Majuro

Schematic overview of Majuro

Majuro Atoll consists of over 60 islands, three of which are larger than 0.5 km² (0.2 sq mi).[3] At the western end of the atoll, about 50 kilometers (30 mi) from Delap-Uliga-Djarrit (DUD) by road, is the island community of Laura, an expanding residential area with a popular beach.[4] Laura has the highest elevation point on the atoll, estimated at less than 3 meters (10 feet) above sea level.[5] Djarrit is mostly residential.[6]

Iroij Jebrik

Lagoon side with native dwellings

The atoll has been inhabited for at least 2,000 years[11] by Austronesian peoples, including the ancestors of modern-day Marshallese residents. Archaeological excavations of um earth ovens at the Laura village on Majuro suggest habitation around the 1st century CE with a radiocarbon dating range of 93 BCE to 127 CE.[12]

Protestant missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions established a church and school on atoll in 1869.[13] By 1876, agents of the firms Capelle & Co., Hernsheim & Co., and Thomas Farrell were engaged in the copra trade on Majuro.[14] After buying out Thomas Farrell's interests in 1877, New Zealand-based copra firm Henderson & Macfarlane had its regional headquarters on Majuro.[15]

Rival iroij Jebrik and Rimi fought waged war against each other for several years in the late 1870s and 1880s. Their uncle Lerok, the previous iroijlaplap of Majuro had wanted them to divide the atoll between them when he died, but Jebrik began a war for sole control. At least 10 islanders died in the conflict; the destruction of trees and crops caused a serious food shortage; and a slowdown in copra production caused Jebrik to take on debt for his war effort. In 1883, Cyprian Bridge of the passing British warship HMS Espiegle mediated a peace treaty. The fighting never resumed, but when the HMS Dart passed Majuro in 1884, Rimi was trying to persuade the iroij of Aur Atoll to join him in an attack on Jebrik. The British commander mediated peace and warned the iroij of Aur to stay out of the conflict. The commander of the Dart threatened to fine copra traders who had been selling weapons to the islanders, but some traders continued selling weapons in spite of the prohibition, and the residents of Majuro refused to give up their firearms after the war between Jebrik and Rimi ended, because they feared invasion by neighboring islanders.[16]

The German Empire claimed Majuro Atoll as part of the German Protectorate of the Marshall Islands in 1885.[17] As with the rest of the Marshalls, Majuro was captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1914 during World War I and mandated to the Empire of Japan by the League of Nations in 1920. The island then became a part of the Japanese mandated territory of the South Seas Mandate; although the Japanese had established a government in the Mandate, local affairs were mostly left in the hands of traditional local leaders until the start of World War II.

The Fifth Fleet at anchor at Majuro, 1944

On January 30, 1944, United States Armed Forces invaded, but found that Japanese forces had evacuated their fortifications to Kwajalein and Enewetak about a year earlier. A single Japanese warrant officer had been left as a caretaker. With his capture, the islands were secured. This gave the U.S. Navy use of one of the largest anchorages in the Central Pacific. The lagoon became a large forward naval base, Naval Base Majuro, and was the largest and most active port in the world until the war moved westward when it was supplanted by Ulithi (Yap, Federated States of Micronesia).[18]

Following World War II, Majuro came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. After the Marshall Islands broke away from the Federated States of Micronesia in 1978 to form the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Majuro became the new country's capital and meeting place of the Nitijeļā, the legislature of the Marshall Islands.[19] It supplanted Jaluit Atoll as the administrative center of the Marshall Islands, a status that it retains after the independence of the Marshall Islands in 1986 under a Compact of Free Association.[20]

The island was also the site of the Majuro Declaration, a declaration by the Pacific Islands Forum signed on September 5, 2013, to make a unified action on climate change adaptation and international aid.[21]

The major population centers are the D–U–D communities: the islets of Delap–Uliga–Djarrit (listed from south to north, on the eastern edge of the atoll).[20] Majuro had a population of 23,156 at the 2021 census.[22]

Air Marshall Islands Headquarters in Majuro

Majuro's economy is driven by the service sector,[23] which composed 86% of the GDP in 2011.[20]

On September 15, 2007, Witon Barry, of the Tobolar Copra processing plant in the Marshall Islands' capital of Majuro, said power authorities, private companies and entrepreneurs had been experimenting with coconut oil as an alternative to diesel fuel for vehicles, power generators, and ships. Coconut trees abound in the Pacific's tropical islands. Copra from 6 to 10 coconuts makes 1 litre of oil.[30]

Air Marshall Islands has its headquarters in Majuro.[31]

The 101-bed Majuro Hospital (officially the Leroij Atama Zedkeia Medical Center) is the main hospital for Majuro, as well as many of the outer islands.[36][37] The country's only other major hospital is on Ebeye Island, the Leroij Kitlang Memorial Health Center.[36][26] As of 2015, most of the 43 physicians employed by the Marshall Islands were located at the Majuro Hospital. The Laura and Rongrong Health Centers are also located on the atoll of Majuro.[36]

Majuro was initially scheduled to host the seventh edition of the Micronesian Games, in 2010. It subsequently renounced its hosting rights, citing a lack of adequate infrastructure.[45][46] In 2018, the Marshall Islands were awarded the 2022 Micro Games,[47] and a new stadium is being built in Majuro. (In 2021, it was decided to move back the Games a year, to 2023.[48]) The new stadium is also expected to host soccer matches, which will be a first step in forming the Marshall Islands' first-ever national soccer team.

Weightlifter Mattie Langtor Sasser competed for the Marshall Islands in the 2016 Summer Olympics, participating in the Women's 58 kg category on August 8.[49]

Majuro is twinned with:

• Inalåhan, Guam, United States, since 1973
• Kawai, Nara, Japan
• Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan), since 1999[50]
• Basco, Philippines
• Luganville, Vanuatu
• Weno, Micronesia
• Tamuning, Guam, United States
• Tarawa, Kiribati
• Honiara, Solomon Islands
• Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Majuro.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Majuro.

• Marshall Islands site
• Entry at Oceandots.com at the Wayback Machine (archived December 23, 2010)
• Recent photos of the rural portions of Majuro
• World War II photos of Majuro
• Battle of Kwajalein and Enewetak Archived 2013-09-22 at the Wayback Machine