Marshall Islands
The population of the Marshalls is largely Micronesian. Over 50% of the people are Protestants and there other Christian groups. Marshallese, a Malayo-Polynesian tongue, and English are the official languages; Japanese is also spoken.
Agriculture consists of subsistence farming and the commercial production of coconuts and breadfruit. Industry is limited to agricultural processing and tourism. Copra, coconut oil, handicrafts, and fish are the major exports; foods and beverages, machinery and equipment, fuels, and tobacco are imported. The United States, Japan, and Australia are the main trading partners. A large portion of the Marshallese economy is dependent on U.S. aid.
The Marshall Islands are governed under the constitution of 1979. The president, who is both head of state and head of government, is elected by the unicameral legislature (Nitijela) from among its members for a four-year term. The 33 legislators are popularly elected for four-year terms. Administratively, the country is divided into 33 municipalities.
Some of the islands were visited by Spanish explorers in the early 16th cent. They are named after a British captain who visited in 1788. Much mapping was done on Russian expeditions under Adam Johann von Krusenstern (1803) and Otto von Kotzebue (1815 and 1823). Germany annexed the group in 1885 and tried with little success to establish a colony. Administrative affairs continued to be managed largely by private German and Australian interests. In 1914, Japan seized the Marshalls and in 1920 received a League of Nations mandate over them.
In World War II the islands were taken by U.S. forces (1943–44); they were included in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in 1947. After the war both Enewetak and Bikini atolls were used as U.S. nuclear weapons test sites. In 1983, the United States gave $183.7 million to the Marshalls for damages from the tests. The Marshalls became (1979) self-governing under U.S. military protection and achieved free-association status in 1986. The first president, Amata Kabua, died in Dec., 1996. Imata Kabua was elected to succeed him in Jan., 1997. Kabua was succeeded in Jan., 2000, by Kessai H. Note, who began a second term in 2004. An amended compact of free association, extending the defense relationship with the United States and the lease on the U.S. base on Kwajalein, was signed in 2003 and took effect in 2004.
See E. H. Bryan, Life in the Marshall Islands (1972).