MARSHALL ISLANDS

MARSHALL ISLANDS / AORŌKIN M̧AJEĻ

Definitive stamps.
Map of Likiep Atoll.
Second stamp in a set of 10, isued on 12.06.1984.
Face value: 3 cent of US dollar.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Size: 20 x 23 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 6A.
- Scott No. 36.
- StampWorld No. 6.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 6.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 46.

The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands (Marshallese: Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ), is an island country and an associated state of the United States in the Pacific Ocean, north the Equator. Geographically, the country is part of Micronesia. The republic's population, of 58,413 people (2018 Census), is spread out over 29 coral atolls, comprising 1,156 islands and islets. The capital and largest city is Majuro. The total area of the landmass is 181.43 km2 (70.05 sq mi). Islands in the archipelago were first explored in the 1520s by Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano. Spain claimed the islands in 1592, and the European powers recognized its sovereignty in 1874. In 1885 Spain sold some of the islands to the German Empire. In World War I, Japan occupied the archipielago, and in 1920 the League of Nations combined with other former German territories to form the South Seas Mandate. During World War II, the United States took control of the islands. Nuclear testing began on Bikini Atoll in 1946 and concluded in 1958. In May 1, 1979 Marshall Islands proclaimed their independence, but full sovereignty or self-government was achieved in a Compact of Free Association with the United States.

Likiep is a 65-island atoll in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only 10.26 km² (3.96 sq mi), but that encloses a deep central lagoon of 424 km² (164 sq mi). Likiep Atoll also possesses the Marshall Islands' highest point, an unnamed knoll 10 m (33 ft) above sea level. The population of the atoll was 401 in 2011.