killed several commoners on Ebon. In 1861, [[measles]] and influenza outbreaks occurred on the island, and in 1863, a [[typhoid fever]] outbreak killed several islanders.<ref name="Hezel 1983 206">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=206}}</ref>

===Missionary activity===
In 1855, [[American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions]] assigned George Pierson to its mission in Micronesia. He stopped at [[Ailinglaplap Atoll]] and met iroijlaplap Kaibuke before making his way to [[Kosrae]], where we worked with 50 Marshallese castaways and learned the Marshallese language. In November 1857, Pierson, [[Edward Doane]] and their families returned to Marshalls to establish a mission at Ebon.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=200–201}}</ref> The atoll's population fluctuated as Kaibuke's fleet came and went to exact tribute from his vassals; the frequent comings and goings from the atoll have helped to spread the missionaries' sermons to other islands.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=203}}</ref> Within the first few years of the mission, the missionaries noticed social changes taking place on Ebon. Women were permitted to attend certain religious feasts for the first time, and traditional burial rites fell out of practice. While the Marshallese continued to practice tattooing, some felt guilty about the practice and stopped carrying out the rites publicly. Islanders also began to observe the Christian injunction against work on the weekly sabbath.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=205}}</ref> By 1876, a traveller noted that most Marshallese women on Ebon wore western dresses and jumpers, and many men wore trousers instead of traditional grass skirts.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=219–220}}</ref>

Pierson and his wife left Ebon for their health in 1859, and Doane left in 1863, having sent his family to Hawaii two years earlier.<ref name="Hezel 1983 206"/> Both were replaced by [[Native Hawaiians|Native Hawaiian]] missionaries, who ran a mission school and printed Marshallese-language bibles.<ref name="Hezel 1983 208">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=208}}</ref> Ten Ebon islanders were baptized in 1863, and the number increased to over 100 by 1870. By 1865, mission churches and schools had opened on Jaluit and Namdrik. Missions spread to Mili and [[Majuro]] in 1869, and to [[Arno Atoll|Arno]] and [[Maloelap Atoll]]s by 1875, at which point more than 200 Marshall Islanders had been baptized.<ref name="Hezel 1983 209">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=209}}</ref> By the mid-1870s, most island churches were staffed by Marshall Islanders who had been trained in the mission schools.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=210}}</ref>

While the church was popular among commoners, the Marshallese nobles became increasingly hostile to Christianity after Kaibuke's death in the 1863 [[typhoid fever]] outbreak.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=206; 208}}</ref> Many of the chiefs stopped church services, and some retaliated against converts. One Marshallese noble woman burned the houses of converts. Francis Hezel speculates that the nobility may have seen increasing literacy and access to new information among the commoners as a threat to their authority, fueling increased hostility to Christianity,<ref name="Hezel 1983 208"/> and notes an 1870 case in which a Christian commoner publicly chastised his island's chief for leading young girls astray and went unpunished.<ref name="Hezel 1983 209"/>

===Western commercial interests===
[[File:HH1883 pg123 Hafen von Jaluit, Marshall-Inseln.jpg|alt=Jaluit station, Marshall Islands, ca. 1880. Picture published in Südsee-Erinnerungen, p 123.|thumb|German trading station at [[Jaluit Atoll]] with a Marshallese ''[[Walap|korkor]]'' outrigger canoe in the foreground, c. 1880<ref>{{harvnb|Mückler|2016|p=105}}</ref>]]

In 1859, the German firm Hoffschlaeger & Stapenhorst sent two traders to establish a trading post at [[Ebon Atoll]]. In 1861, they built a coconut oil factory on the island.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=210–211}}</ref> In 1863, the firm suffered serious financial setbacks and withdrew from the Marshall Islands, partially due to the sinking of one of its ships while leaving Ebon. One of the traders, {{ill|Adolph Capelle|de|Georg Eduard Adolph Capelle}}, set up an independent trading firm on the island by partnering with Anton Jose DeBrum, a Portuguese whaler who arrived in 1864. Both men married local women and developed strong connections with both the Marshall Islanders and the missionaries.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=213}}</ref> Their firm, Capelle & Co., entered into an agreement to sell coconut [[copra]] to [[Johann Cesar VI. Godeffroy|Godeffroy & Son]] of [[Hamburg]],<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=214}}</ref> a company which pioneered the production of copra in Samoa and Tonga and held a large share of Pacific copra trade.<ref>{{harvnb|Bollard|1981|p=7}}</ref> Godeffroy exported copra to Europe where it was processed into animal feed and coconut oil, which was used in soap and candle manufacturing.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=211–212}}</ref> The German firms traded western goods to Marshallese chiefs in exchange for coconuts, which Marshallese commoners harvested as tribute for the chiefs.<ref name="Hezel216">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=216}}</ref>

In 1873, Capelle & Co. moved its headquarters to [[Jaluit Atoll|Jaluit]], which was the home of [[Kabua the Great|Kabua]], a powerful [[iroijlaplap|iroij]] and disputed successor of Kaibuke.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=215}}</ref> Godeffroy & Son also established trading posts on five islands in 1873 with a main office on Jaluit,<ref>{{harvnb|Firth|1973|p=12}}</ref> but the [[Panic of 1873|European stock market crash]] later that year caused the firm to cut back its operations. Capelle dominated the copra market in the early years, but in 1876, [[Hernsheim & Co]]. and New Zealand merchant Thomas Farrell both began copra trading in the Marshall Islands.<ref name="Hezel216"/> The increased competition set off a price war that disrupted the industry and proved advantageous for Marshallese suppliers. The firms also began selling the Marshallese previously prohibited goods, including alcohol, firearms, and munitions, despite the missionaries' complaints.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=223}}</ref>

[[File:German colonial album 1880s img26.jpg|thumb|The offices of the Pacific Navigation Co. on Jaluit in the late 1880s<ref>{{harvnb|Mückler|2016|p=244}}</ref>]]

By 1878, Hernsheim & Co. had emerged as the dominant firm in the copra trade. While Capelle & Co. lost market share, Capelle and DeBrum purchased the entirety of [[Likiep Atoll]] as a copra plantation to control their buying price and supply of copra. Capelle & Co. also diversified its interests to include shipbuilding and importing. Farrell went bankrupt in 1877, and his assets were acquired by [[Auckland]] firm Henderson & Macfarlane.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=225–226}}</ref> Godeffroy & Son went bankrupt in 1879, and in 1880, its Pacific interests were acquired by the German Trading and Plantation Company of the South Sea Islands in Hamburg ({{langx|de|Deutsche Handels- und Plantagen-Gesellschaft Der Südee Inseln zu Hamburg}}), also known as DHPG.<ref>{{harvnb|Bollard|1981|p=16}}</ref> The world market price of copra dropped in 1882; Capelle & Co. sold seven of its stations in the Marshalls to DHPG and made an agreement to exclusively sell copra to Hernsheim & Co.<ref name="Hezel304">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=304}}</ref> By 1885, the German firms DHPG and Hernsheim & Co. controlled two-thirds of the copra trade in the Marshall Islands, with the rest split between Henderson & Macfarlane of Auckland, Crawford & Co. of [[San Francisco]], and the Pacific Navigation Company of [[Honolulu]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=46}}</ref>

