MARSHALL ISLANDS

officially Republic of the Marshall Islands, Marshallese Majol, country of the central Pacific Ocean. It consists of some of the easternmost islands of Micronesia. The Marshalls are composed of two parallel chains of coral atollsthe Ratak, or Sunrise, to the east, and the Ralik, or Sunset, to the west. The chains lie about 125 miles (200 kilometres) apart and extend some 800 miles northwest to southeast. The islands and islets number more than 1,200 and have a total land area of 70 square miles (181 square kilometres). Dalap-Uliga-Darrit, on Majuro Atoll, is the capital of the republic. The Marshalls were administered by the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands from 1947 to 1986, when the Trust Territory was dissolved by the U.S. government. officially Republic Of The Marshall Islands, Marshallese Majol independent republic of the central Pacific Ocean. It is composed of two parallel chains of coral atolls, the Ratak, or Sunrise, to the east and the Ralik, or Sunset, to the west. The chains lie about 125 miles (200 km) apart and extend some 800 miles (1,290 km) northwest to southeast. The islands and islets number more than 1,200. The capital is Majuro. Area 70 square miles (181 square km). Pop. (1992 est.) 50,000. For current history and for statistics on society and economy, see Britannica Book Of The Year. None of the 29 low-lying coral atolls and the 5 coral islands in the Marshall group rises to more than 20 feet (6 m) above high tide. The islands are coral caps set on dome volcanoes rising from the ocean floor. The island units of the Marshalls are scattered over about 770,000 square miles (2,000,000 square km) of the Pacific. The largest atoll is Kwajalein, consisting of about 90 islets (with a total land area of 6 square miles [16 square km]); the islets surround a 665-square-mile (1,722-square-kilometre) lagoon. Bikini and Enewetak atolls served as testing grounds for U.S. nuclear weapons (194658), and much of Kwajalein atoll today is used as a missile-testing range by the U.S. military. The climate is tropical with little seasonal variation in daily temperatures, which generally peak at about 89 F (32 C) in the mid-afternoon and fall to about 75 F (24 C) at night. Relative humidity is always high, averaging about 85 percent. Annual rainfall varies from 20 to 30 inches (500 to 800 mm) in the north to 160 inches (4,100 mm) in the southern atolls. The typical Marshallese atoll is about 50 miles (80 km) in circumference and consists of an irregular, oval-shaped coral reef surrounding a lagoon; the islets lie along the coral reef. Soils are generally sandy and low in fertility. The indigenous people are Micronesians. The most populous atolls are Majuro and Kwajalein, together having about two-thirds of the country's total population. The people live mostly in traditional villages and are predominantly Christian. Marshallese and English are spoken. Subsistence farming, fishing, and the raising of pigs and poultry are the principal economic activities. Coconuts, pandanus, breadfruit, taro, and arrowroot are major foods. The production of copra cake and coconut oil for export and the leasing of land for the U.S. missile range on Kwajalein are the major sources of revenue. Majuro has a commercial dock complex, and many of the atolls have good anchorage within their lagoons. Majuro and Kwajalein have international airports. The government consists of a president elected by a 33-member parliament known as the Nitijela. The 12-member Council of Iroij (Chiefs) has mainly a consultative function, concerned with traditional laws and customs. Sighted in 1529 by the Spanish navigator lvaro Saavedra, the Marshalls lacked the wealth to encourage exploitation. In 1885 Germany declared the islands a protectorate. Japan seized them in 1914 and later (after 1919) administered them as a League of Nations mandate. Occupied by the United States in World War II, after heavy fighting at Kwajalein and Enewetak, the Marshall Islands were made part of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands under U.S. jurisdiction in 1947. Nuclear testing ceased in 1958, and clean-up efforts were completed; but Bikini and Enewetak remained too badly contaminated for the return of their populations. A constitution was approved by the Marshallese people, and the country became an internally self-governing republic in 1979. The Marshall Islands, in 1982, signed a Compact of Free Association with the United States, which was endorsed by referendum in 1983. The document required that the United States be responsible for external security and defense and provide financial assistance to the republic. The compact came into effect in 1986, terminating the islands' Trust Territory status, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands became fully self-governing in free association with the United States. In 1991 the country was admitted to the United Nations. Additional reading Alexander Spoehr, Majuro: A Village in the Marshall Islands (1949, reprinted 1973); and Robert C. Kiste, The Bikinians: A Study in Forced Migration (1974), describe the ethnology, anthropology, and social conditions.