The atoll has been occupied at various times by guano miners, would-be settlers or military personnel, mostly from Mexico, which formerly claimed it until international arbitration awarded it to France in 1931.

The atoll has no economic activity.

Wake Island is a volcanic island that has become an atoll

An atoll is an island formed from a coral reef that has grown on an eroded and submerged volcanic island.

Since the base was closed, the atoll is likely to have been visited by sailing vessels crossing the Pacific, as the deserted atoll has a strong lure due to the activities once performed there.

The island has the greatest land area of any coral atoll in the world: about ; its lagoon is about the same size.

The largest island, Wake Island, is the center of activity on the atoll and is the location of Wake Island Airfield, which has a runway.

However, Bermuda is what is termed a pseudo-atoll because its general form, while resembling that of an atoll, has a very different mode of formation.

At this point, the island has become an atoll.

On average, each atoll has approximately 5 to 10 inhabited islands ; the uninhabited islands of each atoll number approximately 20 to 60.

The atoll itself has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of.

Laura has the highest elevation point on the atoll, estimated at less than 10 feet above sea level.

* Ebeye is not part of the Reagan Test Site ; it is a Marshallese island-city with shops, restaurants and an active commercial port, It has the largest population in the atoll, with approximately 13, 000 residents living on 80 acres ( 320, 000 m² ) of land.

Like many other key islets in the atoll, it has much cultural and spiritual significance in Marshallese cosmology.

Kwajalein atoll has been leased by the United States for missile testing and various other operations from well-prior to independence for the Marshall Islands.

Although this military history has influenced the lives of the Marshall Islanders who have lived in the atoll through the war to the present, the military history of Kwajalein has prevented tourism and has kept the environment in relatively pristine condition.

* Enewetak, an atoll whose airport has IATA airport code ENT

The atoll has a lagoon () that provides sheltered anchorage.

" Ouba Islet Resort " is an eco-tourism resort on Ouba island in the north-western perimeter of the atoll, which has been operating since July, 2006.

The atoll of Tupai has no permanent population apart from some workers in the coconut plantations.

The continuous portion of the atoll rim stretches from one end to the other, enclosing a lagoon long and up to wide, with a pass opening at the north.

About 80 km ( 50 mi ) east of the atoll lies the 650 km ( 400-mile ) long Chagos Trench, an underwater canyon plunging more than 4, 900 m ( 16, 000 ft ).

* Ribbon reef – a long, narrow, possibly winding reef, usually associated with an atoll lagoon

One long barrier reef forms the western side of the atoll.

15 km long and 8. 5 km wide Gaafaru reef is as much a separate atoll as Goidu or Rasdhu which are similar in structure and size.

These were important for ancient mariners plying along the spice route trying to bypass the long atoll chains without harm.

The blast caused a 2 kilometre long and 40 cm wide crack to appear on the atoll.

The Farquhar atoll ( in the Seychelles ) was, for a long time, known as the João da Nova islands.

The main group of islands form a long curve which describes the eastern side of the atoll.

Agatti Island ( Malayalam: അഗത ് ത ി ഐലന ് റ ്), also known as Agathy, is a 5. 6 km long island, situated on a coral atoll in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, India.

The atoll has a more than 30 km long north-south axis, and is up to 10 km wide.

This administrative atoll is 37 miles long, it is the third atoll from the northern edge of the country, and It comprises 51 islands of which 16 are inhabited.

It consists of three separate natural atolls, namely southern Maalhosmadulu Atoll ( which is 42 km long and 32 km wide and consists of 9 inhabited islands ), the Fasdūtherē Atoll ( wedged in between the two Maalhosmadulu Atolls and separated from north Maalhosmasdulu Atoll by Hani Kandu or Moresby Channel ) and the smaller natural atoll known as Goifulhafehendhu Atoll ( Horsburgh Atoll in the Admiralty charts ).

The formerly inhabited island of Gemendhoo on the eastern fringe of the atoll is surrounded by a long line of 11 uninhabited islands.

The island is located on the eastern fringe of the atoll and is surrounded by a long line of 11 uninhabited islands.

Gaagandu ( the biggest isolated rock in the Maldives ) has been erupted in Alif Alif atoll close to the Ukulhas Island has been marked as well known adventurous spot since long time back.

This atoll has a large reef with lagoon, 15 miles long by only 3 miles broad.

Kuramathi at long is the largest of six islands that belong to the small natural atoll, located a few miles off NE Ari Atoll, known as Rasdhoo or Rasdu Atoll that also belongs to Alif Alif Atoll.

Pigs that had previously inhabited Clipperton had been eradicated prior to this time, though the crewmen reported seeing their skeletons around the atoll.

Guyots show evidence of having been above the surface with gradual subsidence through stages from fringed reefed mountain, coral atoll, and finally a flat topped submerged mountain.

Nuclear refugees from the atolls irradiated by the American tests were also moved to Ebeye, and in 1964, when the United States initiated its Anti-ballistic missile testing program with the Nike-Zeus program in Kwajalein Atoll, authorities moved also the remaining Marshall Islanders who lived scattered on their land throughout the atoll to the small shantytown of Ebeye which had been erected with plywood housing by American contractors.

The BBC were dependent upon the RAF for developing the atoll and without this their own ambitions would not have been feasible.

There have been some changes in the geography of this atoll since the first maps were published in the mid-19th century.

Along with its neighboring atoll, Moruroa, it has been the site of approximately 200 nuclear bomb tests.

Despite openings into the lagoon being permanently closed by anti-submarine nets, the German U-boat U-183 torpedoed the tanker British Loyalty in March 1944 ( she had been previously torpedoed and sunk at Diego Suarez ); it was an impressive long-range shot from outside the atoll through a gap in the anti-torpedo nets.

Birds that have been recorded nesting on the atoll include the Red-billed Tropicbird, Red-tailed Tropicbird, Fairy Tern, Great Frigatebird, Bristle-thighed Curlew, Masked Booby and Red-footed Booby.

The best book on his scientific work on the Gilbertese Culture has been published by Henry Evans Maude, Tungaru Traditions: writings on the atoll culture of the Gilbert Islands, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1989, ISBN 0-8248-1217-4

Once the vacation spot for Tahitian royalty, the atoll is widely known for having been purchased by Marlon Brando.

In 1789, William Bligh is said to have been the first European to visit the atoll while looking for the Bounty mutineers.

Despite openings into the lagoon being permanently closed by anti-submarine nets, the German U-boat U-183 torpedoed the tanker British Loyalty in March 1944 ( she had been previously torpedoed and sunk at Diego Suarez ); it was an impressive long-range shot from outside the atoll through a gap in the anti-torpedo nets.

The atoll may have been discovered c. 600s AD by Arabian sailors.

The atoll has been protected from human influence and is home to some 100, 000 giant tortoises, the world's largest population of the animal.

The atoll is thought to have been discovered around 1570 by Portuguese sailors, which is why it is also known under its Portuguese name Baxio Predassa ( a corruption of Baixo Predassa ).

The existence of the atoll might not have been known by Japanese until 1888.

Alifushi, located at the northern end of the atoll, is an island which has been traditionally famous for its skilled boatbuilding carpenters.

Many of the islands in this atoll have been inhabited since ancient times and have arqueological remains from the Maldivian Buddhist period.

No remains from the Buddhist period have been found on this atoll.