coral formation in the Ralik (western) chain of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, situated in the west-central Pacific Ocean. The atoll has a total land area of 4.4 square miles (11.4 square km) and a lagoon that is easily accessible and provides a good anchorage. The first missionaries to the Marshall Islands landed on Jaluit in 1857. The atoll was also the site (1885) of Germany's formal declaration of a protectorate over the islands. Chosen as an administrative centre by Germany, it continued as such under the Japanese. Heavily fortified by the Japanese, Jaluit was devastated by U.S. bombing in World War II. Jabor, the chief settlement, grew after the war. Copra is exported and fishing is important. Pop. (1988) 1,709.