Kwajalein Atoll & Marshall Islands

Kwajalein Atoll

Located in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), 2,100 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii, Kwajalein is the world's largest coral atoll surrounding the world's largest lagoon. 

My friend Steve emailed me the above picture yesterday, that is where he is now working. Isn't it awesome? I was so impressed by the islands, I decided to research it a bit more and do a post.

16th century. Two British captains, John Marshall and Thomas Gilbert,sailed into the islands aboard

The Spanish were the first Europeans to sail into and explore the Pacific (with Magellan landing

on Guam in 1521), and at least seven Spanish ships sailed through the Marshalls during the

the ships Scarborough and Charlotte (as you will note, these two captains took the

opportunity to name the two neighboring island groups after themselves!). Together, Marshall

and Gilbert traded with the islanders and mapped the atolls of Arno, Majuro, Aur, Maloelap,

Wotje, Erikub, and Ailuk.

Then in 1816, Captain Otto von Kotzebue visited the Marshalls aboard the Rurik (Kotzebue was

actually a German Estonian sailing for the Russian Czar).

The next documented visit to the Marshalls was by an American ship, the Globe, aboard which a

great mutiny occurred 1828. Two survivors of the mutiny lived on

Mili Atoll that year and were later rescued by the U.S. Navy.

American missionaries were the next to arrive on the scene, sailing

from Honolulu and landing on Ebon atoll in 1857. By the end of

that century, the American missionaries (from the American Board of Commisioners for Foreign

Missions- or ABCFDM) had established churches on almost

in Samoa, German traders began moving north in the 1850s and in

1859, Adolph Capelle arrived on Ebon Atoll to set up a trading post.

Capelle, who was originally from Hanover, was joined by Portugese

Jose deBrum and together they built the first permanent trading

post in the Marshalls.

The Marshalls were eventually declared a German protectorate in

1885 with headquarters on Jaluit Atoll.

In 1914, after 29 years of German protectorate status, World War I

broke out. Japan took over military possession from Germany

in October of that year and began establishing its own commercial

ventures, with bases on Jaluit and Majuro.

In 1922, Japan was formally awarded the Marshalls as a Class “C” mandate by the League of

Nations. But in 1933, Japan withdrew from the League of

Nations and, in anticipation of World War II, it began militarily

fortifying the atolls of Kwajalein, Wotje, Maloelap, Jaluit, and later

Mili and Enewetak.

After heavy fighting in the Marshalls (as well as other parts of the Pacific) the islands were

taken over by the US. The Navy immediately governed the Marshalls and in 1947 the

islands were given to the US as a UN Strategic Trust. In 1951,

the Department of Interior took

over the administration. Meanwhile, from 1946 to 1954, the US conducted 67 nuclear

tests in, above, and around Bikini and Enewetak atolls (the reconciliation of which remains

an important issue between the Marshalls and the US today.)

In the late 1970s, while still under UN Trust status with the

US, a growing desire for independence led the Marshalls

to embark on an endeavor towards self-determination. This

was eventually accomplished in 1986 when the country was

transformed into a selfgoverning democracy in free

association with the US: the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

 

Click on the above picture to visit the Marshall Islands site.