====Blackbirding====
{{Main|Blackbirding}}
In the 1870s, Marshall Islanders were coerced into working on plantations in other parts of the Pacific, a practice was known as "[[blackbirding]]". In 1871, the ships ''Eugene'' and ''Carl'' kidnapped men at Ailinglaplap and Mili Atolls, respectively.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=237–238}}</ref> In 1872, trader [[Bully Hayes|William Henry "Bully" Hayes]] kidnapped women on Mili while pirating the stations of business rivals.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=235}}</ref> Several blackbirding ships cruised the northern Marshalls specifically to obtain women that they could sell into [[sexual slavery]] in Fiji.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=237}}</ref> Mortality rates among Micronesian laborers in Fiji and Samoa were high, and few returned home.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=239}}</ref> The labor trade in Marshall Islands declined somewhat after the British government passed the Pacific Islander Protection Act 1872, but Jaluit continued to serve as a depot for transporting [[Micronesians#Kiribati people|Gilbertese]] laborers and some Marshallese were transported to Hawaiian plantations as late as 1882.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=237; 239–240}}</ref>

===Marshallese politics===
[[File:HH1883 pg143 Kabua, König von Jaluit (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|[[Kabua the Great|Kabua]] in western clothes, c. 1880]]

After the death of [[iroijlaplap]] Kaibuke during the typhoid outbreak of 1863, his two nephews Loiak and [[Kabua the Great|Kabua]] disputed who should succeed him as the paramount chief of the southern [[Ralik|Ralik Chain]]. Loiak was the iroij of [[Ebon Atoll]] and the elder nephew, who traditionally would have succeeded his uncle, but Kabua, the iroij of [[Jaluit Atoll]], married Kaibuke's widow, making him the step-uncle and guardian of his elder cousin.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=221–222}}</ref> Both chiefs sought support from foreigners by befriending missionaries and working with German copra traders in order to maintain influence.<ref name="Hezel222">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=222}}</ref>

The dispute remained peaceful for twelve years, but in September 1876, the conflict nearly erupted into violence. While both chiefs were staying on Ebon, copra trader James Lyle Young reported witnessing a mob of Loiak's followers wielding muskets and preparing to attack Kabua's followers across the lagoon. Kabua fled to his land on Jaluit rather than engaging in battle.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=221}}</ref> In the following months, rumors circulated that Kabua would return and start a war. Loiak staged frequent military drills on Ebon and stockpiled weapons in late 1876, but Kabua's invasion never occurred.<ref name="Hezel222"/><ref>{{harvnb|Fitzpatrick|2022|p=303}}</ref> In May 1880, Loiak's followers invaded Jaluit to challenge Kabua, who prospered from the copra trade and whom an 1878 German treaty had recognized as the "King of the Ralik Islands." The two armies met and carried firearms but did not fight, and there were no casualties. Loiak's followers returned to Ebon several days later;<ref name="Hezel 1983 302–303">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=302–303}}</ref> Kabua fled to his home at [[Ailinglaplap Atoll]], though he later returned to Jaluit.<ref>{{harvnb|Fitzpatrick|2022|p=305}}</ref>

In the late 1870s and 1880s, armed conflicts occurred between rival chiefs on both the [[Majuro]] and [[Arno Atoll]]s. On Majuro, iroij Jebrik and Rimi fought over the paramount chieftainship for several years, leaving at least 10 islanders dead before [[Cyprian Bridge]] of the passing British warship [[HMS Espiegle (1880)|HMS ''Espiegle'']] mediated a peace treaty in 1883. In 1884, Bridge also negotiated an end to a conflict between iroij Lekman and Lijiwirak on Arno, which had been ongoing since 1878. Both conflicts had disrupted copra production and caused famines as war parties destroyed rivals' coconut groves and other property. Copra traders resorted to selling firearms and ammunition to maintain profits.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=293–297}}</ref>

===Western political interests===
[[File:Flagge der Ralik-Inseln.svg|thumb|Flag of the [[Ralik|Ralik Islands]] made for the November 29, 1878, treaty signing with Germany. The Ralik Chain historically was not a unified political entity, and the flag shared the same colors as the [[flag of the German Empire]].<ref name="Hezel47"/>]]

In 1875, the British and German governments conducted a series of secret negotiations to divide the western Pacific in [[Sphere of influence|spheres of influence]] and counter American expansion in the region. Germany received northeastern [[New Guinea]], the [[Bismarck Archipelago]], and several island groups of [[Micronesia]], including the Marshall Islands.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=300–301}}</ref> On November 26, 1878, the German warship [[SMS Ariadne (1871)|SMS ''Ariadne'']] anchored at Jaluit to begin treaty negotiations with the iroij of the Ralik Chain. During the second day of negotiations, Captain {{ill|Bartholomäus von Werner|de}} ordered his men to give a military demonstration featuring a bayonet charge, a rapid firing demonstration, and use of artillery blanks, which he later said was intended to "show the islanders, who have not seen anything like it before, the power of the Europeans."<ref>{{harvnb|Fitzpatrick|2022|pp=303–304}}</ref> On November 29, Werner signed a treaty with Kabua and several other Ralik Chain iroij which granted the [[German Empire]] "[[Most favoured nation|most favored nation]]" status in the Ralik Chain and required iroij to guarantee the rights of German citizens. Germany secured a [[fuelling station]] at Jaluit and free use of the atoll's harbor for German vessels.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=298–299}}</ref><ref name="Hezel47">{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=47}}</ref> The German authorities also recognized Kabua as the "King of the Ralik Islands," though the treaty required that disputes between Marshallese and Germans would be arbitrated by German ship captains.<ref name="Hezel 1983 302–303"/>

The German Empire established a [[Consul (representative)|consulate]] on Jaluit in 1880 with Franz Hernsheim, co-founder of Hernsheim & Co., serving as the German consul to the Ralik Chain.<ref>{{harvnb|Storr|2020|p=77}}</ref><ref name="Hezel48"/> The United States made Adolph Capelle its consul to protect the interests of American missionaries.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=302}}</ref>

==German protectorate==
{{see also|German New Guinea}}
[[File:Deutsches Reichsgesetzblatt 1886 031 291.jpg|thumb|German ''[[Reichsgesetzblatt|Reich Law Gazette]]'' proclaiming the protectorate of the Marshall Islands, September 1886<ref name="Storr82"/>]]

Franz Hernsheim and other German business interests petitioned their government to annex the Marshall Islands into the [[German Empire]].<ref name="Hezel304"/> The United Kingdom was the primary naval power in the Pacific,<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=300}}</ref> and the British government agreed to German annexation of the Marshalls in exchange for German recognition of Britain's authority over the [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=304–306}}</ref> On August 29, 1885, [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor]] [[Otto von Bismarck]] authorized the creation of the German [[Protectorate]] of the Marshall Islands.<ref>{{harvnb|Fitzpatrick|2022|p=306}}</ref>

