Location and People
The Marshall Islands are located in the central Pacific Ocean, some 2,300 miles southwest of Hawaii. They are composed of two nearly parallel chains of low coral limestone and sand islands known as the Ratak (sunrise) group and the Ralik (sunset) group. There are 1,152 small islands and 30 atolls in all, dispersed over an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 1.2 million square kilometers of ocean.
The total land area of the Marshall Islands is only 181 square kilometers, but 70% of its 57,000 population of ethnic Micronesians is concentrated on the atolls of Majuro and Ebeye. The remainder live on 19 outer islands, most having fewer than 500 residents.
Historical Background
The first Marshallese came to the islands 2,000 years ago. The islands were notionally a Spanish colony from the 1500s, but the Marshallese had little contact with Europeans until 1860. From then until 1914 German trading companies operated a network of copra trading stations. In 1914 at the outset of World War I Japan occupied the islands and took over the copra trade until World War II. The United States (US) then occupied the islands after a series of major battles.
The country experienced almost four decades under US administration as the easternmost part of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Two atolls were used by the US for nuclear testing between 1947 and 1962. The Marshall Islands attained independence in 1986 under a Compact of Free Association with the US. Kwajalein Atoll, a famous World War II battleground is still used as a US missile test range.