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What country does the Marshall Islands belong to?
You probably haven’t heard of the Marshall Islands. But you may know a small island, or rather an atoll by its name: the Bikini Atoll. It is part of the Marshall Islands. The bikini got its name from this island.
The Marshall Islands are part of the Micronesia archipelago. They are located in the western Pacific Ocean. There are more than 1200 islands spread over an area of 2.1 million square kilometers. In the south, the island state of Kiribati borders on the Marshall Islands, and in the southwest, the Federated States of Micronesia. In the northeast and east, nothing borders on the Marshall Islands – here it goes off into the expanses of the Pacific Ocean.
The land area of the five larger islands and 29 coral atolls plus the tiny islets is 184.4 square kilometers. This is about the same size as the North Sea islands of Sylt and Föhr combined. So pretty small.
Two island chains can be distinguished: the eastern Ratak chain, which also bears the beautiful name of Sunrise Islands, and the western Ralik Chain, the Sunset Islands.
The Majuro Atoll, on which the capital of the Marshall Islands is also located, is part of the Ratak Chain. This includes 14 atolls and two islands with a land area of almost 88 square kilometers. The Ralik Group includes 15 atolls and three islands and is a bit larger at 93 square kilometers.
The islands consist of coral limestone and rise only about three to four meters above sea level. The atolls were formed from undersea volcanic islands. Around their peaks, which were sinking, coral reefs formed in a ring shape. These grew to sea level. One atoll stands out in particular. It is the Likiep atoll with a height of 10 meters. This is also the highest “mountain” of the islands.
Are the Marshall Islands still a U.S. territory?
Are the Marshall Islands part of Hawaii?
Is Marshall Islands part of Australia?
