Knox Atoll
{{Short description|Pacific Ocean atoll in the Marshall Islands}}
{{Infobox islands
| name = Knox Atoll
| image_name = KnoxAtoll.jpg
| image_caption = NASA picture of Knox Atoll
| image_size = 250px
| map = Marshall Islands
| map_caption =
| location = North Pacific
| coordinates = {{coord|05|54|00|N|172|09|00|E|type:isle_region:MH|display=title,inline}}
| coastline_mi =
| country = {{flag|Marshall Islands}}
| archipelago = Ratak
| total_islands = 18
| area_km2 = 0.98
| elevation_m = 3
| population = 0
| population_as_of =
| ethnic_groups =
}}
Knox Atoll (Marshallese: {{lang|mh|Ņadikdik}}, {{IPAc-mh|nhahdikdik}}[http://www.trussel2.com/MOD/LocN.htm#%E1%B9%86adikdik Marshallese-English Dictionary - Place Name Index]) is an uninhabited coral atoll of 18 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and is the southernmost atoll of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The total land area is only {{convert|0.98|km2|sqmi|sp=us}}, but it encloses a largely sand-filled lagoon with an area of {{convert|3.42|km2|sqmi|sp=us}}. The atoll measures {{convert|11|km|mi|sp=us}} in length and is {{convert|2|km|mi|sp=us}} wide. The largest islets, located on the western and northern sides, include Aelingeo, Nadikdik and Nariktal. The atoll is separated by the Klee Passage from the southern point of Mili Atoll to which it was once connected.
History
Knox Atoll was claimed by the German Empire along with the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1885.{{cite journal |last1=Churchill |first1=William |author-link1=William Churchill (ethnologist) |date=1920 |title=Germany's Lost Pacific Empire |jstor=207706 |journal=Geographical Review |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=84–90|doi=10.2307/207706 |bibcode=1920GeoRv..10...84C }} After World War I, the island came under the South Seas 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.
Typhoon
On 30 June 1905 the atoll of Nadikdik was completely overwhelmed by a huge typhoon that washed away most of its landmass, stripping it down to the bare coral. Almost all of the some 60 inhabitants perished, save for two boys who survived a 24-hour drift voyage clinging on a breadfruit tree. The sediment generated by the storm and the coral it threw up on to the islands initiated natural ecological restoration that has since enabled them to regenerate. One island has become fully vegetated and stable, while several smaller islands have reappeared and formed into a single, larger landmass.{{cite news|title=Marshall Islands: Islands 'grow back' after Pacific storm|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-26275034|website=BBC News|date=20 February 2014}}
See also
Notes
{{reflist}}
References
- [http://marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/html/atolls/narikrik.html Marshall Islands site]
- {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223043232/http://www.oceandots.com/pacific/marshall/knox.php |date=December 23, 2010 |title=Oceandots entry for Knox Atoll }}
- [http://marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/html/climate/Typhoon1905.html 1905 Typhoon]
- [http://strangesounds.org/2014/02/amazing-geological-oddity-new-pacific-island-reappears-100-years-after-its-destruction-by-a-typhoon.html Nadikdik geomorphic adjustment & regeneration]
{{Portal bar|Islands|Oceania}}
{{Marshall Islands topics|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Atolls of the Marshall Islands
Category:Uninhabited islands of the Marshall Islands
{{Marshalls-geo-stub}}