The Ratak Chain ( , ) is a chain of islands and atolls within the island nation of the Marshall Islands. Ratak means "sunrise". It lies to the east of the country's other island chain, the Ralik Chain. In 1999 the total population of the Ratak islands was 30,925.
The atolls and isolated islands in the chain are:
Ailuk Atoll
Arno Atoll
Aur Atoll
Bikar Atoll
Bokak Atoll
Erikub Atoll
Jemo Island
Knox Atoll
Likiep Atoll
Majuro Atoll
Maloelap Atoll
Mejit Island
Mili Atoll
Taka Atoll
Utirik Atoll
Wotje Atoll
The Ratak Chain forms a continuous chain of seamounts with the Gilbert Islands to the south, which are part of Kiribati.
Language
The Ratak Chain is home to the Ratak dialect (or eastern dialect) of the Marshallese language. It is mutually intelligible with the Rālik dialect (or western dialect) located on the Rālik Chain. The two dialects differ mainly in lexicon and in certain regular phonological reflexes.