Historically, the atoll was ruled by a paramount chief known as the nahnmariki, a hereditary title that granted certain land rights to its holder.
During the 1960s, the Peace Corps and U.S. Air Force settled on the main island, constructing a missile watching station in the northeast of the island and a pier, with work beginning in 1978 on an airstrip, jutting into the lagoon, on the main island [REF].