Bikini Atoll

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Bikini Atoll

Pikinni Atoll
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Map of the Marshall Islands showing Bikini
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Map of Bikini Atoll
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Bikini Atoll
Location of Bikini Atoll
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Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll (Pacific Ocean)
Coordinates: 11°35′N165°23′E﻿ / ﻿11.583°N 165.383°E﻿ / 11.583; 165.383 Coordinates: 11°35′N165°23′E﻿ / ﻿11.583°N 165.383°E﻿ / 11.583; 165.383
Country Republic of the Marshall Islands
  Land6 km2 (2.3 sq mi)
  Total5 caretakers [1]
 Native population relocated in 1948.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official nameBikini Atoll Nuclear Test Site
Criteria Cultural: iv; vi
Reference 1339
Inscription2010 (34th Session)
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Location of Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean

Bikini Atoll ( /ˈbɪkɪˌn/ or /bɪˈkni/ ; Marshallese: 'Pikinni', [pʲi͡ɯɡɯ͡inʲːii̯] , meaning "coconut place") [2] is an atoll in the Marshall Islands that was the site of 23 nuclear tests during the 1940s and 1950s. The atoll consists of 23 islands totalling 3.4 square miles (8.8 km2) surrounding a 229.4-square-mile (594.1 km2) central lagoon. It is at the northern end of the Ralik Chain, approximately 87 kilometres (54 mi) northwest of Ailinginae Atoll and 850 kilometres (530 mi) northwest of Majuro. Within Bikini Atoll, Bikini, Eneu, Namu and Enidrik islands comprise just over 70% of the land area. Bikini and Eneu are the only islands of the atoll that hosted a permanent population. Bikini Island is the northeastern most and largest islet. The atoll was also known as Eschscholtz Atoll, after German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, until 1946, after the Marshall Islands were captured by the U.S. during World War II. [3]

The Marshallese language, also known as Ebon, is a Micronesian language spoken in the Marshall Islands. The language is spoken by about 44,000 people in the Marshall Islands, making it the principal language of the country. There are also roughly 6,000 speakers outside of the Marshall Islands, including those in Nauru and the U.S.

Atoll Ring-shaped coral reef, generally formed over a subsiding oceanic volcano, with a central lagoon and perhaps islands around the rim


Marshall Islands country in Oceania




The island's English name is derived from the German colonial name Bikini given to the atoll when it was part of German New Guinea. The German name is transliterated from the Marshallese name for the island, Pikinni, ( [pʲi͡ɯɡɯ͡inʲːi] ) "Pik" meaning "surface" and "Ni" meaning "coconut", or surface of coconuts. [2]

German New Guinea colonial protectorate from 1884–1914

German New Guinea consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, became a German protectorate in 1884. Other island groups were added subsequently. New Pomerania, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the northern Solomon Islands were declared a German protectorate in 1885; the Caroline Islands, Palau, and the Mariana Islands were bought from Spain in 1899; the protectorate of the Marshall Islands was bought from Spain in 1885 for $4.5 million by the 1885 Hispano-German Protocol of Rome; and Nauru was annexed to the Marshall Islands protectorate in 1888.


A woman named Liijabor from Likiep Island, Likiep Atoll in the Marshall Islands, wears a traditional nieded or clothing mat, c. 1918 Liijabor wearing nieded 1918.jpg

Before the advent of Western influence, the Bikini islanders' sustenance-based lifestyle was based on cultivating native plants and eating shellfish and fish. They were skilled boat-builders and navigators, sailing the two-hulled proa to and from islets around the Bikini and other atolls in the Marshall Islands. [4] The islanders were relatively isolated and had developed a well-integrated society bound by close extended family association and tradition. [4] Every lagoon was led by a king and queen and a following of chieftains and chief women who constituted a ruling caste.

Western culture Heritage of norms, customs, belief and political systems, and artifacts and technologies associated with Europe (both indigenous and foreign origin)

Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization, Occidental culture, the Western world, Western society, and European civilization, is a term used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems and specific artifacts and technologies that have some origin or association with Europe. The term also applies beyond Europe to countries and cultures whose histories are strongly connected to Europe by immigration, colonization, or influence. For example, Western culture includes countries in the Americas and Australasia, whose language and demographic ethnicity majorities are European. The development of western culture has been strongly influenced by Christianity.

Proa type of multihull sailboat, vessel consisting of two unequal length parallel hulls (uses reverse-shunting (interchangeable bow/aft):one hull is kept to windward, and the other to leeward, so that it needs to "shunt" to reverse direction when tacking)

A proa, also seen as prau, perahu, and prahu, or prow, is a type of multihull sailboat. It is a vessel consisting of two (usually) unequal length parallel hulls. It is sailed so that one hull is kept to windward, and the other to leeward, so that it needs to "shunt" to reverse direction when tacking. The English term proa usually refers specifically to the South Pacific proa as described in the journals of the British ship HMS Centurion.

