Overview
The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an archipelagic country located in Oceania. The sovereign state lies west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.
Geography and Territory
The Marshall Islands consist of 29 coral atolls and five main islands, along with 1,220 other very small islands. These territories are divided across two island chains: Ratak in the east and Ralik in the west. A remarkable geographical feature of the country is that 98.47% of its territory is lagoon waters, making it the sovereign state with the largest proportion of water to land in the world.
The capital and largest city is Majuro, which is home to approximately half of the country's population. The Marshall Islands are one of only four atoll-based nations in the world, along with Kiribati, The Maldives, and Tuvalu.
The country shares maritime boundaries with Wake Island to the north, Kiribati to the southeast, Nauru to the south, and the Federated States of Micronesia to the west.
Early Settlement
Austronesian settlers reached the Marshall Islands as early as the 2nd millennium BCE, arriving from the Solomon Islands. These early inhabitants introduced Southeast Asian crops, including coconuts, giant swamp taro, and breadfruit, as well as domesticated chickens, which made the islands permanently habitable. Archaeological evidence suggests human habitation dating to around the 1st century CE on several atolls.
The early Marshallese developed sophisticated navigation techniques, sailing between islands on walaps made from breadfruit-tree wood and coconut-fiber rope. They navigated using stars for orientation and developed a unique piloting technique that involved interpreting disruptions in ocean swells to locate low coral atolls below the horizon. They also created stick charts as teaching tools to map swell patterns.
European Exploration
The first Europeans to visit the Marshall Islands arrived in 1526, when Spanish explorer Alonso de Salazar sighted an atoll with a green lagoon, which may have been Taongi. The crew was unable to land due to strong currents and deep water, so they sailed for Guam two days later.
Additional Spanish expeditions visited the islands in subsequent years. In 1528, another Spanish ship led by Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón landed on an uninhabited island where the crew resupplied. Later Spanish explorers included Ruy López de Villalobos, Miguel López de Legazpi, Alonso de Arellano, and Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, though historical records of their exact routes remain imprecise.
European maps and charts named the island group for British captain John Marshall, who explored the region in 1788. By the late 16th century, Spanish galleons sailing between the Americas and the Philippines began avoiding the Marshall Islands, preferring more northern Pacific routes.
Colonial Period
American Protestant missionaries and Western business interests began arriving in the Marshall Islands during the 1850s. German copra traders dominated the islands' economy in the 1870s and 1880s, and the German Empire annexed the Marshalls as a protectorate in 1885.
The Empire of Japan occupied the islands in autumn 1914 at the beginning of World War I. After the war, the Marshall Islands and other former German Pacific colonies north of the equator became the Japanese South Seas Mandate. The United States occupied the islands during World War II and subsequently administered them as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Between 1946 and 1958, the United States conducted 67 nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll and Enewetak Atoll.
Independence and Modern Governance
The U.S. government formed the Congress of Micronesia in 1965 as a plan for increased self-governance of Pacific islands. In May 1979, the United States recognized the Marshall Islands' constitution and president, Amata Kabua, granting the nation independence. Full sovereignty and self-government were achieved through a Compact of Free Association with the United States.
The Marshall Islands has been a member of the Pacific Community since 1983 and a United Nations member state since 1991. Politically, the country is a presidential parliamentary republic in free association with the United States, with the U.S. providing defense, subsidies, and access to U.S.-based agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission and the United States Postal Service.
Economy and Currency
With few natural resources, the Marshall Islands' wealth is based on a service economy, as well as fishing and agriculture. Financial aid from the United States represents a large percentage of the islands' gross domestic product. Although most financial aid from the Compact of Free Association was set to expire in 2023, it was extended for another 20 years that same year.
The country uses the United States dollar as its official currency. In 2018, the Marshall Islands announced plans for a new cryptocurrency to be used as legal tender.
People and Culture
The majority of the citizens of the Republic of Marshall Islands are of Marshallese descent, though there are small numbers of immigrants from the United States, China, Philippines, and other Pacific islands. The two official languages are Marshallese, which is one of the Oceanic languages, and English.
Religion plays an important role in Marshallese society, with almost the entire population practicing some form of religion. The dominant religious affiliations include:
- United Church of Christ – Congregational in the Marshall Islands (UCCCMI)
- Assemblies of God
Together, these two denominations account for approximately three-quarters of the country's religious population.