Oroluk Atoll
Atoll of Pohnpei State, Micronesia
Oroluk Atoll is an uninhabited atoll belonging to Pohnpei State in the Micronesia.
Description
Oroluk Atoll stretches from the northwest to the southeast with a length of about 32 km (20 mi) and an average width of 20 km (12 mi). The lagoon's surface is roughly 420 km2 (162 sq mi).
The more than 25 sandy islets and banks, predominantly on the eastern rim of the atoll, have been washed away by cyclones through the years. Only one island remains, Oroluk Island in the very northwest corner of the atoll. Oroluk Atoll is believed to have been first discovered and named by navigators from Namoluk Island in the Mortlock Islands.
The Atoll is uninhabited, after a population of 6 was recorded in the municipality in the 1980 census.
Municipality
Oroluk municipality, which includes Oroluk Atoll and Minto Reef, is one of the twelve municipalities of Pohnpei State.
History
Oroluk atoll It was discovered by Spanish navigator Alonso de Arellano in 1565 on board of the patache San Lucas, who charted it as Mira Cómo Vas (Look how you're going in Spanish). It was also later visited by the Spanish naval officer Felipe Tompson on 7 April 1773, who charted it as the Bajo Triste (the Sad Shoal in Spanish) due to its "horrible aspect" in his own words.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1807271. Authority coordinates are 7.446, 155.358. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1980, 1565 and 1773.
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This entry incorporates text from “Oroluk Atoll” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.