Marshall Islands Overview

**Ally** · 07-17-2006, 07:46 AM

The Marshall Islands comprises over a thousand flat coral islands of white sand beaches and turquoise lagoons. There's pristine diving and lush tropical greenery, and the Marshallese people retain many of their pre-colonial crafts and traditions, especially on the outer islands.

Temperature becomes almost as meaningless as clothes when it stays between 25°C (77°F) and 30°C (86°F) for the whole year. Rainfall varies slightly more, with January to March providing some respite from the other heavier months. Most of the rain falls in short heavy showers so there's still plenty of time in the day to soak up the sun.

The first Micronesian navigators arrived in the Marshall Islands sometime between 500 and 2000 BC. Little is known of their origin or culture.

The Marshalls were never united under a single leader, though one chief often controlled several atolls and at times an entire chain. Before the arrival of Europeans, the individual chiefs held absolute authority over their lands, and - living on such narrow stretches of land - their claims to their parcels were often hotly contested.

The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas ceded ownership of all of Micronesia to Spain. The Marshalls, however, were off the main trade routes and consequently received little attention from early European explorers. In 1525, Alonso de Salazar of Spain became the first European to sight the islands, but Spain did nothing to colonise them. After another 200 years devoid of Europeans, the islands received a visit from English captain John Marshall (from whom they later took their name) in 1788. Russian explorer Otto von Kotzebue came through in the early 1800s and drew the first detailed maps of the islands.

Traders and whalers began to visit the islands en masse in the early 1800s, until encounters with the 'friendly' native Marshallese began to turn sour. Ship after ship putting into port at various atolls in the Marshalls quickly weighed anchor after the death of their captain or crew members. Violence was on the decline when the first Protestant missionaries arrived in 1857, setting up churches and schools and gradually undermining the traditional authority of the island chiefs.

**Ally** · 07-17-2006, 07:46 AM

Germany annexed the Marshalls in 1885 but didn't place government officials on the islands until 1906, leaving island affairs to a group of powerful German trading companies. Japan took over in 1914 and colonised the Marshalls extensively, developing and fortifying large bases on many of the islands.

The first Micronesian islands captured by the Americans in WWII were at Kwajalein Atoll in 1944. Majuro Atoll was taken next and quickly developed into a base for aircraft carriers. Within weeks some 30 other islands had fallen. After the war, the Americans immediately began to test atomic bombs on Bikini and Enewetok atolls. (Kwajalein was later established as a missile testing site.) Chief Juda of Bikini was convinced to move his people - for the 'benefit of mankind' - to Rongerik Atoll, on the understanding that they'd be able to return to their homeland after the tests were over. A few months later, the USA exploded the first of the 23 nuclear devices that were to be detonated at the atoll, 500ft (150m) over its lagoon.

The Bikinians nearly starved from inadequate food supplies on Rongerik, and two years later they were moved to Kwajalein Atoll and then to Kili Island. In the 1970s, they were told it was safe to return to Bikini, where they found two whole islands entirely blown away and most of the others treeless. Nevertheless, they stayed, and within a few years they were found to have dangerous levels of radiation in their bodies and were moved off the island again.

In 1973 the Marshall Islands boldly withdrew from the Congress of Micronesia, seeking political independence. The move worked and, in 1979, the Marshalls' constitution became effective. Admission to the United Nations was achieved in 1991.

**Ally** · 07-17-2006, 07:47 AM

Today, scientists from California's Lawrence Livermore Laboratory are using Bikini as a case study in ways to clean up radiation. So far, they've had some success with using potassium fertilizer to block the uptake of cesium in plants, but there are still long-term problems with eating anything grown on the island. Ironically, as the Bikini cleanup continues, the Marshallese government is considering the atoll as a possible dump site for commercial radioactive waste material produced by Asian and North American power plants.

Meanwhile, the Marshalls were heavily hit by the effects of variations of the El Niño weather pattern in 1997 and 1998, receiving almost no rainfall. Drought affected most of the country's population, particularly on Majuro and Ebeye. The country seems set to remain dependent on US subsidies for the indefinite future. In December 2003 the two countries signed a Compact of Free Association, in which the Marshalls effectively became a US protectorate in exchange for payment of 3500000000.00 over 20 years. Meanwhile, it seems unlikely that Bikinians will receive the compensation awarded to them in 2001 by the Nuclear Claims Tribunal for the US atom-bomb tests that devastated their islands for many years.

Majuro International Airport and Kwajalein Airport are served by Continental Micronesia - which links the islands to Guam and Honolulu - and Air Marshall Islands - which flies some of the same routes and also to Fiji, Tuvalu and Kiribati. Travellers leaving the Marshalls must pay a departure tax.

Although there are inter-island boats within Micronesia, it's rare to find any sort of passenger vessel going to the Marshalls from countries outside the region, save the occasional private yacht.

Airstrips on many atolls are served by Air Marshall Islands puddlejumpers. Majuro and Kwajalein are the centres; a flight between the two takes around 50 minutes.

Majuro has a fine, incredibly cheap shared-taxi system that's very easy to use - just stand at the side of the road and wave when they come by. There are also 15-passenger minivan taxis that generally stick to the island's main road. Either way, they're frequent and affordable.

Car rental is possible on Majuro at reasonable rates. Visitors are allowed to drive in Majuro for 30 days with their home country's driver's license. Petrol is twice as expensive as in the US, half as much as in Europe. Driving is on the right.

Hotels can arrange boat rentals for you, but it's cheaper to cut out the middleman by making arrangements yourself - ask around the docks for private boat hire. State-run boats also ply routes between islands, but the service is irregular.

(All information is courtesy of Lonely Planet)