NASA picture of Wotho Atoll |
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Wotho Atoll (Marshall islands)
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| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | North Pacific |
| Archipelago | Ralik |
| Total islands | 13 |
| Area | 4.33 km2 (1.672 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 3 m (10 ft) |
| Country | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 160 (as of 1998) |
| Ethnic groups | Marshallese |
Wotho Atoll (Marshallese: Wōtto, /ɦˠʷɜtˠtˠɜɦˠʷ/ or [ɔ̯ɔ͡ʌt̴̚t̴ʌ͡ɔɔ̯])[1] is a coral atoll of 13 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only 4.33 square kilometres (1.67 sq mi), but it encloses a lagoon of 94.92 square kilometres (36.65 sq mi). The name "Wotho" means either "entrance through the reef", or "island far away" according to different sources.
The population of Wotho Atoll was 160 in 1998.
The atoll was also known as Schantz Islands after Johan Eberhard von Schantz, who discovered the islands on his circumnavigation of the globe on the Imperial Russian Navy ship America in 1835,[2] although the Manila galleon San Pedro under the command of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi is also recorded as having visited the island in 1565. Wotho Atoll was claimed by the Empire of Germany along with the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1884. After World War I, the island came under the South Pacific Mandate of the Empire of Japan. 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.
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