History of the Marshall Islands
settlers arrived in the Marshall Islands in the 2nd millennium BC, but there are no historical or oral records of that period. Over time, the Marshallese people learned to navigate over long ocean distances by walap canoe using traditional stick charts.
Prehistory
Linguistic and anthropological studies have suggested that the first Austronesian settlers of the Marshall Islands arrived from the Solomon Islands. Radiocarbon dating of um earth ovens, post holes, and trash pits at Bikini Atoll suggests that the atoll may have been continuously inhabited from 1200 BCE to at least 1300 CE, though samples may not have been collected from secure stratigraphic contexts and older driftwood samples may have affected results. Archaeological digs on other atolls have found evidence of human habitation dating around the 1st century CE, including earth ovens at the Laura village, Majuro, with a date range of 93 BCE to 127 CE and Kwajalein with a range of 140 BCE to 255 CE.The Marshallese sailed between islands on proas made from breadfruit-tree wood and coconut-fiber rope. They navigated by using the stars for orientation and initial course setting, but also developed a unique piloting technique of reading disruptions in ocean swells to determine the location of low coral atolls below the horizon. The Marshallese recognized four different types of swells coming from the cardinal directions, and noticed that swells refracted around the undersea slope of atolls. When refracted swells from different directions met, they created noticeable disruption patterns, which Marshallese pilots could read to determine the direction of an island. When interviewed by anthropologists, some Marshallese sailors noted that they piloted their canoes by both sight and feeling changes in the motion of the boat. The Marshallese preferred to sail between July and October, because Pacific trade winds made the swells harder to read during the rest of the year. Sailors also invented stick charts to map the swell patterns, but unlike western navigational charts, the Marshallese stick charts were tools for teaching students and for consultation before embarking on a voyage; navigators did not take charts with them when they set sail. The Marshallese made three types of charts: mattang charts, which were instructional tools for teaching the principles of piloting, and meddo and rebbelib charts, which represented the relative positions of actual swells and islands.
The Austronesian settlers introduced Southeast Asian crops, including coconuts, giant swamp taro, and breadfruit, as well as domesticated chickens throughout the Marshall Islands. They possibly seeded the islands by leaving coconuts at seasonal fishing camps before permanently settling years later. The southern islands receive heavier rainfall than the north, so communities in the wet south subsisted on prevalent taro and breadfruit, while northerners were more likely to subsist on pandanus and coconuts. Southern atolls probably supported larger, more dense populations. Archaeological digs have found adzes and chisels made from tridacna and cassis shells as well as ornaments, jewelry, beads, fishhooks, and fishing lures made from shell and coral.
When Russian explorer Otto von Kotzebue visited the Marshalls in 1817, the islanders still showed few signs of western influence, aside from a few scraps of metal and stories of passing ships. He observed that the Marshallese lived in thatched-roof huts, but their villages did not include the large-ornate meetinghouses found in other parts of Micronesia. They did not have furniture, except for woven mats, which they used for both floor coverings and clothing. The Marshallese had pierced ears and tattoos. Kotzebue noted that the Marshallese tried to keep women away from foreigners, similar to other Micronesians and unlike Polynesians. On the islands he visited, Kotzebue learned that Marshallese families practiced infanticide after the birth of a third child as a form of population planning due to frequent famines. He also noted that Marshallese iroij held considerable authority and rights to all property, though he had a more favorable view of the condition of Marshallese commoners than of Polynesian commoners. The Marshalls' two island groups, the Ratak and Ralik chains were each ruled by a paramount chief, or iroijlaplap, who held authority over the individual island iroij.
