Editing Ailinglaplap Atoll (section)

==History==
Captain Thomas Dennet of the British vessel ''Britannia'' sighted the atoll in 1797 on route from Australia to China and named it Lambert Island.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sharp |first1=Andrew |title=The Discovery of the Pacific Islands |date=1962 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |pages=177–8 |edition=Second}}</ref>
The British merchant vessel ''[[Rolla (1800 ship)|Rolla]]'' sighted several islands in the [[Ratak Chain|Ratak]] and Ralik Chains. On 6 November 1803 she sighted islands at {{coord|7|12|N|166|40|E}}, which was possibly Ailinglaplap Atoll. The next day six canoes of friendly natives came off.<ref>[http://www.micsem.org/pubs/articles/historical/forships/marshalls.htm Foreign Ships in Micronesia: Marshalls - accessed 31 July 2015.]</ref> ''Rolla'' had transported [[convict]]s from Britain to [[New South Wales]] and was on her way to Canton to find a cargo to take back to Britain.

In 1885, the [[German Empire]] claimed Ailinglaplap Atoll along with the rest of the Marshall Islands.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Churchill |first1=William |author-link1=William Churchill (ethnologist) |date=1920 |title=Germany's Lost Pacific Empire |jstor=207706 |journal=Geographical Review |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=84–90|doi=10.2307/207706 |bibcode=1920GeoRv..10...84C }}</ref> A number of European trading stations were established on the islands to Ailingkaplap as part of the copra trade. After World War I, the island came under the [[South Seas Mandate]] of the [[Empire of Japan]]. The base became part of the vast US [[Naval Base Marshall Islands]]. Following the end of World War II, it came under the control of the United States as part of the [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]] until the independence of the Marshall Islands in 1986.

There are currently 4 [[Iroijlaplap]] (or paramount chief) of Ailinglaplap.