On October 13, 1885, the German [[corvette]] {{SMS|Nautilus|1871|2}} docked at Jaluit to obtain the signatures of [[Iroijlaplap|iroij]] on a treaty of protection.<ref name="Hezel305">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=305}}</ref> On October 15, iroij [[Kabua the Great|Kabua]], Loiak, Nelu, Lagajime, and Launa signed a treaty in German and Marshallese. While the Marshallese text made no distinction of rank between the five chiefs, the German text recognized Kabua as the King of the Marshall Islands, despite the ongoing dispute between Kabua and Loiak over the [[paramount chief]]tainship.<ref>{{harvnb|Fitzpatrick|2022|pp=307–308}}</ref> A company of marines hoisted the [[flag of the German Empire]] over Jaluit, and the ''Nautilus'' performed similar ceremonies at seven other atolls in the Marshalls,<ref name="Hezel305"/> obtaining the signatures of 18 iroij, most of whom were trading partners of Hernsheim. The language of the treaty framed the creation of protectorate as a request from the iroij to seek defense from colonization by other western powers and to continue German trade.<ref>{{harvnb|Storr|2020|pp=80–81}}</ref> Several pro-American iroij refused to recognize the German authority until threatened with naval force in mid-1886.<ref>{{harvnb|Fitzpatrick|2022|p=309}}</ref>

[[File:German colonial album 1880s img12.jpg|thumb|German colonial administration building at Jaluit Atoll in 1886. {{interlanguage link|Wilhelm Knappe|de}}, the first [[Reichskommissar|Imperial Governor]], stands on the left.<ref>{{harvnb|Mückler|2016|p=188}}</ref>]]

In April 1886, the [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Reichstag]] passed a law to create a legal foundation for colonial protectorates, giving the kaiser and his appointed governor the authority to make laws by [[Decree|ordinance]] which did not necessarily have to follow the imperial constitution.<ref name="Storr82">{{harvnb|Storr|2020|p=82}}</ref> In September 1886, an imperial ordinance established the Protectorate of the Marshall Islands, and declared that German consular law would apply to all residents of the Marshall Islands, including indigenous Marshallese. The ordinance also gave the German chancellor the discretionary authority to apply extraconstitutional ordinances to the Marshallese.<ref>{{harvnb|Storr|2020|p=84}}</ref>

Following the 1886 [[Anglo-German Declarations about the Western Pacific Ocean|Anglo-German Declarations]], [[Nauru]] fell within the German sphere of influence in Western Pacific and was incorporated into the Marshall Islands protectorate on April 16, 1888.<ref>{{harvnb|Firth|1978|p=37}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Storr|2020|p=91}}</ref>

===The Jaluit Company===
{{See also|Jaluit Company}}
Bismarck planned to leave the administration of colonies to [[chartered company|chartered companies]] rather than having the German government directly administer overseas protectorates.<ref>{{harvnb|Townsend|1930|pp=124–125}}</ref> Hernsheim & Co. and DHPG both initially opposed administering the colony, but relented to the German government in December 1887 and merged their interests to create the [[Joint-stock company|joint-stock]] [[Jaluit Company]].<ref>{{harvnb|Townsend|1930|p=151}}</ref> The new company began administering the colony in January 1888.<ref name="Hezel48">{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=48}}</ref> The company had the right to be consulted on all new laws and ordinances and nominated all colonial administrative staff, subject to approval by the German chancellor.<ref>{{harvnb|Storr|2020|p=86}}</ref> The protectorate's administrative staff consisted of a [[Reichskommissar|governor]], a secretary, and six colonial police officers. The company was responsible for paying administrative expenses for the protectorate, and collected commercial license fees and an annual [[poll tax]]. The taxation system was built upon the precolonial [[tribute]] system; iroij collected the taxes in copra on the company's behalf and were entitled to one-third of the sum total.<ref name="Hezel48"/><ref name="Firth25">{{harvnb|Firth|1973|p=25}}</ref>

The Jaluit Company was the longest-lasting and most profitable German colonial joint-stock company. Profit margins rose from 5% in 1892 to 12% in 1900 and 20% in 1906. The company's licensing fees pushed out American and British competition; Crawford & Co. and Henderson & Macfarlane sold their holdings to the Jaluit Company in 1893 and 1899, respectively.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=50}}</ref> After acquiring the trading stations of the British Pacific Islands Company in 1901, the Jaluit Company held a monopoly in the region.<ref name="Firth25"/> Australian firm [[Burns Philp|Burns, Philp & Co.]] complained that the harbor fees it paid in Marshallese ports were excessive, and the British government protested the Jaluit Company's practices as a violation of the Anglo-German Declarations' free-trade provision.<ref name="Firth26">{{harvnb|Firth|1973|p=26}}</ref> On March 31, 1906, the German government assumed direct control and reorganized the Marshall Islands and Nauru as part of the protectorate of [[German New Guinea]].<ref>{{harvnb|Firth|1978|p=39}}</ref> As compensation, the Jaluit Company received a 10% share of Pacific Phosphate Company, which began [[Phosphate mining in Banaba and Nauru|mining operations on Nauru]] that year.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=104}}</ref> The company generated the largest dividends of any German company in the Pacific through the phosphate trade, rising from 30% in 1907 to 84% in 1913.<ref name="Firth26"/> Even after the monopoly ended, the company continued to dominate the Micronesian copra trade.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=128}}</ref>

===Life in the protectorate===
{{multiple image |width= |direction= |image1=German colonial album 1880s img42.jpg |alt1=Five women in traditional Marshallese clothing |image2=German colonial album 1880s img31.jpg |alt2=Three Marshallese women and a child in western clothes |footer=Marshallese women in the 1880s wearing traditional jaki-ed woven mats and western-style dresses<ref>{{harvnb|Mückler|2016|p=214; 240}}</ref>}}
[[File:German colonial album 1880s img19.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Gasthaus|gastwirtschaft]]'' Germania at [[Jabor (Marshall Islands)|Jabor]], Jaluit<ref>{{harvnb|Mückler|2016|p=195}}</ref>]]

During the protectorate period, most islanders could read and write the Marshallese language and do arthimetic. In 1898, 25 mission schools operated in the islands and had 1,300 students.<ref name="Hezel54"/> The German Catholic [[Missionaries of the Sacred Heart]] arrived at Jaluit in 1899, and while few Marshallese converted to Catholicism, the Catholic schools on Jaluit, Arno, and Likiep generated high demand. While Protestant missionary schools provided a three-year education, the Catholic schools gave six to eight years, including lessons in the German language.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|pp=124–125}}</ref>

German accounts from the protectorate period note that aspects of pre-colonial Marshallese culture were being lost in all but the remote northern atolls with little missionary influence. Most women wore smocks or dresses instead of going bare chested and wearing skirts made from woven jaki-ed mats. Few men continued the practice of wearing their hair in a topknot. Traditional crafts such as sharkskin drums and stick charts fell out of use as western products because more readily available.<ref name="Hezel54"/>

