Talk:Kwajalein

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The map should be photoshopped to cover actual names of the islands--nixie 04:06, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps it should be mentioned that SpaceX uses the island as one of their launch sites. Falcon 1 will make its maiden flight in mid December --User:subzero788 16:17, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

done--Duk 20:14, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Largest Island

The article says the largest island in the atoll is Kwajalein but later it says it's Ebadon. Which is it? Papercrab 20:19, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Kwajalein is the largest Island in the Atoll. Ebandon (Ebeye) is the most populated land mass in the world. Ebeye is only 1/3 the size of Kwaj, housing around 15,000 people. Kwajalein houses around 1,903 people.

The article indicates Roi-Namur is the second largest island in the Atoll and later identifies Ebadon as the second largest. Roi and Namur were separate islands connected by a largely man-made causeway. E. H. Bryan, Jr., in his Guide to Place Names in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum, 1971), gives an area (in square miles) of .235 for Roi, .125 for Namur, and .050 for Enirigirukku, a "connecting sandspit". Man-made additions to these joined islands has increased their collective area to 1.10 square miles. Ebadon, in the northwest corner of the Atoll, has an area of .75 square miles. The island of Kwajalein, originally .7 square miles is, as a result of man-made additions, now 1.28 square miles.

Obviously there's some confusion here. Ebadon and Ebeye are absolutely different islands. Ebadon is in the far northwest corner of the atoll; Ebeye (properly spelled Epja in Marshallese) is located in the southeast tip, near Kwajalein islet. Yes, Ebeye is often said to be the most populated land mass in the world. Roi and Namur are adjoined islands, which makes Ebadon the second-largest after Kwajalein. Betweener 06:46, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Indigenous People

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (March 2007)

What about the indigenous people of Kwajalein? I heard some were still around as recently as a few decades ago. I also heard they had a matriarchal culture.

Yes, they do have a matriarchal culture, I lived out there recently and it was still this way.

No, it's not matriarchal; it's matrilineal. In other words, land passes through one's mother, through a rather complex system of inheritance of clan and family known as bwij and jowi. Status, in general, passes through one's father as well. In general Marshallese customs, particularly through the influence of colonialism and Christianity, favor a patriarchal form of leadership, but land tenure has always passed through the matriline.

What is meant above by indigenous people of Kwajalein "still being around" as recently as a few decades ago? They're not only "still around;" Marshallese people are in charge of their own independent republic, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, in which Kwajalein is situated, the Marshall Islands is at least 95% indigenously populated. The population of the Marshallese people in general (living in diaspora, mostly in Hawaii and parts of the continental United States, as in Springdale, Arkansas and in parts of California, etc.) is close to 60,000 people worldwide, as of 2007. In Kwajalein Atoll, there are at least 13,000 Marshallese people versus only about 2,000 Americans who live on the installations there. However, if you're talking about "purely" indigenous "Kwajalein People," meaning Marshallese people who have original land rights to Kwajalein through their matriline or through designation by a chief (irooj), yes, a significant part of the population of Kwajalein Atoll and other parts of the Marshall Islands is also made up of people who have land rights at Kwajalein or a combination of land affiliations with dozens of other atolls and islands.