Marshall Islands

The islands were first settled by Micronesian peoples about 3,000 years ago. The Spanish were the first Europeans to sight the islands, in 1526, but the islands remained essentially uncolonized until the late 19th century. They were a German protectorate from 1886 until 1914, when they were invaded by Japan. In 1920 the archipelago was formally mandated to Japan by the League of Nations. In February 1944, American forces took Majuro, the first Japanese possession captured in World War II; other islands were subsequently occupied. The archipelago remained under American military control for the duration of the war.

From 1946 until 1958 the United States used Bikini and other atolls in the Marshalls as a nuclear testing ground. The islands became a UN Trust territory under US control in 1947. In 1979, after rejecting a common constitution with the rest of Micronesia, the Marshalls became a self-governing republic.

A Compact of Free Association, delegating to the United States the responsibility for defence and foreign affairs, was approved by plebiscite in 1983 and came into effect in 1986. The compact also ensured that the United States would retain its bases in the islands for at least 15 years and would provide US$30 million a year in economic aid. The trusteeship was formally dissolved by the UN Security Council in 1990; the country was admitted to the United Nations in 1991. In 2003 a new Compact of Association was signed with the US, worth an estimated US$1.5 billion. In December 1996 Amata Kabua, President of the Marshall Islands since independence in 1979, died; he was replaced by Imata Kabua, his cousin.

In the Marshall Islands tests, the inhabitants of Rongelap were seriously exposed to radiation. Medical examinations carried out on adults in Rongelap between 1970 and 1974 compared exposed and unexposed inhabitants, and showed that there was a higher than average incidence among those exposed of anaemia, thyroid disease, rheumatic heart disease, and tumours.

When the biggest US bomb, codenamed Bravo, was set off, white radioactive ash fell on Rongelap, contaminating food and drinking water; all water samples taken from Bikini and Enewetak islands showed that the level of radioactive contamination was too high to allow consumption of food grown from the island or fished from the sea. Only in 1983 were the inhabitants of Rongelap made aware of these findings. As a result, in 1985 they had to evacuate to a smaller, uncultivated island on Kwajalein Atoll. The atoll is now leased to the United States as a missile target site.

Controversy has surrounded plans to site a nuclear waste dump on one of the contaminated islands. The project is claimed by the Marshalls to provide income to pay for the costs of rehabilitating such contaminated areas. Since the early 1990s the Marshall Islands have repeatedly disputed both the US claim to Wake Island and their intention to include the island within the territory of Guam. The Marshallese view the island as a traditional site. In January 1999 decontamination began on US nuclear weapons test sites on Enewetok Atoll. On the 45th anniversary of the H-bomb tests at Bikini, complaints were voiced that the US had made inadequate reparations to those affected by the nuclear tests. The claims totalled US$70 million, of which only US$45 million had been paid. In November the US Congress confirmed it would pay the full costs of the rehabilitation of Rongelap and the resettlement of its inhabitants. The Marshall Islands received a loan from the Asian Development Bank in July to finance improvements to the infrastructure of Ebeye Island, the nearest island to Kwajalein atoll, where the US is testing its Theater Missile Defense system. The money will provide a new school and hospital and a causeway linking the surrounding islands.

Following the general elections of November 1999 the opposition party, the United Democratic Party (UDP), won 18 of the 33 seats in the Nitijela. The UDP leader Kessai Note was elected president the following January and began a second four-year term in 2004.