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The Marshall Islands,officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands,is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 coral atolls and five islands,divided across two island chains:Ratak in the east and Ralik in the west. 97.87% of its territory is water,the largest proportion of water to land of any sovereign state. The country shares maritime boundaries with Wake Island to the north,Kiribati to the southeast,Nauru to the south,and the Federated States of Micronesia to the west. The capital and largest city is Majuro,home to approximately half of the country's population.
Austronesian 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.
Majuro is the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak (Sunrise) Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll has a land area of 9.7 square kilometers (3.7 sq mi) and encloses a lagoon of 295 square kilometers (114 sq mi). As with other atolls in the Marshall Islands,Majuro consists of narrow land masses. It has a tropical trade wind climate,with an average temperature of 27 °C (81 °F).
Amata Kabua was the first President of the Marshall Islands from 1979 until his death in 1996.
The government of the Marshall Islands operates under a mixed parliamentary-presidential system as set forth in its Constitution. Elections are held every four years in universal suffrage,with each of the 24 constituencies electing one or more representatives (senators) to the lower house of RMI's unicameral legislature,the Nitijela. The President,who is head of state as well as head of government,is elected by the 33 senators of the Nitijela. Four of the five Marshallese presidents who have been elected since the Constitution was adopted in 1979 have been traditional paramount chiefs.
Iroij Litokwa Tomeing was the President of the Marshall Islands from January 2008 until October 2009.
Japanese settlement in the Marshall Islands was spurred on by Japanese trade in the Pacific region. The first Japanese explorers arrived in the Marshall Islands in the late 19th century,although permanent settlements were not established until the 1920s. As compared to other Micronesian islands in the South Seas Mandate,there were fewer Japanese who settled in the islands. After the Japanese surrender in 1945,the Japanese populace were repatriated to Japan,although people of mixed Japanese–Marshallese heritage remained behind. They form a sizeable minority in the Marshall Islands' populace,and are well represented in the corporate,public and political sectors in the country.
David Kabua is a Marshallese politician who served as President of the Marshall Islands from 2020 to 2024. He has represented Wotho Atoll in the Legislature of the Marshall Islands since 2008 and served terms as Minister of Health and Internal Affairs.
Hilda Cathy Heine is a Marshallese educator and politician who has served as the president of the Marshall Islands since 2024,having previously served from 2016 to 2020. Prior to assuming office,she served as the Minister of Education. She was the first individual from the Marshall Islands to earn a doctorate degree,and the founder of the women's rights group Women United Together Marshall Islands (WUTMI).
Daisy Alik-Momotaro is a Marshallese politician. She was a member of the Legislature of the Marshall Islands from 2015 to 2019,representing the Jaluit constituency.
Amenta Matthew is a Marshallese politician. She was a member of the Legislature of the Marshall Islands from 2007 to 2011 and from 2015 to 2019,representing the electorate of Utrik. She was Minister of Health under Presidents Litokwa Tomeing and Jurelang Zedkaia from 2008 to 2011 and Minister of Internal Affairs under Hilda Heine from 2016 to 2019. She was the second woman in the Marshall Islands to serve as a government minister.
Parliamentary elections were held in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands on 19 January 1965.
Parliamentary elections were held in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands on 5 November 1974. Carmen Bigler became the first female member of Congress after being elected to House of Representatives from the Fifth District of the Marshall Islands.
General elections were held in the Marshall Islands on 22 December 1978.
Constitutional Convention elections were held in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands on 4 June 1974. Voters elected 42 members of a constitutional convention that would draw up a proposed constitution for an independent Micronesian state.
Iroij Namo Hermios was a Marshallese chief and politician. He served as a member of the House of Representatives of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands between 1965 and 1968,and as a member of the Marshall Islands Legislature until his death.
Ambilos Iehsi was a Micronesian politician. He served as a member of the House of Representatives and Senate of the Congress of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands between 1967 until 1979,and then as Secretary of Resources and Development of the Federated States of Micronesia.
Dwight Heine was a Marshallese politician. He was both a member and speaker of the Marshall Islands Congress,Congress of Micronesia and the House of Representatives of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands,before serving as District Administrator of the Marshall Islands from 1965 to 1969.
Mary Heine Lanwi is an educator,activist,and promotor of traditional handicrafts in the Marshall Islands. A female pioneer on the islands,she has been described as "perhaps the first Marshallese woman to begin employment outside the home." In 1974,she was the only woman elected to serve as a delegate to the Micronesian Constitutional Convention.
References
- 1 2 3 4 Congressional Directory, Congress of Micronesia, 1975, p21
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Glimpses into Pacific Lives: Some Outstanding Women Northwest Regional Educational Lab
- ↑ Alberto Vieceli (2005) 1000 Peacewomen Across the Globe, pp356–357
- ↑ New faces in Micronesian Congress Pacific Islands Monthly, December 1974, p9
- ↑ Briefly Highlights, 15 May 1974, p3
- 1 2 Election Results Tallied Highlights, 15 November 1974
- ↑ First Woman Wins Seat in Election Highlights, 15 November 1974
- ↑ COM Election Results Tabulated Highlights, 15 November 1976
- ↑ People Pacific Islands Monthly, July 1977, p31
- ↑ William H. Adams (1997) The Japanese Airbase on Taroa Island, Republic of the Marshall Islands, 1937-45: An Evaluation of the World War II Remains piv
- ↑ Carmen honored The Marshall Islands Journal, 27 January 2006
- ↑ Republic of the Marshall Islands legislative elections of 17 November 2003 Psephos