Marshall Islands

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Marshall Islands

The Marshall Islands is a country in the central Pacific Ocean, made up of part of the easternmost islands of Micronesia. The Marshalls are made up of more than 1200 islands and islets, which form two parallel chains of coral atolls: to the east is Ratak, or sunrise, and to the west is Ralik, or sunset. The chains are about 200 miles from each other and stretch for about 800 miles from northwest to southeast. Majuro Atoll is the Republic's nominal capital. Of the 29 low-lying coral atolls and five coral islands in the Marshall Group, not a single one rises more than six meters above high tide. These islands are coral caps on the rim of submerged volcanoes that rise from the ocean floor. The island groups of the Marshalls cover an area of about 180 000 square miles in the Pacific Ocean. Kwajalein is the largest atoll in the group and in the world, with a land area of just six square miles, but it surrounds a 655-square-mile lagoon. Many of the northern atolls are uninhabited due to lack of rainfall. The majority of the Marshall Islands are true atolls, which consist of an irregular, oval-shaped coral reef surrounding a lagoon, and the islets are located along the reef. The Ratak chain islands and islets are generally more heavily forested than the Ralik Islands. The main vegetation consists of coconut and pandanus palms and breadfruit trees. In general, the soils are sandy and poorly fertile. Nearly 2 000 000 square kilometers of ocean off the Marshall Islands is a shark sanctuary, the largest shark sanctuary in the world. All shark fishing in the protected waters is prohibited, and all by-catch must be released.