Marshall Islands
Coral atolls between Hawaii and the Philippines
The Marshall Islands are a remote Micronesian nation of low coral atolls and reef islands in the central Pacific, a place whose name is bound up with the nuclear age. Between 1946 and 1958 the United States tested dozens of atomic and hydrogen bombs at Bikini and Enewetak atolls, leaving a legacy of displacement and contamination that still shapes the country. Today the islands, governed in free association with the United States, face a different existential threat from a rising ocean. Majuro is the capital and home to much of the population.
The country consists of more than a thousand islands and islets grouped into two chains of coral atolls, with a total land area of only about 181 square kilometers spread across vast ocean. Its highest point reaches only about ten meters above sea level, making it one of the lowest-lying and most climate-vulnerable nations on Earth. The climate is tropical, hot and humid, with the threat of typhoons and drought. The huge lagoon at Kwajalein, one of the largest in the world, hosts a United States missile testing range.
Micronesian voyagers settled the atolls thousands of years ago, developing sophisticated navigation using stick charts that mapped ocean swells. After Spanish, German, and Japanese control, the islands came under United States administration after the Second World War and the nuclear testing era. The Marshall Islands gained independence in 1986 under a Compact of Free Association with the United States, which provides aid and defense in exchange for strategic access. The economy depends heavily on that compact, fishing, and a ship registry.