Marshall Islands

The Marshall Islands form the easternmost part of Micronesia (“Polynesia” because of the innumerable small islands found in this region). They extend roughly from 162 to 174 degrees longitude East and from the Equator to 16 degrees latitude North. Only the island of Nauru which was part of the Colony overstepped the Equator by 1 degree to the South. The Marshall Islands form essentially two chains of atolls running north to south. The western chain is known as the Rälik Islands and the western as Ratak Group. There are almost 900 atolls, some small, even tiny, islets covering in total about 400 sq. kms and in 1913 with some 10,000 inhabitants.