History Talk - Marshall Islands Flag
The flag of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific was adopted at the time of self-governance in 1979. The star's 24 points represent the number of electoral districts, while the four elongated points represent the principal cultural centers of Majuro, Jaluit, Wotje and Ebeye.
The Marshall Islands - now officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands - were part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands administered by the United States, from which the Marshall Islands and Micronesia split. This nation of about 62,000 people is located north of Nauru and Kiribati, east of the Federated States of Micronesia, and south of the U.S. territory of Wake Island. The country consists of 29 atolls and 5 isolated islands. The atolls and islands form two groups: the Ratak Chain and the Ralik Chain (meaning "sunrise" and "sunset" chains). 24 of them are inhabited.
Although the Marshall Islands were settled by Micronesians in the 2nd millennium BC, little is known of their early history. A Spanish explorer was the first European to see the islands in 1526 which remained virtually unvisited by Europeans till the arrival of British Captain John Charles Marshall in 1788 who gave his name to this Islands which later were claimed under the Spanish sovereignty as part of the Spanish Oceania.
In 1874 the Spanish sovereignty was recognized by the international community. They were sold to Germany in 1884 through papal mediation. A German trading company settled on the islands in 1885. They became part of the protectorate of German New Guinea some years later. In 1914, Japan joined the Entente powers during World War I, and found it possible to capture German colonies in China and Micronesia. Unlike the German Empire, which had economic interests primarily in Micronesia, the accession of the territory to Japan resulted in the migration of over 1,000 Japanese to the Marshall Islands.
Indigenous people were educated in Japanese schools, studying Japanese language and Japanese culture. This policy was the government strategy not only in the Marshall Islands, but on all the other mandated territories in Micronesia. Japan left the League of Nations in 1933, but continued to manage the islands in the region and in the late 1930s, even started the construction of air bases on some atolls, which also further served local residents. The Marshall Islands were an important geographical position, being the easternmost point in Japan's defensive ring at the beginning of World War II.
In 1944, World War II, the United States invaded and occupied the islands. The archipelago was added to the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, along with several other island groups in the South Sea. In the months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Kwajalein Atoll was the administrative centre of the 6th Fleet Forces Service, whose task was the defence of the Marshall Islands.
