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.
