There are 1,225 islands that make up the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Only five of these islands are single islands. The rest are grouped into 29 coral atolls. The Marshall Islands comprise 10 percent of all the atolls in the world.
The atolls run north-south in two chains. These two chains are about 150 miles apart and some 800 miles long (see map at top of page). Each chain of islands has its own name. The eastern chain is called Ratak which means "toward dawn." The western chain or Ralik means "toward sunset."
The islands are scattered over 750,000 square miles of ocean. The islands are very long and narrow. The widest island is Wotje, and it is less than a mile wide.
The Marshall Islands are found approximately 2,300 miles west of Hawaii and 3,000 miles east of Japan.
