Editing Marshall Islands (section)

===European exploration===
[[File:Reception of the Manila Galleon by the Chamorro in the Ladrones Islands, ca. 1590.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|[[Manila galleon|Manila Galleon]] in the [[Mariana Islands|Marianas]] and [[Caroline Islands|Carolines]], c. 1590 [[Boxer Codex]]]]

On August 21, 1526, Spanish explorer [[Alonso de Salazar]] was the first European to sight the Marshall Islands. While commanding the ''[[Loaísa Expedition|Santa Maria de la Victoria]]'', he sighted an atoll with a green lagoon, which may have been [[Bokak Atoll|Taongi]]. The crew could not land, because of strong currents and water too deep for the ship's anchor, so the ship sailed for [[Guam]] two days later.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=11–13}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=13}}</ref> 

On January 2, 1528, the expedition of [[Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón]] landed on an uninhabited island, possibly in [[Ailinginae Atoll]], where they resupplied and stayed for six days. Natives from a neighboring island briefly met the Spanish. This expedition named the islands 'Los Pintados' or "the Painted Ones" for the natives who wore tattoos.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=16–18}}</ref> Later Spanish explorers of the Marshalls included [[Ruy López de Villalobos]], [[Miguel López de Legazpi]], [[Alonso de Arellano]], and [[Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira]], though coordinates and geographic descriptions in 16th century Spanish logs are sometimes imprecise, leaving uncertainty about the specific islands they sighted and visited.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=19–47}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=13–33}}</ref> 

On July 6, 1565, the Spanish ship ''San Jeronimo'' nearly wrecked at [[Ujelang Atoll]] after the ship's pilot [[Lope Martín]] led a mutiny.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|pp=40–41}}</ref> While the mutineers were resupplying at Ujelang, several crew members took back control of the ship and marooned Martín and twenty-six other mutineers in the Marshalls.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=30–31}}</ref> By the late 16th century, Spanish galleons sailing between the Americas and the Philippines kept to a sea lane at 13°N and provisioned at Guam, avoiding the Marshalls, which Spanish sailors saw as unprofitable islands amid hazardous waters.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|p=39}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=34}}</ref>

The British sea captains [[John Marshall (Royal Navy officer, born 1748)|John Marshall]] and [[Thomas Gilbert (sea captain)|Thomas Gilbert]] visited the islands in 1788.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1960|p=152}}</ref> Their vessels had been part of the [[First Fleet]] taking convicts from England to [[Botany Bay]] in [[New South Wales]], and were en route to [[Guangzhou]] when they passed through the [[Gilbert Islands]] and Marshall Islands.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=63–64}}</ref> On June 25, 1788, the British ships had peaceful interactions and traded with islanders at [[Mili Atoll]];<ref name="Hezel6465"/> their meeting may have been the first contact between Europeans and Marshallese since the Mendaña expedition of 1568.<ref name="Fortune287"/> Subsequent navigational charts and maps named the islands for John Marshall.<ref name="Hezel6465">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=64–65}}</ref>

From the 1820s through the 1850s, the Marshall Islanders became increasingly hostile to western vessels, possibly because of violent punishments that sea captains exacted for theft as well as the [[Blackbirding|abduction]] of Marshallese people for sale into slavery on Pacific plantations.<ref name="Hezel200">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=200}}</ref> One of the earliest violent encounters occurred in February 1824, when the inhabitants of Mili Atoll massacred marooned sailors from the American [[whaler]] ''[[Globe (1815 whaleship)|Globe]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Beardslee|first1=L. A.|title=Marshall Group: North Pacific Islands|date=1870|publisher=U.S. Bureau of Navigation: Hydrological Office|location=Washington D.C.|access-date=August 25, 2023|url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hnnx9n;view=2up;seq=8;size=125|page=3|archive-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224122102/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hnnx9n;view=2up;seq=8;size=125|url-status=live}}</ref> Similar encounters occurred as late as 1851 and 1852, when three separate Marshallese attacks on ships occurred at [[Ebon Atoll|Ebon]], [[Jaluit Atoll|Jaluit]], and [[Namdrik Atoll]]s.<ref name="Hezel200"/>