Geography Of The Marshall Islands
The Marshalls consist of 29 atolls and five isolated islands, which form two parallel groups--the "Ratak" (sunrise) chain and the "Ralik" (sunset) chain. The Marshalls share maritime boundaries with Micronesia and Kiribati. Two-thirds of the nation's population lives in Majuro and Ebeye. The outer islands are sparsely populated due to lack of employment opportunities and economic development.
Location: Oceania, group of atolls and reefs in the North Pacific Ocean, about one-half of the way from Hawaii to Papua New Guinea
Geographic coordinates: 9°00′N 168°00′E / 9°N 168°E / 9; 168
Map references: Oceania
Area:
total: 181.3 km²
land: 181.3 km²
water: 0 km²
note: includes the atolls of Bikini, Enewetak, and Kwajalein
Area - comparative: about the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 370.4 km
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
Maritime boundaries:
- Micronesia
- Kiribati
Climate: wet season from May to November; hot and humid; islands border typhoon belt
Terrain: low coral limestone and sand islands
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 meters
highest point: unnamed location on Likiep 10 meters / 33 feet above sea level
Natural resources: phosphate deposits, marine products, deep seabed minerals
Land use:
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 60%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 0%
other: 40%
Irrigated land: NA km²
Natural hazards: occasional typhoons
Environment - current issues: inadequate supplies of potable water
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography - note: two archipelagic island chains of 30 atolls and 1,152 islands; Bikini and Enewetak are former US nuclear test sites; Kwajalein, the famous World War II battleground, is now used as a US missile test range
Read more about Geography Of The Marshall Islands: Extreme Points
Famous quotes containing the words geography of, geography, marshall and/or islands:
“Where the heart is, there the muses, there the gods sojourn, and not in any geography of fame. Massachusetts, Connecticut River, and Boston Bay, you think paltry places, and the ear loves names of foreign and classic topography. But here we are; and, if we tarry a little, we may come to learn that here is best. See to it, only, that thyself is here;—and art and nature, hope and fate, friends, angels, and the Supreme Being, shall not absent from the chamber where thou sittest.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Yet America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“But while being a mother is admittedly a lifelong preoccupation, it cannot, should not, must not be a lifelong occupation. . . .”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line—the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea. It was a phase of this problem that caused the Civil War.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)