HISTORY
Manila Galleon in the Marianas and Carolinas, 1590
Captain John Marshall
Interior of a house in the Ratak Chain, c. 1821, from the first English edition of Otto von Kotzebue's account of his 1815–1818 voyage
Still from the video The Arrival of the White Missionaries to Marshall Islands in 1857.
German trading station at Jaluit Atoll with a Marshallese korkor outrigger canoe in the foreground, 1880
Japanese ships in the port of Jabor, Jaluit Atoll, 1932
US troops inspecting a Japanese bunker, Kwajalein Atoll. 1944.
16th Century
The Spanish were the first Europeans to sail into and explore the Pacific (with Magellan landing on Guam in 1521). At least seven Spanish ships sailed through the Marshalls during the 16th century. The first atoll to have been visited by the early explorers were Enewetak, Bikini, Wotje, Kwajalein, Ujelang, Lib, and Mejit. The Spanish visits were brief, minimal trade and exchange between the islanders and sailors took place.
1788
Foreign visits resumed in 1788 when two British captains, John Marshall and Thomas Gilbert, sailed into the islands aboard the ships Scarborough and Charlotte. As you will note, these two captains took the opportunity to name the neighbouring island groups after themselves! Together, Marshall and Gilbert traded with the islanders and began to map the atolls. Other British ships that followed include the Brittania (1797), the Rolla (1803) and the Elizabeth (1809).
1816
In 1816, Captain Otto von Kotzebue visited the Marshalls aboard the Rurik (Kotzebue was a German Estonian sailing for the Russian Czar). During his stay, Kotzebue conducted the first-ever ethnographic observation and documentation of the islands. Also aboard the Rurik were the artist Ludwig Choris and the naturalist Adelbert von Chammisso, who produced detailed hydrographical, botanical and ethnographic reports. Choris' lithographs are displayed at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu.
1857
The next documented visit was by an American ship, the Globe, aboard which a great mutiny occurred in 1828. The two survivors of the mutiny lived on Mili Atoll that year and were later rescued by the U.S. Navy.
American missionaries were next to arrive on the scene, sailing from Honolulu and landing on Ebon atolls in 1857. By the end of that century, the American missionaries, from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, (ABCFDM) had established churches on almost every inhabited atoll.
1859
With an established trading base in Samoa, German traders began moving north in the 1850s and in 1859, Adolph Capelle arrived on Ebon Atoll to set up a trading post. Capelle was joined by Portuguese Jose deBrum and together they built the first permanent trading post in the Marshall Islands. The Marshall Islands were eventually declared a German protectorate in 1885 with headquarters on Jaluit Atoll.
1914
In 1914, after 29 years of German protectorate status, World War I broke out. Japan took over military possession from Germany in October of that year and began establishing its own commercial ventures. In 1992, Japan was formally awarded by the Marshall Islands as a Class "C" mandate by the League of Nations; but in 1993, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations and in the anticipation of World War II, it began military fortifying the atolls of Kwajalein Wotje, Maloelap, Jaluit and later Mili and Enewetak.
1947
After years of fighting in the Marshall Islands (as well as other parts of the Pacific), the islands were taken over by the U.S. The Navy immediately governed the Marshall Islands and in 1947 the islands were given to the U.S. and UN Strategic Trust. In 1951, the Department of Interior took over the administration.
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Meanwhile, from 1946 to 1954, the U.S. conducted 67 nuclear test in, above, and around Bikini and Enewetak atolls.
(the reconciliation of which remains an important issue between the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the U.S. today).
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In the late 1970s, while still under the UN Trust status with the U.S., a growing desire for independence led the Marshall to embark on an endeavour adventure to self-determination. This was eventually accomplished in 1986 when the country was transformed into a self-governing democracy in free association with the U.S.: the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
1986
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.
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In 1986 the RMI signed a Compact of the Free Association with the United States. Trusteeship was ended under United Nations Security Council Resolution 682 of December 2, 1990.