Place details
Place nameMarshall Islands
Other namesRepublic of the Marshall Islands, Majol, Marshall, Îles, République des îles Marshall, MHL, MH, ISO584, RM00, Marshallese
Latitude11
Longitude168
SourceThesaurus of Geographic Names
Overview
Composed of 32 atolls and over 860 reefs in West Pacific; probably charted by Spanish 16th century; explored by Englishmen Gilbert and Marshall 1788; purchased from Spain by Germany 1885; Japanese and US control in 20th century; controls own foreign policy except defense; official languages are Marshallese (Kajin-Majol) and English.