In 1900, Marshallese commoners staged a [[general strike]] to demand higher pay from the Jaluit Company. The iroij pressured most laborers to return to work, but church groups on [[Mejit Island|Mejit]] and [[Namdrik Atoll|Namdrik]] organized staunch resistance to the company. The company lowered its buying price for copra from the islands, which led the islanders to cease production altogether. The German authorities arrested seven leaders of the strike and blockaded the islands from 1901 to 1904.<ref>{{harvnb|Fitzpatrick|2022|p=312}}</ref> The islanders held out, and the company doubled wages in 1904.<ref name="Hezel54">{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=54}}</ref> Marshallese dockworkers on Jaluit staged a similarly successful strike in 1911 to double their wages.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=130}}</ref>

The Marshallese population declined by more than 30% during the protectorate period, from 13,000-15,000 prior to annexation to 9,200 in 1908. A 1905 [[typhoon]] killed approximately 200 people on Jaluit, Arno, and Mili. Hundreds of islanders died in continued outbreaks of western diseases, such as [[dysentery]] outbreaks on Ebon which killed 150 people in 1907 and 400 in 1908.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=125}}</ref> The western population remained small throughout the protectorate period. Approximately 180 westerners lived in the Marshall Islands in 1914, including 76 Germans.<ref>{{harvnb|Louis|1967|p=11}}</ref>

==Japanese mandate==
{{see also|South Seas Mandate}}
[[File:Jabwor port, Marshall Islands in 1932.png|thumb|Ships in the port of [[Jabor (Marshall Islands)|Jabor]], Jaluit Atoll, 1932]]

At the outbreak of [[World War I]] in August 1914, the United Kingdom and [[Empire of Japan]] [[Anglo-Japanese Alliance|were allies]]. Britain initially declined Japanese offers of naval assistance against Germany, because the British government wanted to prevent [[Nanshin-ron|Japanese southward expansion]] into the Pacific. However, on August 7, the British Foreign Office requested that Japan help track down and destroy the German [[East Asia Squadron]] following reports of attacks on British ships. The request provided a pretext for the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] to [[Japanese entry into World War I|invade Germany's Pacific colonies]] in Micronesia and [[Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory|Shandong]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=147}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1992|pp=39–40}}</ref>

Japanese troops under Admiral [[Yamaya Tanin]] arrived at [[Enewetak Atoll|Enewetak]] on September 29, 1914, and [[Jaluit Atoll|Jaluit]] on September 30. An occupation force of three officers and 100 Japanese troops were stationed on Jaluit on October 3.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1992|p=42}}</ref> In October, the British and Japanese governments agreed that Japan would be responsible for operations north of the equator, while British, [[Military history of Australia during World War I|Australian]] and [[Military history of New Zealand during World War I|New Zealander]] forces operated south of the equator. The agreement placed most of German Micronesia under Japanese military control, while Nauru came under British control.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1992|p=44}}</ref> In February 1917, the British and Japanese made a [[Secret treaty|secret agreement]] that Japan would annex Micronesia after the [[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]] won the war.<ref>{{harvnb|Louis|1967|p=79}}</ref> Japan later made similar agreements with France, Italy, and Russia.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1992|pp=46–47}}</ref><ref name="Hezel154">{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=154}}</ref>

In January 1919, Japanese delegate [[Makino Nobuaki]] proposed that Japan annex Germany's Pacific island colonies at the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]]. United States President [[Woodrow Wilson]] opposed the annexation of German colonies by the Allied Powers and argued for a system of [[League of Nations mandate]]s. The Australian delegates opposed Wilson's proposal, and the conference adopted a compromise under which mandates would be divided into classes based on size and level of development. Germany's Pacific colonies north of the equator became the Japanese [[South Seas Mandate]], a Class C mandate, which due to small size, sparse population, remoteness, and low level of development was to be governed under Japanese laws as if it were an integral part of Japanese territory.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=155}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=182}}</ref> Germany ceded the Marshall Islands to Japan with the signing of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] on June 28, 1919.<ref>{{harvnb|Purcell|1976|p=195}}</ref> In August 1919, a commission determined that mandates were also not to be militarized and that Japan was not to continue expanding its territory further into the Pacific.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1992|p=56}}</ref>

The United States government and military opposed Japanese annexation of Germany's Micronesian colonies and were suspicious of a secret Japanese military build up in Micronesia. The government recruited some of the few American scientists in Micronesia to gather strategic information.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|pp=154–158}}</ref> In 1921, geologist [[William Herbert Hobbs]] gathered intelligence while on an expedition to collect coral and volcanic samples in the Marshall Islands.<ref>{{harvnb|Ballendorf|1984|p=91}}</ref> In 1922 and 1923, American intelligence officer [[Earl Hancock Ellis]] posed as a commercial traveler and undertook a reconnaissance tour of Micronesia, including several months the Marshall Islands.<ref>{{harvnb|Ballendorf|1984|p=93}}</ref>

===Administration===
[[File:Nan'yo-cho Jaluit Branch Office.JPG|thumb|South Seas Government branch office, Jaluit, c. 1932]]

In December 1914, the Japanese military created the Provisional South Seas Defense Force to administer Micronesia from its command post at [[Chuuk Lagoon|Truk Atoll]]. The military administration divided Micronesia into six naval districts, each governed by a [[Ranks of the Imperial Japanese Navy|commander]]: the central [[Caroline Islands|Carolines]], governed from Truk; the eastern Carolines, governed from [[Pohnpei|Ponape]]; the [[Northern Mariana Islands|Marianas]], governed from [[Saipan]]; the Marshalls, governed from Jaluit; [[Palau]], governed from [[Koror (city)|Koror]]; and [[Yap]].<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1992|p=64; 70}}</ref> The administration had orders to initially retain as many German-era laws as possible to enable a smooth transition to Japanese rule,<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=150}}</ref> though Japanese laws replaced German laws in 1915.<ref>{{harvnb|Hiery|1995|p=150}}</ref> The Japanese initially requested that German officials continue to work on behalf of the Japanese occupation, but later reversed course and deported most German settlers and officials in June 1915.<ref>{{harvnb|Hiery|1995|pp=40–41}}</ref>

The military government implemented an embargo on most foreign ships, including those of its allies, from anchoring at harbors in the Marshall Islands. Non-Japanese foreigners needed to file a multi-step application to visit the islands with no guarantee that the government would grant permission.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=157}}</ref> International mail service to Micronesia halted from 1914 to 1917 and resumed after the Anglo-Japanese secret agreement that Japan would retain the territories it had occupied after the war.<ref>{{harvnb|Hiery|1995|p=135}}</ref>

During the first months of the occupation, Japanese scientists, agricultural researchers, medical specialists and other experts and scholars conducted an extensive survey of German Micronesia to assess the islands' economic potential.<ref>{{harvnb|Hiery|1995|p=131}}</ref><ref name="Hezel151">{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=151}}</ref> The survey's final report to the Japanese government suggested that the islands' primary value was strategic, because they could enable future southward expansion.<ref>{{harvnb|Hiery|1995|p=132}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=183}}</ref> In other parts of Micronesia the Japanese undertook novel development initiatives, but the Marshall Islands had the most limited economic potential in Micronesia.<ref>{{harvnb|Hiery|1995|p=133}}</ref> The Japanese adopted the German system of having local iroij collect a poll tax in [[copra]].<ref name="Hezel151"/>

