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.
Geography Marshall Islands
Location:
Oceania, group of atolls and reefs 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: 181.3 sq km
note: includes the atolls of Bikini, Enewetak, Kwajalein, Majuro,
Rongelap, and Utirik
water: 0 sq km
land: 181.3 sq km
Area - comparative:
about the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries:
0 km
Coastline:
370.4 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm