States of Oceania - Marshall Islands

Modern Marshall Islands (Micronesia) (Oceania)
AD 1979 - Present Day
Incorporating Heads of State (1979-2025), Autonomous Territory & Autonomous Republic (1979-1986), & Independent Republic (1986-On)

Considered in some quarters to be a watery continent in its own right, Oceania starts where South-East Asia ends, to the south-east of Indonesia and East Timor. Its territory is somewhat debatable but generally consists of the waters of the Pacific Ocean dotted with some two thousand islands, some of which are independent states and others either parts of countries or colonies.

The Marshall Islands lie in the northern-central part of Micronesia. They are located to the east of the 'Federated States of Micronesia', to the south-east of the Northern Mariana Islands, to the south of Wake Island, to the west of the International Date Line, to the north-west of the Gilbert Islands (within Kiribati), and to the north-east of Nauru. The islands consist of around twelve hundred islands and islets, all coral atolls. Two chains exist for these islands: the Ralik to the west and the Ratak to the east.

Excavations on Majuro indicate that Micronesians who were influenced by Lapita culture first settled the islands between about 30 BC and AD 50. Spanish Captain Toribio Alonso de Salazar became the first European to sight one of the islands, effectively ending the Neolithic Oceania period.

He was followed closely by others, but none made an attempt to settle. The islands were next found by Great Britain's Captain John Marshall in 1788 and were later named after him. Russians, Americans, and Germans all followed him over the years. Germany took control of the islands in 1885 and, in 1886, declared a protectorate.

Until colonisation the islands were a collection of separate chiefdoms, many of which still exist today. In the Ralik chain were Ailinglaplap, Bikini, Ebon, and Kwajalein. Chiefdoms in the Ratak chain included Ailuk, Arno, Aur, Erikub, Likiep, Majuro, Maloelap, Mejit, Mili, Taongi, Utrik, and Wotje.

Post-First World War Germany lost its FarEast territories, most of which had been occupied by the allies in 1914. Those losses included in the Pacific the Caroline Islands, Marianas, Marshall Islands, and Nauru, all of which were formerly part of 'German New Guinea'.

The League of Nations granted a mandate over the islands to Japan, which subsequently lost them to the United States during the Second World War. The period did though allow for a degree of Japanese settlement of the islands. The islands became part of a vast United Nations trust territory for Pacific Islands which were administered by the USA. The post-war period saw Bikini and Enewetak evacuated to enable nuclear testing. Bikini has remained permanently uninhabitable as a result.

The Marshall Islands withdrew from the trust territory in 1979 and, in the following year, autonomy was granted. The country became an independent republic in 1982 although, technically speaking, that status was not fully achieved until 1990 when the United Nations ratified the dissolution of the trust territory.

The Marshall Islands today form a presidential republic with a unicameral parliament which is known as the Nitijela. A council of chiefs allows representation in an advisory fashion for traditional laws and customs. The Majuro atoll is the nominal capital, but the actual administrative centre is Delap-Uliga-Djarrit, named after three formerly-separate islands which have since been joined together by in-fills.

The country has a 'Compact of Free Association' with the United States which obliges the latter to provide for island security and to furnish financial aid. The compact also gives the Americans the right to maintain missile bases there. The SpaceX rocket testing program has made recent heavy use of Omelek Island, within the Kwajalein Atoll, for its Falcon 1 flights.

Far East Kingdoms

Oceania

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