Wotho Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 13 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

. Its total land area is only , but it encloses a lagoon of . The name "Wotho" means either "entrance through the reef", or "island far away" according to different sources. The population of Wotho Atoll was 88 at the 2021 census.

History

First recorded sighting of Wotho Atoll by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of

Miguel López de Legazpi Miguel López de Legazpi (12 June 1502 – 20 August 1572), also known as ''Adelantado, El Adelantado'' and ''El Viejo'' (The Elder), was a Spanish conquistador who financed and led an expedition to conquer the Philippines, Philippine islan ...

on 12 January 1565. They were charted as ''Las Hermanas'' (The Sisters in Spanish). It is likely that it had been visited earlier, in between December 1542 and January 1543, by the Spanish expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos. The atoll was later also known as Schantz Islands after Johan Eberhard von Schantz, who rediscovered the islands on his circumnavigation of the globe on the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until being dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution and the declaration of ...

ship ''America'' in 1835. Wotho Atoll was claimed by the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

along with the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1885. After World War I, the island came under the

South Seas Mandate The South Seas Mandate, officially the Mandate for the German Possessions in the Pacific Ocean Lying North of the Equator, was a League of Nations mandate in the " South Seas" given to the Empire of Japan by the League of Nations following W ...

of the

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

. At 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 The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was a United Nations trust territory in Micronesia administered by the United States from 1947 to 1994. The Imperial Japanese South Seas Mandate had been seized by the U.S. during the Pacifi ...

until the independence of the Marshall Islands in 1986. Sunset Wotto Atoll

Education

Marshall Islands Public School System operates Wotho Elementary School. Kwajalein Atoll High School on Kwajalein serves the community.Annual Report 2011-2012
." Ministry of Education (Marshall Islands). Retrieved on February 22, 2018. p. 54 (PDF p. 55/118). "Kwajalein Atoll High School enrolls students from Kwajalein and the Kabinmeto zone including schools in Ujae, Lae, and Wotto."

References

External links

Marshall Islands site
* {{authority control Atolls of the Marshall Islands Ralik Chain Municipalities of the Marshall Islands