In the Eighties the Airline of the Marshall Islands was founded to serve this tiny island nation in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean. Encompassing more than 1,200 islands and islets, mostly part of coral reefs, The Republic of the Marshall Islands (Airways, May 1998)-which derives its name from John William Marshall a British sea captain who sailed through here in 1788 en route from Australia to China-declared its independence in 1979. Until then, the island chain was still under the administration of the USA as part of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in effect since the end of World War II. Many of the islands' names would be familiar to most World War II veterans, not least Bikini Atoll where the USA conducted nuclear testing between 1946 and 1958.
展开▼
