Likiep Atoll (Marshallese: Likiep, [lʲ][1]) is a coral atoll of 65 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. It is located approximately 55 kilometres (34 mi) northwest of Wotje. Its total land area is only 10.26 square kilometres (3.96 sq mi), but that encloses a deep central lagoon of 424 square kilometres (164 sq mi). Likiep Atoll also possesses the Marshall Islands highest point, an unnamed knoll 10 metres (33 ft) above sea level. The population of Likiep Atoll was 482 in 1998.
History
In 1877, Likiep Atoll was purchased by Georg Eduard Adolph Capelle, a German trader and partner with whaler Anton Debrum in the trading firm Capelle & Co, which traded extensively in copra and marine products throughout Micronesia. Likiep Atoll was claimed by the Empire of Germany along with the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1884, and the Germans established a trading outpost. After World War I, the island came under the South Pacific Mandate of the Empire of Japan. Following the end of World War II, it came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands until the independence of the Marshall Islands in 1986.
