|
|
|
       
| |
|
|
Marshall Islands:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other pages in this profile of the Marshall Islands:
People, Government, Economy, Communications & Transportation, Military & Transnational Issues.
People, Government, Economy, Communications & Transportation, Military & Transnational Issues.
| |
Background |
After almost four decades under US administration as the easternmost part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the Marshall Islands attained independence in 1986 under a Compact of Free Association. Compensation claims continue as a result of US nuclear testing on some of the atolls between 1947 and 1962. The Marshall Islands hosts the US Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) Reagan Missile Test Site, a key installation in the US missile defense network. |
| |
Location |
Oceania, two archipelagic island chains of 29 atolls, each made up of many small islets, and five single islands in the North Pacific Ocean, about one-half of the way from Hawaii to Australia |
Geographic coordinates |
9 00 N, 168 00 E |
Map references |
Oceania |
Area |
total: 11,854.3 sq km land: 181.3 sq km water: 11,673 sq km (note - lagoon waters) note: includes the atolls of Bikini, Enewetak, Kwajalein, Majuro, Rongelap, and Utirik |
Area - comparative |
about the size of Washington, DC |
Land boundaries |
0 km |
Coastline |
370.4 km |
Maritime claims |
territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm |
Climate |
tropical; hot and humid; wet season May to November; islands border typhoon belt |
Terrain |
low coral limestone and sand islands |
Elevation extremes |
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location on Likiep 10 m |
Natural resources |
coconut products, marine products, deep seabed minerals |
Land use |
arable land: 11.11% permanent crops: 44.44% other: 44.45% (2005) |
Irrigated land |
0 sq km |
Natural hazards |
infrequent typhoons |
Environment - current issues |
inadequate supplies of potable water; pollution of Majuro lagoon from household waste and discharges from fishing vessels |
Environment - international agreements |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Geography - note |
Bikini and Enewetak are former US nuclear test sites; Kwajalein, the famous World War II battleground, is used as a US missile test range; island city of Ebeye is the second largest settlement in the Marshall Islands, after the capital of Majuro, and one of the most densely populated locations in the Pacific |
|
Copyright 2008 World Sites Atlas (sitesatlas.com) |