The Japanese navy garrisons withdrew from Micronesia and closed their headquarters at Truk in 1921, and the civilian {{nihongo|South Seas Government|南洋廳|Nan'yō-chō}} led by [[Toshiro Tezuka]] set up its headquarters in Koror, Palau, in April 1922.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=166}}</ref> The Marshall Islands were one of six branch governments of the civil administration, and the administrative center of the district remained in Jaluit.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1992|p=70}}</ref> The South Seas Government reported directly to the [[Prime Minister of Japan]] until 1929, when the government came under the authority of the [[Ministry of Colonial Affairs (Japan)|Ministry of Colonial Affairs]].<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=185}}</ref> The Japanese administration employed a much larger staff than the Germans.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=187}}</ref> They also attempted to weaken the iroij by prohibiting any chief from having landholdings on more than one island.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=192}}</ref> The government controlled most of the land on Jaluit, but the other Marshall Islands were among the only places in the South Seas Mandate where the government did not directly control the majority of the land.<ref name="Hezel191">{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=191}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Poyer|Falgout|Carucci|p=25|2000}}</ref>

===Relations with Marshall Islanders===
[[File:Jabwor Public school, Marshall Islands (from a book published in 1932).png|thumb|Public school in Jabor, c. 1932]]

The government undertook a propaganda campaign to convince Micronesians that Japanese and Micronesian people were the same race, and the authorities encouraged the Marshallese to assimilate into Japanese culture.<ref>{{harvnb|Hiery|1995|p=147}}</ref> In 1915, the military administration instituted a three-year public school system that provided education the Japanese language and gradually replaced the missionary schools.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|pp=151–152}}</ref> Students were forbidden to speak Marshallese in the schools and could receive [[corporal punishment]] for not speaking Japanese.<ref>{{harvnb|Hiery|1995|p=143}}</ref> More than half of school lessons were devoted to Japanese language and cultural instruction.<ref name="Hezel173174">{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|pp=173–174}}</ref> The government implemented a system of using boats to transport students from smaller and more remote islands to schools on the larger islands, and school books and materials were free.<ref>{{harvnb|Hiery|1995|p=142}}</ref> By 1935, public school attendance was mandatory for all children within range of a school.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=188}}</ref>

The government also sponsored {{nihongo|youth associations|青年団|seinendan}} devoted to Japanese activities, such as [[track and field]], [[Baseball in Japan|baseball]], handicrafts, and song competitions.<ref name="Hezel173174"/> Beginning in 1915, elite Marshall Islanders received free trips to Japan to expose them to Japanese culture.<ref>{{harvnb|Hiery|1995|p=146}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=153}}</ref> Students also received tours of Japan from 1917.<ref>{{harvnb|Ziomek|2019|p=262}}</ref> Islanders were responsible for some of the costs of the trips from 1926, and the tour program continued until 1939.<ref>{{harvnb|Ziomek|2019|p=193}}</ref>

In practice, Japanese colonial policies treated the Marshallese as [[second-class citizen]]s. Schools for Marshallese students provided a shorter education than schools for Japanese settlers in the mandate. Post-primary education for many islanders was restricted to vocational training. Few islanders could get employment in the colonial bureaucracy and they tended to receive lower wages than Japanese settlers performing the same jobs.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=189}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Poyer|Falgout|Carucci|p=28|2000}}</ref>

The Japanese had less presence and impact on the remoter atolls, where only one or two traders might be in residence at any time. Islanders on remote islands had infrequent interactions with Japanese fishermen and colonial policemen.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=190}}</ref> However, islanders in remote villages gained increased access to Japanese manufactured goods through the copra trade.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=191}}</ref>

The islands of the South Seas Mandate featured in the popular culture of interwar Japan. One of the earliest examples was the song {{nihongo|"The Chieftain's Daughter"|酋長の娘|Shūchō no musume}}, which tells the story of a Japanese man who is rescued from drowning by a Marshallese woman. He falls in love with her and dances at a headhunter feast to win her hand in marriage. The song was adapted as a 1930 film of the same title.<ref>{{harvnb|Baskett|2008|pp=54–55}}</ref> Scholars such as Naoto Sudo and Michael Baskett have argued that the story presents a contrast between romance and exoticized peril.<ref>{{harvnb|Ziomek|2019|pp=278–279}}</ref> Other Japanese media set in an exoticized fantasy of the South Seas Islands included the popular songs "Banana Maiden" and "South Seas Maiden" as well as the [[manga]] series ''[[Bōken Dankichi|Daring Dankichi]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Baskett|2008|p=55}}</ref>

===Japanese settlement and development===
{{see also|Japanese settlement in the Marshall Islands}}
[[File:Japanese festival in Jaluit (pre-WWII).jpg|thumb|Men carry a ''[[mikoshi]]'' in front of the Jaluit office of NBK during a ''[[National Foundation Day (Japan)#Kigensetsu|Kigensetsu]]'' celebration.<ref>{{harvnb|Tobin|1970|p=26}}</ref>]]

The Marshall Islands were the largest producer of copra in the Japanese mandate,<ref>{{Harvnb|Poyer|Falgout|Carucci|p=24|2000}}</ref><ref name="Hezel 2003 195">{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=195}}</ref> copra being the Marshalls' largest industry as well as the second most important commodity in the mandate after sugarcane, which was largely produced in the [[Northern Mariana Islands]].<ref>{{harvnb|Purcell|1976|p=203}}</ref> Other industries also grew in the Marshalls during the period, including phosphorus mining on Ebon<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=199}}</ref> as well as commercial tuna fishing and canning.<ref name="Hezel 2003 195"/>

The Jaluit Company ceased operations in March 1915, and the Japanese {{nihongo|South Seas Trading Company|南洋貿易会社|Nan'yō Bōeki Kaisha}}, also called NBK, and the Australian [[Burns Philp|Burns, Philp & Co.]] took over the copra trade.<ref name="Hiery135">{{harvnb|Hiery|1995|pp=135; 151–152}}</ref> NBK was able to build upon and expand the commercial infrastructure that German companies had built in the islands. The Japanese navy also granted NBK a monopoly on transporting military provisions and personnel between Japan and the islands.<ref>{{harvnb|Purcell|1976|p=210}}</ref> In 1918, the authorities attempted to increase copra yield by declaring that all land which had not been planted with coconut trees within three years would become government property.<ref>{{harvnb|Hiery|1995|p=134}}</ref>

Japanese, Koreans, and [[Ryukyuan people|Okinawans]] settled in the Marshall Islands, although they formed one of the smallest settler communities in the South Seas Mandate. In 1937, the immigrant population of the Marshalls was approximately 500, while Palau had 11,000, and Truk and Ponape had 3,600 each.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=190}}</ref> Marshall Islanders remained the majority of the population throughout the mandate period, unlike Palau and the Mariana Islands, where Japanese settlers became the majority.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=197}}</ref> While cities significantly grew and developed in other parts of the Japanese mandate, the administrative center at [[Jabor (Marshall Islands)|Jabor]], Jaluit, grew more modestly during the Japanese period. The town included port infrastructure, government offices, NBK offices and warehouses, a post office, a public school, a communications post, a hospital, a power plant, and a settlement of Okinawan fishermen, but lacked many of the commercial businesses and social establishments built in areas with larger immigrant populations.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=201}}</ref> While the immigrant labor force was small, their presence drove wages in the Marshall Islands down to pre-German colonial levels.<ref name="Hezel191"/>

