Timeline Marshall Islands (The Republic of
the
Marshall Islands)
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Lying in Micronesia the group is
composed of 31
coral atolls in the Ratak and Ralik island chains. Some 63,000
people
are
scattered over 180 sq. miles of land. Some 1,225 islets clustered
into
20 coral atolls strewn across 750,000 square miles make up the
Marshall
Islands.
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.A24)(SFC, 7/18/98, p.A1)(SFC, 3/8/99, p.A12)
1914-1919 The Marshall Islands
were occupied by the Japanese during WW I.
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.A24)
1939-1945 The Marshall islands were captured by US
forces during WW II.
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.A24)
1940s-1950s The US conducted 67 above ground
nuclear and thermonuclear tests in the Marshall Islands.
(SFC, 12/7/99, p.A10)
1942 Feb 1, Planes of the U.S.
Pacific fleet attacked Japanese bases in the Marshall and Gilbert
Islands.
(HN, 2/1/99)
1943 Dec 8, U.S. carriers sank
two cruisers and down 72 planes in the Marshall Islands.
(HN, 12/8/98)
1944 Jan 31, During World War
II, U.S. forces under Vice Adm. Spruance began invading Kwajalein
Atoll and other parts of the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
(AP, 1/31/98)(HN, 1/31/99)
1944 Feb 1, U.S. Army troops
invaded two Kwajalein Islands in the Pacific. [see Jan 31]
(HN, 2/1/99)
1944 Feb 17, U.S forces landed
on Eniwetok atoll in the South Pacific Marshall Islands. Battle of
Eniwetok Atoll began. US victory on Feb 22.
(HN, 2/17/99)(MC, 2/17/02)
1944 Feb 20, US took Eniwetok
Island.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1944 Oct 28, The first B-29
Superfortress bomber mission flew from the airfields in the Mariana
Islands in a strike against the Japanese base at Turk [Truk].
(HN, 10/28/98)
1945-1986 The Marshall Islands were ruled by the
US as part of a UN trusteeship.
(SFC, 12/7/99, p.A10)
1946-1958 The US conducted 67 nuclear test blasts
at the Bikini and Eniwetok atolls over this period. The tests in the
northern Marshall Islands released radioactive iodine said to be 150
times worse than the contamination from Chernobyl in 1986. A Nuclear
Claims Tribunal was later set up by the government of the US and the
Marshall Islands to compensate those displaced or suffering health
problems due to the tests. The 150 million dollars the US provided
for paying settlements ran out in 2005. The US State Department said
there is no obligation to pay more.
(SFC, 3/8/99, p.A16)(Econ, 1/12/08, p.38)(AFP,
12/12/08)
1952 Nov 1, The United
States exploded the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Ivy Mike," in a
test at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. The element einsteinium
was discovered in the debris of the 1st hydrogen bomb test. In 2002
Greg Herken authored "Brotherhood of the Bomb: the Tangled Lives and
Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence and Edward Teller."
(AP, 11/1/07)(NH, 7/02, p.35)(SSFC, 10/12/02,
p.M1)
1954 Mar 1, The Bravo hydrogen
bomb test exploded across Bikini atoll (Marshall Islands) with the
force of 1,000 Hiroshima bombs. A Nuclear Claims Tribunal,
established in 1986, later awarded Bikini and Enewetak 500 million
dollars but only a fraction of the amount was received. A Nov 30,
2004, deadline limited further suits.
(AP,
10/17/04)(www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX51.html)
1954 Mar 1, The No. 5
Fukuryu-maru was trolling for tuna off the Bikini atoll in the
Pacific during the Bravo hydrogen bomb test. 11 crew members died in
the half-century since the exposure, at least six of them from liver
cancer. Between 1946 and 1958, the United States conducted 66
nuclear tests at Bikini as part of "Operation Crossroads."
(AP, 2/28/04)
1954 Mar 26, The U.S. set off
the second H-bomb blast in four weeks in the Marshall Islands at
Bikini Island. The 15-megaton device was 750 times more powerful
than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The blast contaminated
the neighboring island of Rongelap and nearly 100 people on the
island and other downwind atolls.
(HN, 3/25/98)(SFC, 12/7/99, p.A10)(SS, 3/26/02)
1958 Apr 28, The United States
conducted the first of 35 nuclear test explosions in the Pacific
Proving Ground as part of Operation Hardtack I.
(AP,
4/28/08)(http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Hardtack1.html)
1971 Australia joined with New
Zealand and 14 independent of self-governing island nations to form
the South Pacific Forum. The name was changed in 2000 to Pacific
Islands Forum. Member states include: Australia, the Cook Islands,
the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall
Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa,
the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Since 2006,
associate members territories are New Caledonia and French
Polynesia.
(Econ, 10/20/07,
p.61)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Islands_Forum)
1972 Amata Kabua (1928-1996)
founded and led the Political Movement for the Marshall Islands
Separation from Micronesia.
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.A24)
1978 The Marshallese voted for
independence from other districts of the Trust Territory of the
Pacific Islands.
(SFC, 12/27/96,
p.A24)(www.unicover.com/OPUBA565.HTM)
1978 Doctors ordered a 2nd
evacuation from Bikini due to high radiation.
(SFC, 12/7/99, p.A12)
1979 May 1, The people of the
Marshall Islands ratified their own constitution and the
constitutional government came into being. In recognition of the
evolving political status of the Marshall Islands, the US recognized
the constitution of the Marshall Islands and the establishment of
the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Mr. Amata
Kabua (1928-1996) became the first president.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amata_Kabua)(www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/26551.htm)
1979 Jul, Imata Kabua led a
protest against US operations in the Marshall Islands.
