History of the Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands is a republic of 29 atolls and 5 coral islands. The islands are one of the four main groups that make up Micronesia. The nearest neighbor to the Marshalls are the Federated States of Micronesia. They're only 26 populated islands in the Marshalls because a lot of the islands are too small to support many people. There are two roughly parallel chains of islands that make up the western Ralik group and the eastern Ratak group. Now that you know what and where the Marshall Islands are I'll explain the history. The very early people of the Marshalls had no written language so it is very hard to predict what went on