The history of the Marshall Islands dates back to about 4000 to 2000 BC, when it is assumed, the Marshallese migrated from The Philippines, Malaysia, New Guinea, and other islands. Although the Marshall Islands are close together, they were never unified under one leader. However, one chief could control several atolls or even a chain.
Most of the islands were small and there were many Marshallese. Land control was always an important issue for them. They would do anything to get land, such as marry, go to war, or even employ magic.
During the 1600's, countries often ignored the Marshall Islands. This period of isolation led the Marshallese to develop some of the finest canoe-building and navigational skills in the pacific.
Spain was thought to have owned the Marshall Islands In 1525, a Spaniard by the name of Alonso de Salazar, was the first European to sight one of the islands. Later on, another Spaniard, Alvaro de Saaverda, was noted for discovering a number of Marshall Islands. In 1788, a British man by the name of John Marshall, sighted Arno, Majuro, Aur, Maloelap, Wotje, Ailuk, and Mili (…at which he docked).
A Russian explorer, named Otto von Kotzebue, drew the first detailed map of the Marshall Islands in the 1800's.
Whalers and traders began to show up much more often in the late 19th, early 20th centuries. But soon they started to avoid the area because of violent attacks from the Marshallese. Acts of revenge and stealing of island women promoted the attacks.
In 1857, the Protestant missionaries arrived and were welcomed. The amount of violence started to decrease now that there were churches and schools.
German occupation began in 1885. The Germans annexed the Marshall Islands and island affairs were left to a group of powerful German trading companies.
The Japanese took control of the Marshall Islands in 1914. They colonized them and fortified large military bases on the bigger islands.