===Military buildup===
On March 27, 1933, Japan declared its intentions to withdraw from the League of Nations after the league denounced the [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria]]. Japan officially withdrew from the league in 1935 but continued to control the islands.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|pp=207–208}}</ref> Japan maintained an ambiguous policy about the Pacific Islands until World War II, signaling that it intended to continue administering the islands while also remaining silent about whether the islands had become Japanese territory.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=199}}</ref>

Japan began rearming and building up its military following its [[Second Sino-Japanese War|invasion of China]] in 1937. The Japanese navy reestablished itself in the South Seas Mandate that year and undertook the construction of civilian airfields.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=215}}</ref> Military planners initially discounted the Marshalls as too distant and indefensible for extensive fortification, but as Japan developed long-range bombers, the islands became useful as a forward base to attack Australia, British colonies, and the United States. In 1939 and 1940, the navy built airfields on [[Kwajalein Atoll|Kwajalein]], [[Maloelap Atoll|Maloelap]], and [[Wotje Atoll]]s as well as seaplane facilities at Jaluit.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=217}}</ref> The navy also expanded and modernized ports in the Marshalls.<ref name="Hezel218">{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=218}}</ref> In February 1941, ships and troops of the [[4th Fleet (Imperial Japanese Navy)|Japanese 4th Fleet]] began arriving to garrison the newly fortified islands.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=202}}</ref> The Japanese headquarters in Marshalls were at Kwajalein.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=219}}</ref>

The government conscripted hundreds of Korean laborers to build the airfields and ports. Marshallese men were also conscripted to work in military camps.<ref name="Hezel218"/>

==World War II==
{{further|Pacific Islands home front during World War II}}
[[File:Kwajalein-closing in.jpeg|thumb|right|US troops inspecting a Japanese bunker, [[Kwajalein Atoll]]. 1944.]]

At the outbreak of the [[Pacific War]], the Japanese air raids and landing parties of the [[Battle of Wake Island]] launched from Kwajalein, and the Japanese [[Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands|invasions of the Gilbert Islands]] and [[Japanese occupation of Nauru|Nauru]] both launched from Jaluit.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|pp=220–221}}</ref> On February 1, 1942, the [[United States Pacific Fleet]] carried out the [[Marshalls–Gilberts raids]], which struck Jaluit, Kwajalein, Maloelap, and Wotje. They were the first American air raids on Japanese territory.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|pp=203–204}}</ref>

By 1943, the Japanese navy had built airfields on [[Enewetak Atoll|Enewatak]] and [[Mili Atoll]]s in addition to the pre-war airfields at Kwajalein, Maloelap, and Wotje.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=222}}</ref>

The American invasion of the Marshall Islands began on January 31, 1944, during the [[Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign]]. The Americans simultaneously invaded Majuro and Kwajalein.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=205}}</ref> By autumn 1944, the Americans controlled all of the Marshall Islands, except for Jaluit, Maloelap, Mili, and Wotje.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=207}}</ref> As the American campaign advanced through Micronesia and [[Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign|into the Ryukyu Islands]], the four Japanese-held atolls were cut off from supplies and subject to American bombardment. The garrisons began running out of provisions in late 1944, leading to high casualties from starvation and disease. Of the 4700-man Japanese garrison on the [[Mili Atoll]], 1600 died from starvation and disease while an additional 900 died in American air raids.<ref>{{harvnb|Peattie|1984|p=208}}</ref>

==Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands==
{{see also|Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands}}
Following capture and occupation by the [[United States]] during [[World War II]], the Marshall Islands, along with several other island groups located in [[Micronesia]], passed formally to the United States under [[United Nations]] auspices in 1947 as part of the [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]] established pursuant to [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 21|Security Council Resolution 21]].{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

===United States nuclear testing===
{{main|Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll}}
[[File:Castle Bravo Blast.jpg|thumb|Mushroom cloud from the largest atmospheric [[nuclear test]] the [[United States]] ever conducted, [[Castle Bravo]].]]

From 1946 to 1958, the early years of the [[Cold War]], the United States tested 67 [[nuclear weapons]] at its [[Pacific Proving Grounds]] located in the Marshall Islands,<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/maps/index.html "Nuclear Weapons Test Map"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201015406/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/maps/index.html |date=2017-02-01}}, ''[[Public Broadcasting Service]]''</ref> including the largest atmospheric [[nuclear test]] ever conducted by the U.S., code named [[Castle Bravo]].<ref name="jap">{{cite web|url=http://japanfocus.org/-Yoichi-Funabashi/1576 |title=Islanders Want The Truth About Bikini Nuclear Test |date=13 January 2005 |publisher=Japanfocus.org |access-date=July 4, 2010}}</ref> "The bombs had a total yield of 108,496 [[TNT equivalent|kilotons]], over 7,200 times more powerful than the atomic weapons used during [[World War II]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rmiembassyus.org/Exhib%20Intro.htm|title=Intro|website=Rmiembassyus.org|access-date=2017-08-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525212946/http://www.rmiembassyus.org/Exhib%20Intro.htm|archive-date=2017-05-25|url-status=dead}}</ref> With the 1952 test of the first U.S. [[Teller–Ulam design|hydrogen bomb]], code named "[[Ivy Mike]]," the island of [[Elugelab]] in the [[Enewetak]] atoll was destroyed. In 1956, the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission]] regarded the Marshall Islands as "by far the most contaminated place in the world."<ref>[[Stephanie Cooke]] (2009). ''[[In Mortal Hands: A Cautionary History of the Nuclear Age]]'', Black Inc., p. 168, {{ISBN|978-1-59691-617-3}}.</ref>

Nuclear claims between the U.S. and the Marshall Islands are ongoing, and health effects from these nuclear tests linger.<ref name="jap" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Yamada|first1=Seiji|last2=Akiyama|first2=Matthew|date=2013-01-27|title="For the good of mankind": The legacy of nuclear testing in Micronesia|url=http://www.socialmedicine.info/index.php/socialmedicine/article/view/682|journal=Social Medicine|language=en|volume=8|issue=2|pages=83–92|issn=1557-7112}}</ref> [[Project 4.1]] was a medical study conducted by the United States of those residents of the [[Bikini Atoll]] exposed to [[nuclear fallout|radioactive fallout]]. 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.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Brookings Institution |title=50 Facts About Nuclear Weapons |url=http://www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/nucweapons/50.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719155737/http://www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/nucweapons/50.aspx|archive-date=July 19, 2011|date=July 19, 2011}}</ref><ref name="theguardian.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/02/bikini-atoll-nuclear-test-60-years|title=Bikini Atoll nuclear test: 60 years later and islands still unliveable|agency=Agence France-Press|date=March 1, 2014|access-date=August 22, 2017|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

==Independence==
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2023}}
{{see also|Marshallese Americans}}
[[File:HD.10.136 (10557109523).jpg|thumb|In 1978, the [[United States Department of Energy|U.S. Department of Energy]]'s [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] conducted a radiation survey of crops, soil, water, and livestock on [[Bikini Atoll|Bikini]] and [[Ujelang Atoll]]s.]]

