The atoll has been inhabited for at least 2,000 years 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 AD with a
radiocarbon dating range of 93 BC to 127 AD. Protestant missionaries of the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions established a church and school on atoll in 1869. By 1876, agents of the firms Capelle & Co.,
Hernsheim & Co., and Thomas Farrell were engaged in the
copra trade on Majuro. After buying out Thomas Farrell's interests in 1877, New Zealand-based copra firm Henderson & Macfarlane had its regional headquarters on Majuro. 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 mediated a peace treaty. The fighting never resumed, but when 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. The
German Empire claimed Majuro Atoll as part of the German Protectorate of the
Marshall Islands in 1885. 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. 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). 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. 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. ==Demographics==