Majuro Atoll

Majuro Atoll

Majuro Atoll, located in the Ratak chain of the Marshall Islands, is the capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. The atoll consists of 64 islets on an elliptical reef 40 km long and has a total land area of 10 square kilometers. People have lived in Majuro for at least 2,000 years, and it was first settled by the Austronesian ancestors of the present-day Marshallese people. Prior to 1885, the Marshall Islands were under Spanish colonial control, then annexed by the German Empire, and Majuro became their first and primary trading post. The city has been under both Japanese and American administration. After the Marshall Islands seceded from the Federated States of Micronesia in 1978 and the Republic of the Marshall Islands was formed, Majuro became the capital of the new country. Majuro Lagoon is an operating port, one of the busiest tuna transshipment ports in the world. The lagoon also serves as a port for commercial fishing boats, cruise ships, sport fishing boats, outriggers canoes and sometimes luxury yachts. The islands' fauna includes more than 70 species of birds, including 15 species of seabirds known to breed in the Marshall Islands. Most of the land animals are lizards, crabs, bats, rats, cats and dogs. The Marshall Islands are also home to the Humpback Whale, the Blue Whale, the Ginkgo-Toothed Beaked Whale, the Pygmy Killer Whale, the Spinner Dolphin, the Laughing Gull, the Red-Tailed Tropicbird, the Black-Footed Albatross, the Pacific Reef Heron, the Short-Eared Owl, the Polynesian Rat and to the Micronesia Forest Skink.