In 1979, the Government of the Marshall Islands was officially established and the country became self-governing.

In 1986, the [[Compact of Free Association]] with the [[United States]] 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 [[United Nations|UN]] officially ended the Trusteeship status pursuant to [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 683|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.<ref name="bbc.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-15598732|title=Marshall Islands profile - Timeline|date=31 July 2017|access-date=22 August 2017|publisher=BBC News}}</ref>

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]] had indicated that the contamination was "near-irreversible".<ref>{{cite news|last=Roy|first=Eleanor Ainge|date=July 15, 2017|title='Quite odd': coral and fish thrive on Bikini Atoll 70 years after nuclear tests|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/15/quite-odd-coral-and-fish-thrive-on-bikini-atoll-70-years-after-nuclear-tests?subid=17310058&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2|access-date=August 22, 2017}}</ref>

In January 2020, [[David Kabua]], son of founding president [[Amata Kabua]], was elected as the new [[President of the Marshall Islands]]. His predecessor [[Hilda Heine]] lost the position after a vote.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-01-06|title=New president for Marshall Islands|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/406763/new-president-for-marshall-islands|access-date=2021-11-23|publisher=[[RNZ]] |language=en-nz}}</ref>

===Climate crisis===
{{Main|Climate change in the Marshall Islands}}
In 2008, extreme waves and high tides caused widespread flooding in the capital city of Majuro and other urban centres, {{convert|3|ft}} above sea level. On Christmas morning in 2008, the government declared a state of emergency.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2008-12-25|title=Marshall atolls declare emergency|language=en-GB|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7799566.stm|access-date=2021-11-23}}</ref> 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 {{convert|1|L|USgal|sp=us}} of water per day. This resulted in the failure of food crops and the spread of diseases such as [[diarrhea]], [[conjunctivitis|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.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-06-14|title=President Obama Signs a Disaster Declaration for the Republic of the Marshall Islands|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/14/president-obama-signs-disaster-declaration-republic-marshall-islands|access-date=2021-11-23|website=whitehouse.gov|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ahlgren|first1=Ingrid|last2=Yamada|first2=Seiji|last3=Wong|first3=Allen|date=2014|title=Rising oceans, climate change, food aid, and human rights in the Marshall Islands|journal=Health and Human Rights|volume=16|issue=1|pages=69–80|issn=2150-4113|pmid=25618915}}</ref>

Following the 2013 emergencies, the [[Foreign minister|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] [[Tony deBrum]] was encouraged by the [[Barack Obama|Obama]] administration in the United States to turn the crises into an opportunity to promote action against [[climate change]]. 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.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-07-02|title=NEWS: Marshall Islands call for "New wave of climate leadership" at upcoming Pacific Islands Forum|url=https://cdkn.org/2013/07/news-marshall-islands-call-for-new-wave-of-climate-leadership-at-upcoming-pacific-islands-forum/|access-date=2021-11-23|publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network|language=en-gb}}</ref>

Rising sea levels are threatening the islands which may render some uninhabitable if sea levels continue to rise. Major flooding occurred in 2014 leading to a state of emergency for Majuro.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://floodlist.com/australia/marshall-islands-king-tide-floods|title=Marshall Islands King Tide Floods – FloodList|website=floodlist.com|access-date=August 22, 2017}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Yamada|first1=Seiji|last2=Burkett|first2=Maxine|last3=Maskarinec|first3=Gregory G.|date=2017-03-10|title=Sea-Level Rise and the Marshallese Diaspora|journal=Environmental Justice|volume=10|issue=4|pages=93–97|doi=10.1089/env.2016.0038|issn=1939-4071}}</ref> The right of residents to do so ends in 2023 unless the Compact with the US is renewed. The [[United States Geological Survey]] 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".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/15/marshall-islands-climate-change-springdale-arkansas|title=Lives in the balance: climate change and the Marshall Islands|date=September 15, 2016|access-date=August 22, 2017|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.com/specials/migrant-crisis/marshall-islands|title=How climate change is forcing a nation to flee|website=MSNBC |access-date=August 22, 2017|date=2016-08-23|archive-date=2017-08-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814215329/http://www.msnbc.com/specials/migrant-crisis/marshall-islands|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/07/marshall-islands-natives-return-mass-exodus-climate-change|title=Despite climate change exodus, some Marshall Islanders head back home|first=Jon|last=Letman|date=December 6, 2016|access-date=August 22, 2017|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y4TeDAAAQBAJ&q=sea+levels++&pg=PA6|title=Republic of the Marshall Islands: 2016 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Republic of the Marshall Islands |date=July 29, 2016|publisher=International Monetary Fund Asia and Pacific Dept |access-date=August 22, 2017|via=Google Books|isbn=9781475520590}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of colonial governors of the Marshall Islands]]
*[[List of United States National Historic Landmarks in United States commonwealths and territories, associated states, and foreign states#NHLs in associated states]]
*[[National Register of Historic Places listings in the Marshall Islands]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
====General====
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*{{cite book |last=Hezel |first=Francis X. |date=1983 |title=The First Taint of Civilization: A History of the Caroline and Marshall Islands in Pre-colonial Days, 1521–1885 |series=Pacific Islands Monograph Series |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824816438}}
*{{cite book |last=Hezel |first=Francis X. |date=2003 |title=Strangers in Their Own Land: A Century of Colonial Rule in the Caroline and Marshall Islands |series=Pacific Islands Monograph Series |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824828042}}

====Prehistory====
*{{cite book|title=The History of Cartography|volume=2.3: Cartography in the Traditional African, American, Arctic, Australian, and Pacific Societies|chapter=Chapter 13: Nautical Cartography and Traditional Navigation in Oceania|chapter-url=http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/HOC/HOC_V2_B3/HOC_VOLUME2_Book3_chapter13.pdf|first=Ben|last=Finney|author-link=Ben Finney|pages=443–492|editor1-first=David|editor1-last=Woodward|editor2-first=G. Malcolm|editor2-last=Lewis|year=1998|location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226907284}}
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*{{cite journal |last1=Shun |first1=Kanalei |last2=Athens |first2=J. Stephen |date=1990 |title=Archaeological Investigations on Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, Micronesia |url=https://micronesica.org/sites/default/files/supp02-19ed.pdf |journal=Micronesica |volume=Suppl. 2 |pages=231–240 |doi= |access-date=August 6, 2023}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Streck |first1=Charles F. |date=1990 |title=Prehistoric Settlement in Eastern Micronesia: Archaeology on Bikini Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands |url=https://micronesica.org/sites/default/files/supp02-22ed.pdf |journal=Micronesica |volume=Suppl. 2 |pages=247–260 |doi= |access-date=August 6, 2023}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Weisler |first1=Marshall I. |date=2000 |title=Burial Artifacts from the Marshall Islands: Description, Dating and Evidence for Extra-archipelago Contacts |url=https://micronesica.org/sites/default/files/6_weisler111.pdf |journal=Micronesica |volume=33 |issue=1/2 |pages=111–136 |doi= |access-date=August 6, 2023}}

