Majuro

Majuro, known in Marshallese as Mājro, stands as the vibrant capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. Not only is this unusual site a major urban hub but also a large coral atoll with 64 islands spread over the Pacific Ocean. Majuro comprises a vital legislative district within the Marshall Islands as part of the Ratak (Sunrise) Chain. Comprising a land area of 9.7 square kilometers (3.7 square miles), the atoll itself encircles a lagoon of amazing 295 square kilometers (114 square miles). Like other atolls in the area, Majuro’s land masses are small and typified by a tropical trade wind environment that keeps an average temperature of 27 °C (81 °F).

With human presence going at least 2,000 years, Majuro’s rich and deeply ingrained past is The initial immigrants were Austronesian forebears of the current Marshallese population. Majuro had evolved by the 1870s into a center for copra trading stations and Protestant missionaries. The German Empire bought the atoll in 1885 and included it into the German Protectorate of the Marshall Islands. Later the city came under American and Japanese rule. After the Marshall Islands broke away from the Federated States of Micronesia in 1978, Majuro was chosen as the capital of the newly established Republic of the Marshall Islands, superseding Jaluit as the site of the national legislature.

Delap-Uliga-Djarrit (DUD), a conglomerate of three adjacent motus, is Majuro’s principal population center. The 2021 census notes 23,156 people living in this area. Majuro has a busy harbor, a vibrant shopping area, and several hotels serving both residents and tourists. Reflecting the city’s primary hub status in the Marshall Islands, the economy is essentially service-oriented.

There are more than 60 islands at Majuro Atoll; three of them are bigger than 0.5 square kilometers (0.2 square miles). About 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Delap-Uliga-Djarrit by road, at the western end of the atoll, Laura’s island settlement resides. With an elevation point estimated at less than 3 meters (10 feet), this area is a growing residential zone noted for its beautiful beach. Djarrit is essentially a residential district, which adds to the variety of living quarters seen in Majuro.

Slightly north of the Equator, Majuro has a tropical rainforest climate (Af), different from an equatorial climate because of the dominant trade winds, which are sometimes broken in the summer months by the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Here, typhoons are rarer. With an average temperature of about 27 °C (81 °F), the temperature stays rather constant all year long; the hottest month is just somewhat warmer than the coldest. Usually, temperatures hardly fall below 21 °C (70 °F). Majuro gets about 3,200 millimeters (126 inches) of rain year; the fall months, September through November, are both the hottest and the wettest.

With most of the population following Protestant denominations including the United Church of Christ (47%), Assembly of God (16%), and others including Bukot Nan Jesus (5%), Full Gospel (3%), Reformed Congressional Church (3%), Salvation Army (2%), Seventh-Day Adventist (1%), and Meram in Jesus (1%), Majuro’s cultural fabric is essentially Christian. About 8% of the population is Catholic; the Cathedral of the Assumption is a major religious attraction. Rising Islamic impact in recent years is evident from the opening of the first mosque in September 2012 to serve an increasing number of Ahmadi Muslims. Among other religious groups are Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baptist churches, and LDS temples.

The Marshall Islands International Airport, offering both domestic and international services, helps Majuro to be connected. Four passenger airlines: United Airlines, Nauru Airlines, Air Marshall Islands, and Asia Pacific Airlines run out of the airport. Except for Thursdays and Sundays, Air Marshall Islands runs daily services between Majuro and Kwajalein and weekly flights to most populated atolls within the Marshalls.