Welcome to Majuro, the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. Majuro is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, its narrow strips of land enclosing a lagoon of 295 square kilometres. People have lived here for at least 2,000 years, ever since the Austronesian ancestors of today's Marshallese first settled the atoll. Over time Majuro came under German, Japanese and American administration, and when the Republic of the Marshall Islands was formed in 1978 it became the new capital. Let's begin our journey across this warm, wind-swept atoll.
Alele Museum & Public Library
Photo: Kachelus ( Diskussion ) · Copyrighted free use · Wikimedia CommonsWelcome to the Alele Museum and Public Library, the national museum and national archive of the Marshall Islands, and home to the only public library in the country. The name is beautiful: alele means bag or basket in Marshallese, the receptacle in which a family traditionally kept its valuables. The idea for the museum first took shape in 1968, and the shared building was completed in 1974. Inside, three rooms explore Marshallese culture, from traditional navigation and warfare to tools, crafts and jewellery.
Laura
Photo: Stefan Lins from Tokyo, Japan · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsNow we travel to Laura, an island town in the west of Majuro Atoll. Standing about 3 metres above sea level, it may not sound lofty, but it is the highest island in the whole atoll. Much of Majuro's population relies on the freshwater lens beneath Laura for its water. The island also hosts the Marshall Islands International Airport. And a curious note: the town is falsely rumoured to have been named after Lauren Bacall. Scientists have identified Laura as an ideal site for coral conservation, because its coral tolerates high temperatures.
Cathedral of the Assumption
Photo: Prefecture Apostolic of Marshall Islands · CC0 · Wikimedia CommonsHere in the city centre stands the Cathedral of the Assumption, the Catholic seat of the Apostolic Prefecture of the Marshall Islands. Its reach is wide, covering the entire country as well as Wake Atoll. The church was built in 1898, when missionaries of the Order of the Sacred Heart arrived on Majuro Atoll. In 1993 the prefecture was separated from the Diocese of the Carolines and Marshall Islands.
Naval Base Majuro
Photo: U.S. Navy photo 80-G-225251 · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsOur final stop takes us back to the Second World War. Naval Base Majuro was a major United States Navy base, built after the Battle of Majuro-Kwajalein ended on 3 February 1944. Surprisingly, when American forces arrived they found the atoll unoccupied and abandoned, with a timber pier, a seaplane ramp and warehouses left behind. Navy Seabees repaired and paved the runway with coral, and squadrons of dive-bombers and fighters were based here. The great protected lagoon offered the fleet an excellent anchorage.
Lomakuume
