; 2 y: 1526-197 or st Hi d n a Deseripuon DISCOVERY ERA: 1526 - 1886 y and may be Th e recorded history of Enewetak begins in the l6th centur of discovery era the was these of ‘vided into four distinct eras. The first n Protectorate Germa the by ed Oi from 1526 to 1886. This was follow the United and 1944, to 1914 an 1886 to 1914, the Japanese Mandate from atoll Sates Trusteeship from 1944 to its expected expiration in 1981. The was first reported as sighted by Spanish explorers in [526. Three years de Saavedra in October iater. a landing was made on Enewetak by Alvaro Captain Thomas Butler by 1529. It was rediscovered on |3 December 1794 who was engaged in the China trade. The atoll was given the name --Browne’s Range’’ for a Mr. Browne, one of the associates in the firm employing Captain Butler. The name persisted, being used by the Japanese and even appearing on recent U.S. Hydrographic charts, although the ‘‘e”’ had been dropped and the islands had become ‘*Brown Atoll.”’ According to one source, the name Enewetak means “Land between West and East," but this is uncertain. 38 GERMAN PROTECTORATE: 1886 - 1914 In 1886, Germany established a formal protectorate over the Marshall Islands. The people of Enewetak, as well as other Marshallese, were given coconut seedlings by German traders and instructed in the growing, gathering, and converting of the meat of the coconut into copra. The Germans were also interested in whaling and established the Jaluit Company, a trading organization. Political and commercial administration was merged with the imperial administrator acting as the company’s chief official in residence. However,the atoll, being isolated, did not have much direct contact with the central government, and visits by foreigners were discouraged.39.40 German control was, on the whole, benign, and it did not arouse much antagonism in the Marshallese. Roads were built, health and sanitation were improved, and the islands were searched for potential sources of economic wealth. The Germans provided the islanders with protection from unscrupuloustraders and helped them to enter the culture of the Western world.4! JAPANESE MANDATE: 1914 - 1944 At the beginning of the First World War, Japan seized Enewetak, the other Marshall Islands, and all other German possessions in Micronesia.