Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI)

The Republic of Marshall Islands is an archipelagic country in the mid-central Pacific Ocean. Stretching across 750,000 square miles of ocean, the atolls and islands can be divided between the Ratak (sunrise) and Ralik (sunset) chains, which run roughly parallel to each other. The majority of the population lives on two atolls: Majuro, (the capital), and Kwajalein; the islands are situated between the Federated States of Micronesia to the west and Gilbert Islands to the south. 

 

All of these islands were settled roughly 2,000 years ago by seafaring peoples from Australia and mainland Asia, who settled across the Pacific Ocean. European contact occurred first under the Portuguese in 1521; later the islands came under Spanish Rule along with the Philippines, and Micronesia. Following the conclusion of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the entirety of the Spanish Pacific with the exception of Guam and the Philippines were sold to the Germans, who administered the islands until 1914.

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​The outbreak of the First World War saw the Japanese take possession of all of the German-held territory in the Pacific, later codified in a League of Nations Mandate. The Japanese made every attempt to create a society exactly like the one back home; this succeeded in some ways but failed in others; ultimately they held onto the islands until most (not all) were violently taken from them in the Second World War. Various monuments and memorials can be found on Majuro and Kwajalein.

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Following the end of the Second World War, the United States used the Marshall Islands as a 'proving ground', performing 67 nuclear tests throughout the atolls, including on Bikini, where the local residents were forcibly relocated. Many people remain in exile, and the compensation money ($2bn promised) has since run out. 

 

The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI), under the stewardship of the UN, was created to help the various former colonial Pacific island groups move toward independence. On 1 May 1979 the Republic of the Marshall Islands was officially recognized. RMI operates under a compact of free association with the United States, and is a member of the Pacific Islands Forum.