3.
There ‘is a great shift of population from the outiPing atolls and
islands to two major centers.
These are Ebeye, in Kwajalein atbl], and in the
Rita area of the Majuro atoll.
It is estimated that there are 12§000 Marshallese
on Majuro and approximately 8,000 on Ebeye.
These, then, congtitute the two
major urban centers of population totaling approximately 20,0P0 Marshallese,
which would be fully 2/3 of the total population.
Social prob ems related to
urbanization will be discussed below.
C.
Historical Background
Bitter and bloody fighting between Japan and the United St
es during World
War II so devastated the Marshall Islands that no one would ha
projected that
by 1981 they would emerge as the newest among the sovereign nati@ns of the earth.
And their population of some 30,000 on a land area of less tha
70 square miles
makes this eminent development seem somewhat unique even today.
Although anthropologists differ as to the origins of thos
people who came
' to inhabit these scattered islands and atolls of the central Pa
ific, historians
agree that since the 16th century they have suffered almost co
inuously at the
hands of invaders, colonizers, exploiters, adventurers, and mi Sionaries.
The
myth of an idyllic, utopian society in the romantic South Seas drw men to them as
iron to a magnet.
But unfortunately the impact of these fdreigners on the
Marshallese has been far from idyllic.
After Magellan discovered this part of the world for Eufopeans in 1520,
Spain slowly advanced her military, political, economic and relfigous control of
the Pacific.
But not until the 19th century were the Marshalls
vast imperial holdings in any formal sense.
And her control wasl
aggressive Germany seized control of the Marshalls later in tha
made a part of her
so weak that an
century.
German administration encouraged the development of tradej and established
copra production as the economic base for the Marshalls.
Alfnough a limited
public works program was commenced by Germany, this was abruptfly terminated by
World War I when an expansionist Japan seized control.
In 1922 the League of Nations formally granted Japan a
Marshalls,
which
administration.
time.
was
soon
followed
by
the
establishment
flandate over the
of
a
civilian
Under firm Japanese control the economy prospemed for the first
Thus, older citizens stil]
remember the Japanese wi
some fondness
because jobs were abundant and education, modern agriculture, fimproved fishing
techniques, and modern communication systems were introduced.