====European exploration====
*{{cite book |last1=Beardslee|first1=L. A.|title=Marshall Group: North Pacific Islands|date=1870|publisher=U.S. Bureau of Navigation: Hydrological Office|location=Washington D.C.|access-date=August 25, 2023 |url= http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hnnx9n;view=2up;seq=8;size=125}}
*{{cite book |last=Reséndez |first=Andrés |author-link=Andrés Reséndez |date=2021 |title=Conquering the Pacific: An Unknown Mariner and the Final Great Voyage of the Age of Discovery |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=9781328515971}}
*{{cite book |last=Sharp |first=Andrew |date=1960 |title=The Discovery of the Pacific Islands |url= |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press |page= |isbn=9780198215196}}

====Early colonialism and German protectorate====
*{{cite journal |last1=Bollard |first1=A. E. |date=1981 |title=The Financial Adventures of J. C. Godeffroy and Son in the Pacific |journal=The Journal of Pacific History |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=3–19 |doi=10.1080/00223348108572410 |jstor=25168458}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Firth |first1=Stewart |date=1973 |title=German Firms in the Western Pacific Islands, 1857-1914 |journal=The Journal of Pacific History |volume=8 |pages=10–28 |doi=10.1080/00223347308572220 |jstor=25168133}}
*{{cite journal |last=Firth |first=Stewart |title=German Labour Policy in Nauru and Angaur, 1906–1914 |journal=The Journal of Pacific History |date=1978 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=36–52 |doi=10.1080/00223347808572337 |jstor=25168311}}
*{{Cite book|last=Fitzpatrick|first=Matthew P.|url=https://academic.oup.com/book/41434/chapter-abstract/352773361?redirectedFrom=fulltext|title=The Kaiser and the Colonies: Monarchy in the Age of Empire|chapter=Chapter 11: The Kaiser’s Birthday Present|date=2022|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780192897039|doi=10.1093/oso/9780192897039.003.0012|location=Oxford}}
*{{cite book |last=Louis |first=Wm. Roger |author-link=Wm. Roger Louis|date=1967 |title=Great Britain and Germany's Lost Colonies, 1914-1919 |url= |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |page= |isbn=}}
*{{cite book |last1=Mückler |first1=Hermann |date=2012 |title=Kolonialismus in Ozeanien |trans-title=Colonialism in Oceania |series=Kulturgeschichte Ozeaniens |language=German |location=Vienna |publisher=Facultas |isbn=9783708903989}}
*{{cite book |last1=Mückler |first1=Hermann |date=2016 |title=Die Marshall-Inseln und Nauru in deutscher Kolonialzeit: Südsee-Insulaner, Händler und Kolonialbeamte in alten Fotografien |trans-title=The Marshall Islands and Nauru in the German Colonial Period: South Seas Islanders, Traders and Colonial Officials in Old Photographs |language=German |location=Berlin |publisher=Frank & Timme |isbn=9783732902859}}
*{{cite book |last1=Mückler |first1=Hermann |date=2010 |title=Mission in Ozeanien |trans-title=Missionaries in Oceania |series=Kulturgeschichte Ozeaniens |language=German |location=Vienna |publisher=Facultas |isbn=9783708903972}}
*{{cite book |last1=Storr |first1=Cait |date=2020 |title=International Status in the Shadow of Empire: Nauru and the Histories of International Law  |series=Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108682602 |doi=10.1017/9781108682602|s2cid=225252547 }}
*{{cite book |last=Townsend |first=Mary Evelyn |date=1930 |title=The Rise and Fall of Germany's Colonial Empire, 1884-1918 |url= |location=New York |publisher=Macmillan |page= |isbn=}}

====Japanese mandate and World War II====
*{{cite journal |last1=Ballendorf |first1=Dirk Anthony |date=1984 |title=Secrets without Substance: U.S. Intelligence in the Japanese Mandates, 1915-1935 |journal=The Journal of Pacific History |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=83–99 |doi=10.1080/00223348408572483 |jstor=25168545}}
*{{cite book |last=Baskett |first=Michael |date=2008 |title=The Attractive Empire: Transnational Film Culture in Imperial Japan |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824832230 |jstor=j.ctt6wqxvq}}
*{{cite book |last=Hiery |first=Hermann |date=1995 |title=The Neglected War: The German South Pacific and the Influence of World War I |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824816681}}
*{{cite book |last=Peattie |first=Mark R. |author-link=Mark Peattie |date=1984 |editor-last1=Myers |editor-first1=Ramon H. |editor-last2=Peattie |editor-first2=Mark R. |title=The Japanese Colonial Empire, 1895-1945 |chapter=Chapter 4: The Nan’yō: Japan in the South Pacific, 1885-1945 |publisher=Princeton University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctv10crf6c |isbn=9780691102221 |jstor=j.ctv10crf6c}}
*{{cite book |last=Peattie |first=Mark R. |date=1992 |title=Nan'yō: The Rise and Fall of the Japanese in Micronesia, 1885–1945 |series=Pacific Islands Monograph Series |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824814809}}
*{{cite book |last=Poyer |first=Lin |date=2022 |title=War at the Margins: Indigenous Experiences in World War II |series=Sustainable History Monograph Pilot |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824891824}}
*{{cite book |last1=Poyer |first1=Lin |last2=Falgout |first2=Suzanne |last3=Carucci |first3=Laurence Marshall |date=2007 |title=Memories of War: Micronesian Experiences of the Pacific War |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824831301}}
*{{cite book |last1=Poyer |first1=Lin |last2=Falgout |first2=Suzanne |last3=Carucci |first3=Laurence Marshall |date=2000 |title=The Typhoon of War: Micronesian Experiences of the Pacific War |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824821685 |jstor=j.ctt6wr53n.7}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Purcell |first1=David C. |date=1976 |title=The Economics of Exploitation: The Japanese in the Mariana, Caroline and Marshall Islands, 1915-1940 |journal=The Journal of Pacific History |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=189–211 |doi=10.1080/00223347608572301 |jstor=25168262}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Tobin |first1=Jack A. |date=1970 |title=Jabwor - Former Capitol of the Marshalls |journal=Micronesian Reporter |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=20–30}}
*{{cite book |last=Ziomek |first=Kirsten |date=2019 |title=Lost Histories: Recovering the Lives of Japan's Colonial Peoples |series=Harvard East Asian Monographs 418 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674237285 |id={{Project MUSE|75188|type=book}}}}

====Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands====
*{{cite book |last=Hanlon |first=David |date=1998 |title=Remaking Micronesia: Discourses over Development in a Pacific Territory, 1944-1982 |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824820114}}
*{{cite book |last=Richard |first=Dorothy E. |date=1957 |title=United States Naval Administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Office of the Chief of Naval Operations |isbn=}}

==External links==
* [https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/26551.htm U.S. State Department Background Note: Marshall Islands]

{{Former German colonies}}
{{History of Oceania}}

{{Years in the Marshall Islands}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The Marshall Islands}}
[[Category:History of the Marshall Islands| ]]