Ujelang

Ujelang
NASA image by Ujelang
Waters	Pacific Ocean
archipelago	Marshall Islands
Geographical location	9 ° 49 ′  N , 160 ° 54 ′  E Coordinates: 9 ° 49 ′  N , 160 ° 54 ′  E
Number of islands	30th
Main island	Ujelang
Land area	1.74 km²
Lagoon area	66 km²
Residents	uninhabited

Ujelang (also: Providence Islands or Arecifos ) is an uninhabited atoll in the Ralik chain of the Marshall Islands . The atoll has a land area of ​​1.74 km², which encloses a lagoon of 66 km².

history

On the formerly uninhabited atoll, coconut palms have been planted with the help of Polynesians to obtain copra since 1880 through the initiative of German merchants . After the decline of copra production at the beginning of the 20th century. However, many inhabitants left the island, in 1935 the atoll still had 40 inhabitants. A population upswing did not begin until after the American nuclear tests on Bikini Atoll . In particular, the residents of Eniwetok were settled on the remote atoll. In 1947 the population was already 145, and it peaked with 342 in 1973, despite famine and epidemics in the 1950s. After Eniwetok was made habitable again after the removal of radioactive soil, the displaced people returned from Ujelang, and in 1989 the atoll was finally uninhabited again. Today buildings of the German copra production and the main street bear witness to the colonial past of the atoll.

flora

Among other things, funnel-shaped morning glory ( Ipomoea violacea ), giant-leaved arrow leaf ( Alocasia macrorrhizos ) and coconut palms, which are widespread on the Polynesian Islands, grow on the atoll .

Web links

• History of the atoll
• Geographical information
• Fauna of the atoll
• Entry on Ujelang