Majuro


Majuro is the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of. As with other atolls in the Marshall Islands, Majuro consists of narrow land masses.
The main population center, Delap-Uliga-Djarrit, is made up of three contiguous motus and has a population of 20,301 people. Majuro has a port, shopping district and hotels. Majuro has an international airport with scheduled international flights to Hawaii, Micronesia, Kiribati, and Nauru, and flights to domestic destinations around the country.

Geography

At the western end of the atoll, about from D–U–D by road, is the island community of Laura, an expanding residential area with a popular beach. Laura has the highest elevation point on the atoll, estimated at less than above sea level.
Djarrit is mostly residential.

Climate

Being slightly north of the Equator, Majuro has a tropical rainforest climate but not an equatorial climate because trade winds are prevailing throughout the year though they are frequently interrupted during the summer months by the movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone across the area. Typhoons are rare. Temperatures are relatively consistent throughout the course of the year with average temperatures around. Very rarely does the temperature fall below. Majuro sees roughly of precipitation annually.

History

Humans have inhabited the atoll for at least 2,000 years by Austronesian peoples, including the ancestors of modern-day Marshallese residents.
Majuro Atoll was claimed by the German Empire with the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1884, and the Germans established a trading post. As with the rest of the Marshalls, Majuro was captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1914 during World War I and mandated to the Empire of Japan by the League of Nations in 1920. The island then became a part of the Japanese mandated territory of the South Seas Mandate; although the Japanese had established a government in the Mandate, local affairs were mostly left in the hands of traditional local leaders until the start of World War II.
On January 30, 1944, United States troops invaded, but found that Japanese forces had evacuated their fortifications to Kwajalein and Enewetak about a year earlier. A single Japanese warrant officer had been left as a caretaker. With his capture, the islands were secured. This gave the U.S. Navy use of one of the largest anchorages in the Central Pacific. The lagoon became a large forward naval base of operations and was the largest and most active port in the world until the war moved westward when it was supplanted by Ulithi.
Following World War II, Majuro came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. It supplanted Jaluit Atoll as the administrative center of the Marshall Islands, a status that it retains after the independence of the Marshall Islands in 1986.

Demographics

The major population centers are the D–U–D communities: the islets of Delap–Uliga–Djarrit. , Majuro had a population of 27,797.

Religion

Most of the population is Christian. The majority follows the United Church of Christ. The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Prefecture of the Marshall Islands is located in Majuro.
Islamic influence has been increasing. There is a sizable number of Ahmadi Muslims. The first mosque opened in Majuro in September 2012.
There are also LDS churches, Baptist churches, Seventh-Day Adventist churches, and the Salvation Army.

Economy

Majuro's economy is driven by the service sector.
On September 15, 2007, Witon Barry, of the Tobolar Copra processing plant in the Marshall Islands' capital of Majuro, said power authorities, private companies and entrepreneurs had been experimenting with coconut oil as an alternative to diesel fuel for vehicles, power generators and ships. Coconut trees abound in the Pacific's tropical islands. Copra from 6 to 10 coconuts makes 1 litre of oil.
Air Marshall Islands has its headquarters in Majuro.

Education and Finance

Colleges and universities

The College of the Marshall Islands is located in Uliga.
The University of South Pacific has a presence on Majuro.
Bank of the Marshall Islands
Bank of Guam
Marshall Islands Development Bank
Beyond Banking Group

Primary and secondary schools

operates public schools.
High schools:
Primary schools:
In the 1994–1995 school year Majuro had 10 private elementary schools and six private high schools.
There is a Seventh Day Adventist High School and Elementary School in Delap, where English is taught to all students.

Health

Majuro Hospital has 81 beds. It is the main hospital for Majuro, as well as many of the outer islands; the only other major hospital is in Ebeye.

Infrastructure

Water and sewage

The Majuro Water and Sewer Company obtains water from a catchment basin on the International Airport runway. It supplies a year or per person per day. This compares with New York City's per person per day. Water is supplied 12 hours daily. The threat of drought is commonplace.

Transport

Air

, offering domestic and international services, is on Majuro Atoll. It is served by four passenger airlines: United Airlines, Nauru Airlines, Air Marshall Islands, and Asia Pacific Airlines.
Air Marshall Islands flies to most of the Marshalls' inhabited atolls once a week. It offers daily service between Majuro and Kwajalein except Thursdays and Sundays.

Sea

Majuro Lagoon is an active port. It is one of the busiest tuna transshipment ports in the world, with 306,796 tons of tuna being moved from purse seine vessels to carrier vessels in 2018.
The Marshall Islands Shipping Corporation was established by the Marshall Islands via the Marshall Islands Shipping Corporation Act 2004. It manages several government ships that move people and freight around the islands. These ships include three older ships, as well as two newer ships which were donated to the Republic of the Marshall Islands by Japan in 2013.. They also operate a landing craft. These vessels are the main link for transporting people and supplies to and from the outer islands.
Additionally, the lagoon acts as a harbor for commercial fishing vessels, cruise ships, sport fishing boats, outrigger canoes and the occasional luxury yacht.

Sport

Majuro was initially scheduled to host the seventh edition of the Micronesian Games, in 2010. It subsequently renounced its hosting rights, citing a lack of adequate infrastructure.
There is an Olympic committee in Majuro. Weightlifter Mattie Langtor Sasser participated in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, competing in the Women's 58 kg category on August 8. She was competing for the Marshall Islands.

Twin towns – sister cities

Majuro is twinned with: