Likiep Atoll

Likiep in the northern Ratak chain was bought outright in the 1870s by two traders, a Portuguese and a German, who established a copra plantation and whose descendants still hold much of the atoll, which makes it unusual in the Marshalls. Their houses survive: substantial timber buildings in a colonial idiom quite unlike anything else in the country, along with a church and a family cemetery. The atoll has around sixty islets and the main settlement sits at the eastern end near the airstrip. Copra is still shipped off the atoll, though on nothing like the scale of the plantation years.

Background

The atoll is made up of 65 islands and lies approximately 55 kilometres northwest of Wotje. Its land adds up to only 10.26 square kilometres, yet it rings a deep lagoon of 424 square kilometres. An unnamed knoll here, 10 metres above sea level, is the highest point in the Marshall Islands. Europeans first recorded the atoll in January 1543, during the voyage of Ruy López de Villalobos, and on 12 January 1565 Miguel López de Legazpi charted it as Los Corrales, Spanish for farmyards. Anton deBrum, a Portuguese trader and whaler, bought it in 1877 from Iroij Elap Jortaka, the local chief, paying in goods. His trader house, Debrum House, dates from 1890.

Source: Wikipedia, "Likiep Atoll"

What's there

• The trader houses - substantial timber buildings from the plantation years.
• The private purchase - an atoll bought outright in the 1870s.
• The church - the building the plantation families raised.
• The copra plantation - the operation the whole atoll was run as.

When to go

December to April is the drier season. Flights are small and irregular. The wet season brings heavier weather.

Practical notes

The houses are privately owned and access needs permission. Transport is irregular. There is no accommodation beyond community arrangements.

Nearby

Wotje is southeast, and Majuro is south.

Key facts