European exploration
Spanish exploration
Spanish explorer Alonso de Salazar led the first European expedition to see the Marshall Islands on August 21, 1526. While commanding the Santa Maria de la Victoria, the only surviving vessel of the Loaísa Expedition, his crew sighted an atoll with a green lagoon, which may have been Taongi. The crew could not land on the island, because of strong currents and water too deep for the ship's anchor. Salazar named the island "San Bartolomé," and the ship sailed for Guam on August 23.In late December 1527, the Spanish ship Florida arrived in Marshall Islands as the expedition of Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón crossed the Pacific from Mexico to the Maluku Islands. The expedition probably saw the Utirik, Toke, Rongelap, and Ailinginae atolls, though Francis Hezel suggests the islands could have also been Fais and Yap in the Caroline Islands. Saavedra named the island grouping "Islas de los Reyes" due to the proximity of the Christian feast of the Epiphany. Canoes from the islands approached the ship but did not make contact with the Europeans. On January 2, 1528, the expedition landed on an uninhabited island in Ailinginae Atoll, where they resupplied and stayed for six days. Natives from a neighboring island briefly met the Spanish before fleeing. Saavedra's expedition sailed toward the Philippines on January 8. Saavedra made two unsuccessful attempts to recross the Pacific and return to Mexico. On September 21, 1529, on the second recrossing attempt, the expedition may have passed Ujelang Atoll, and on October 1, the ship anchored at Enewetak Atoll where the crew went ashore for eight days, exchanged gifts with the indigenous inhabitants and resupplied. Saavedra named the atoll "Los Jardines".
On December 26, 1542, a fleet of six Spanish ships commanded by Ruy López de Villalobos sighted an island in the Marshalls while sailing from Mexico to the Philippines. They landed and named the island "Santisteban" in honor of Saint Stephen's Day. The island was inhabited, though many of the people fled the Spanish landing. The Spaniards found some women and children hiding in the island's vegetation and gave them gifts. Before leaving the islands on January 6, 1543, Villalobos sighted islands that may have included Wotje, Erikub, Maloelap, Likiep, Kwajalein, Lae, Ujae, Wotho or Ujelang.
Miguel López de Legazpi commanded a fleet of four Spanish ships that sailed from Mexico in November 1564 en route to the Philippines. The San Lucas under the command of Alonso de Arellano broke away from the others, possibly because pilot Lope Martín and other crew members intended to engage in piracy in the East Indies, and sailed into the Marshall Islands in their attempt to avoid the fleet's other ships. The ship passed Likiep on January 5, 1565; Kwajalein on January 7, where they met two Native families; and Lib Island on January 8. Lib was heavily inhabited, and Arellano described the Natives as warlike and expert at throwing stones with slings, so the ship sailed on without landing. Meanwhile, Legazpi's other three ships arrived at Mejit on January 9, 1565. On the island, they found a settlement of one-hundred people who subsisted by fishing, farming root vegetables and millet-like grains, and raising poultry. Most of the inhabitants had fled into the interior, but the Spaniards had peaceful relations with an elderly couple and a woman who stayed behind. Legazpi named the island "Los Barbudos", because of the inhabitants' facial hair. On January 10, the Spaniards sighted Ailuk Atoll and Jemo Island, which they named "Los Placeres" and "Los Pajaros". On January 12, they sighted Wotho Atoll, and on January 15, Ujelang, before sailing to the Philippines.
The San Lucas returned to Mexico on July 17, 1565, and one of Legazpi's other ships returned from the Philippines on September 18. On May 1, 1566, the San Jeronimo sailed from Acapulco to resupply Legazpi in the Philippines. Lope Martín, who had returned to Mexico on the San Lucas, served as pilot of the San Jeronimo and led a mutiny and executed the captain. While sailing through the Marshalls, the San Jeronimo nearly wrecked at Ujelang before anchoring in the atoll's lagoon on July 6. The mutineers spent several days resupplying on an island, which was inhabited though the residents had fled in canoes. On July 16, four loyalist crew members snuck back to the ship and took control from the mutineers aboard. Lope Martín had taken the ships instruments and sails ashore. Unable to take back the ship, he negotiated to return of the ship's instruments in exchange for food and supplies. After regaining the sails, the loyalist crew members marooned Lope Martín and twenty-six other mutineers on the island before sailing for Guam on July 21.
By the late 16th century, Spanish galleons sailing between the Americas and the Philippines kept to a sea lane thirteen degrees north and provisioned at Guam, avoiding the Marshalls, which Spanish sailors saw as unprofitable islands amid hazardous waters. One of the last known Spanish expeditions occurred when Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira's ships Los Reyes and Todos los Santos arrived at Namu Atoll on September 18, 1568, while searching for Terra Australis. Mendaña named the atoll "San Mateo" shoals. They found many houses as well as a chisel made from a nail and pieces of rope, which may have been left behind by Villalobos or Lope Martín. On October 20, the ships arrived at Wake Island, which Mendaña named "San Francisco."