50 free Marshall Islands trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Marshall Islands are 29 coral atolls and five islands scattered across 1.9 million square kilometres of the central Pacific, with barely 180 square kilometres of land between them: more than 98 percent of the country is lagoon. This quiz covers the geography that makes the place unique (the two parallel chains named for sunrise and sunset, Kwajalein's enormous lagoon, an average elevation of two metres) and the seafaring culture that settled it, from breadfruit-wood outriggers to the famous stick charts that mapped ocean swells. History runs from the Spanish sightings of 1526 through the British captain who lent his name, German copra traders and the 1885 protectorate, the Japanese mandate, the American invasion of 1944 and the 67 nuclear tests that followed, including Castle Bravo at Bikini and the world's first hydrogen bomb at Enewetak. Then it reaches the present: independence in 1979, the Compact of Free Association, the Nitijela and its 33 senators, the first female president, the flag with the most-pointed star of any nation, the world's largest shark sanctuary and the ship registry that is second only to Panama's. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the Marshall Islands, Bikini Atoll, Castle Bravo, Kwajalein, Majuro and the flag, and each question carries the sentence that supports it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Marshall Islands lie in which ocean?
The Pacific
They sit about halfway between Hawaii and Australia.
Q 02What is the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands?
Majuro
Roughly half the country's population lives there.
Q 03How many coral atolls make up the Marshall Islands?
29
Add five main islands and about 1,220 tiny islets.
Q 04What are the names of the country's two island chains?
Ratak and Ralik
Ratak means 'sunrise' and Ralik means 'sunset'.
Q 05Roughly what percentage of Marshall Islands territory is lagoon water?
98%
It is the highest proportion of water to land of any sovereign state.
Q 06Which of these is NOT one of the four countries built entirely on atolls?
Fiji
Fiji has volcanic high islands, unlike the four atoll nations.
Q 07What is the average elevation of the entire country above sea level?
About 2 metres
Sea level around the islands has risen 3.4 mm a year since 1993, more than double the global rate.
Q 08Which is the largest atoll in the Marshall Islands, with a lagoon of about 1,700 square km?
Kwajalein
It hosts the US Army's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site.
Q 09The Marshall Islands are named after a sea captain of which nationality?
British
John Marshall passed through in 1788 while sailing on from delivering convicts to Australia.
Q 10Which European power was the first to sight the islands, in 1526?
Spain
Alonso de Salazar's crew could not land because of strong currents and deep water.
Q 11A 1528 Spanish expedition nicknamed the islands 'Los Pintados' because the inhabitants were what?
Tattooed
The name means 'the Painted Ones'.
Q 12Marshallese navigators built stick charts to map what?
Ocean swell patterns
Pilots memorised the charts and left them at home when they set sail.
Q 13Traditional Marshallese sailing canoes, called walaps, were built from the wood of which tree?
Breadfruit
Coconut fibre supplied the rope.
Q 14What is the Marshallese title for a paramount chief?
Q 21What was the yield of the 1954 Castle Bravo test, the most powerful US nuclear explosion ever?
15 megatons
It was more than twice as large as predicted because of unforeseen reactions involving lithium-7.
Q 22Fallout from Castle Bravo contaminated the crew of which Japanese fishing boat?
Daigo Fukuryū Maru
Its name means Lucky Dragon No. 5; the inhabited atolls of Rongelap and Rongerik were also dusted.
Q 23How many nuclear devices did the US detonate at Bikini Atoll between 1946 and 1958?
23
They were set off on the reef, inside the atoll, in the air and underwater.
Iroijlaplap
Four of the first five presidents were traditional paramount chiefs.
Q 15Which empire annexed the Marshall Islands as a protectorate in 1885?
Germany
German copra traders had dominated the economy through the 1870s and 1880s.
Q 16Which product drove the islands' colonial economy in the 19th century?
Copra
Copra is dried coconut meat; it remains the most important commercial crop.
Q 17Which country seized the islands in 1914 and later ran them as a League of Nations mandate?
Japan
The civilian South Seas Government ran the mandate from Palau.
Q 18The US Navy's strikes on four Marshallese atolls on 1 February 1942 were notable as what?
The first American air attacks on Japanese territory
The full invasion of the Marshalls followed on 31 January 1944.
Q 19Between 1946 and 1958, how many nuclear tests did the United States conduct in the Marshall Islands?
67
Two atolls bore the brunt of them and remain contaminated.
Q 20The world's first hydrogen bomb, codenamed 'Mike', was tested in 1952 at which atoll?
Enewetak
It produced heavy fallout across the region and was the first of many tests there.
Q 24Four days after the first Bikini test in July 1946, Louis Réard named what after the atoll?
A swimsuit
The two-piece design borrowed the atoll's name for its explosive effect.
Q 25Bikini Atoll received which international designation in 2010?
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Its 167 residents were relocated in 1946 and their descendants still live in exile.
Q 26What is the Runit Dome?
A concrete cap over radioactive waste
There are ongoing fears that the deteriorating structure could leak plutonium.
Q 27On what date did the United States recognise the Marshall Islands' constitution and government?
1 May 1979
Amata Kabua became the first president.
Q 28What is the name of the agreement that governs the Marshall Islands' relationship with the United States?
Compact of Free Association
The US handles defence and pays subsidies; Marshallese may live and work in the US without a visa.
Q 29What currency does the Marshall Islands use?
The US dollar
A 2018 law to create a sovereign cryptocurrency as legal tender was repealed in 2025.
Q 30What is the name of the Marshall Islands' legislature?
Nitijela
Its 33 senators elect the president.