Atoll expedition in 1897. The third expedition in 1898 was led by Alfred Edmund Finckh. On January 6, 2009, U.S. President George W. Bush announced the creation of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, covering several islands and atolls under U.S. jurisdiction. Atoll An atoll (, , , , or ), sometimes called a coral atoll, is a ring-shaped coral reef including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. The coral of the atoll often sits atop the rim of an extinct seamount or volcano which has
Malé Atoll Malé Atoll Malé Atoll is a group of natural atolls in the Republic of Maldives. It consists of two separate atolls: North Malé Atoll and South Malé Atoll. Together with Kaashidhoo Island and Gaafaru, the group forms the administrative division of Malé Atoll which is referred to by its Thaana alphabet letter code name Kaafu Atoll. Malé, capital of the Maldives is geographically located at the southern end of North Malé atoll. The island together with the adjacent islands of Hulhule where the only international airport of the Maldives is located, the artificial island Hulhumalé and Villingili are administratively not