(SFC, 3/8/99, p.A16)
1983 The Marshall Islands
received $183.7 million for the 1946-1958 US nuclear tests near
Bikini.
(AP, 2/28/04)
1986 Oct 21, The US, Micronesia
and the Marshall Islands formed a Compact of Free Association (CFA).
Tens of millions in economic benefits along with security and
defense of the islands was exchanged for the right to deny access to
third countries. The US paid $270 million in compensation to nuclear
victims under the 1st phase of the CFA (1986-2001), insisting that
was a full and final arrangement.
(SFC, 3/8/99, p.A16)(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A12)(Econ,
1/12/08, p.38)
1986 The Marshall Islands and
the Federated States of Micronesia were granted independence.
(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A12)
1991 Sep 17, The U.N. General
Assembly opened its 46th session, welcoming new members Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, North and South Korea, the Marshall Islands and
Micronesia.
(AP, 9/17/01)
1996 Dec 19, Pres. Amata Kabua
died.
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.A24)
1998 Jul 17, Rising seawater
was attacking the coastline of the islands.
(SFC, 7/18/98, p.A1)
1999 Jan 31, Phillip Muller,
the foreign minister, said his government would seek a rent increase
from the US for the use of the Kwajalein Atoll, the only place where
the US was able to test long range components of its missile defense
program.
(SFC, 3/8/99, p.A16)(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A12)
2001 Dec 3, A test US
anti-missile launched from Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands
successfully hit a dummy warhead from Vandenberg Air Base in
California, 4,800 miles away.
(SFC, 12/4/01, p.A4)
2001 A 15 year lease by the US
for Kwajalein Atoll was due to expire.
(SFC, 3/8/99, p.A12)
2001 US payments under the
Compact of Free Association were scheduled to end.
(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A12)
2003 The Marshall Islands
renegotiated its Compact of Free Association (CFA) with the US.
America insisted on a separate agreement giving it continued access
to its $4 billion missile defense site on Kwajalein until at least
2066 for $15 million a year, rising to $18 million after 2014.
(Econ, 1/12/08, p.37)
2005 Feb 15, The Guam-based
Citizens Security Bank (CSB) ended credit card and other services to
the Bank of Marshall Islands. Residents of the Marshall Islands will
be unable to use their credit cards after the central Pacific
nation's leading bank was cut off from a US partner by the
anti-terrorist Patriot Act.
(AFP, 2/10/05)
2007 Mar 20, The second flight
of Space Exploration Technologies' (SpaceX) low-cost Falcon 1 rocket
reached 200 miles altitude but did not make it to orbit due to the
premature shutdown of its second-stage Kestrel engine. SpaceX
launched the two-stage Falcon 1 rocket from its Omelek Island launch
site in the Marshall Islands, but the rocket failed to reach its
intended 425-mile (685-kilometer) orbit due to a roll control
glitch.
(http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon/f2/)
2007 Sep 13, In the Marshall
Islands legislation was introduced aiming to open up the
communications sector by removing the telecom agency's exclusive
rights. This was likely to become an issue ahead of national
elections in November.
(AFP, 9/16/07)
2008 Jan 7, Voters in the
Marshall Islands ditched the pro-American administration led by
Kessai Note and elected a government backed by disgruntled chiefs
and senators from the nuclear-affected atolls.
(Econ, 1/12/08, p.37)
2008 Dec 25, The Marshall
Islands declared a state of emergency after severe flooding, that
occurred from Dec. 9 to Dec. 15, forced more than 600 people from
their homes.
(AP, 12/26/08)
2008 About 62,000 inhabited the
Marshall Islands.
(AP, 12/26/08)
2009 May 29, The nonbinding New
York Declaration, an agreement between the signatory flag states
which condemns acts of piracy and armed robbery against vessels and
seafarers, was originally tabled by The Bahamas, the Republic of
Liberia, the Republic of Marshall Islands and the Republic of
Panama, four nations that account for more than half of global
shipping.
(www.unmultimedia.org/tv/unifeed/d/13476.html)
2009 Oct 8, Former Marshall
Islands president and powerful traditional chief Imata Kabua said he
was challenging the treaty negotiated between the Marshall Islands
government and the US covering the years after 2016 when the current
lease for the missile base expires. The Compact of Free Association
between the two countries approved in 2003 provides the US with use
of the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll until 2066.
(AFP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 26, In the Marshall
Islands traditional chief Jurelang Zedkaia was elected president by
a slender 17-15 margin, replacing Litokwa Tomeing who was ousted in
a no-confidence vote last week.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2010 Jan 30, In the Marshall
Islands the government considered invoking special powers of
quarantine as an outbreak of drug-resistant tuberculosis has been
declared a public health emergency.
(AP, 1/30/10)
2010 Jul 23, The Marshall
Islands region of Ebeye, which has the unflattering reputation as
the "slum of the Pacific" has now been damned in a US Army report as
a health threat to residents.
(AFP, 7/23/10)
2010 Jul 31, UNESCO added seven
cultural sites to its World Heritage List including Bikini Atoll in
the Marshall Islands, home to nuclear bomb testing in the 1940s and
1950s. Also added to the list were the Turaif District in Saudi
Arabia; Australia's penal colony sites; the Jantar Mantar
astronomical observation site in India; a shrine in Ardabil in Iran;
the Tabriz historic bazaar complex, also in Iran; and the historic
villages of Hahoe and Yangdong in South Korea.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2011 May 11, The United States
signed a deal with the Marshall Islands to continue using the key
missile testing range at Kwajalein Atoll through to 2066.
(AP, 5/11/11)
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