Japan occupied the islands starting in 1914. Some of the leaders maintained Asian-style bungalows and maintained servants, including secretaries, maids, and valets.[ citation needed ]

The islanders worked the copra plantations under the watchful eye of the Japanese, who took a portion of the sales. Chiefs could retain as much as $20,000 per year, and the remainder was distributed to the workers. The Marshall islanders took pride in extending hospitality to one another, even distant relatives. [5]



Clothing and dress

Before the arrival of western missionaries, men wore a fringed skirt of native materials about 25 to 30 inches (60 to 80 cm) long. Women traditionally [6] wore two mats about a yard (metre) square each, made by weaving pandanus and hibiscus leaves together [4] and belted around the waist. [7] Children were usually naked. [4] The Christian missionaries from Oʻahu who arrived in the late 19th century influenced the islanders' notions of modesty. They introduced a dress for women, a long, wide, loose-fitting gown with long sleeves and a high neck, intended to cover as much skin as possible. In the Marshallese, the dress is called wau ( [ɒ̯ɒ͡ɑɑ̯u̯uu̯] ), from the name of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. [8]

Hawaiian Islands An archipelago in the North Pacific Ocean, currently administered by the US state of Hawaii


Oahu The third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands and site of the state capital Honolulu

Oʻahu, known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—about two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oʻahu's southeast coast. Including small associated islands such as Ford Island and the islands in Kāneʻohe Bay and off the eastern (windward) coast, its area is 596.7 square miles (1,545.4 km2), making it the 20th-largest island in the United States.

In 1919, a visitor reported that Marshall Islands women "are perfect models of prudery. Not one would think of exposing her ankles." Women in the Marshall Islands today are still very modest. They believe that a woman's thighs [9] and shoulders should be covered. [10] Women generally wear cotton muʻumuʻus or similar clothing that covers most of the body. Personal health is never discussed except within the family, and women are especially private about female-related health issues, [6] although they are willing to talk about their breasts. [6]

Marshall island women swim in muʻumuʻus which are made of a fine polyester that quickly dries. In the capital of Majuro, revealing cocktail dresses are inappropriate for both islanders and guests. [10] With the increasing influence of Western media, the younger generation wears shorts, though the older generation equates shorts with loose morals. T-shirts, jeans, skirts, and makeup are making their way via the media to the islands. [11]

Land-based wealth



Each family is part of a clan (Bwij), which owns all land. The clan owes allegiance to a chief (Iroij). The chiefs oversee the clan heads (Alap), who are supported by laborers (Dri-jerbal). The Iroij control land tenure, resource use and distribution, and settle disputes. The Alap supervise land maintenance and daily activities. The Dri-jerbal work the land including farming, cleaning, and construction. [4]

The Marshallese society is matrilineal and land is passed down from generation to generation through the mother. Land ownership ties families together into clans. Grandparents, parents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, and cousins form extended, close-knit family groups. Gatherings tend to become big events. One of the most significant family events is the first birthday of a child (kemem), which relatives and friends celebrate with feasts and song. [4] [14]

Payments made in the 20th century as reparations for damage to the Bikini Atoll and the islanders' way of life have elevated their income relative to other Marshall Island residents. It has caused some Bikini islanders to become economically dependent on the payments from the trust fund. This dependency has eroded individuals' interest in traditional economic pursuits like taro and copra production. The move also altered traditional patterns of social alliance and political organization. On Bikini, rights to land and land ownership were the major factor in social and political organization and leadership. After relocation and settlement on Kili, a dual system of land tenure evolved. Disbursements from the trust fund were based in part to land ownership on Bikini and based on current land tenure on Kili. [15]



Most Marshallese speak both the Marshallese language and at least some English. Government agencies use Marshallese. One important word in Marshallese is "yokwe" which is similar to the Hawaiian "aloha" and means "hello", "goodbye" and "love". [16]


Vegetation on the Bikini Atoll Sikorsky SH-3G Sea King from Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 1 in flight during an aerial radiation survey over Bikini Atoll in November 1978.jpg
Vegetation on the Bikini Atoll

The Bikini Atoll is part of the Ralik Chain (for "sunset chain") within the Marshall Islands.

Nuclear test site

Between 1946 and 1958, 23 nuclear devices were detonated by the United States at seven test sites located on the reef, inside the atoll, in the air, or underwater. [17] They had a combined fission yield of 42.2 Mt. The testing began with the Operation Crossroads series in July 1946. Prior to nuclear testing, the residents initially accepted resettlement voluntarily to Rongerik Atoll, believing that they would be able to return home within a short time. However, Rongerik could not produce enough food, and the islanders starved. When they could not return home, they were relocated to Kwajalein Atoll for six months before choosing to live on Kili Island, a small island one-sixth the size of their home island. Some were able to return to Bikini Island in 1970; however, further testing revealed dangerous levels of strontium-90. The United States government funded several trust funds which as of 2013 covered medical treatment and other costs and paid about $550 annually to each individual. [18]


Some 74 kilometers northwest of the atoll is Wōdejebato, a probably shield volcano that is connected to it through a submarine ridge.

There are 23 islands in the Bikini Atoll; the islands of Bokonijien, Aerokojlol, and Namu were vaporized during the nuclear tests. [19] The islands are composed of low coral limestone and sand. [16] The average elevation is only about 7 feet (2.1 m) above low tide level. The total lagoon area is 229.4-square-mile (594.1 km2). The primary home of the islanders was the most northeast and largest islet, Bikini Island, totaling 586 acres (237 ha) and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) long.

Flora and fauna

The islanders cultivated native foods including coconut, pandanus, papaya, banana, arrowroot, taro, limes, breadfruit, and pumpkin. A wide variety of other trees and plants are also present on the islands. [19]

The islanders were skilled fishermen. They used fishing line made from coconut husk and hooks from sharpened sea shells. They used more than 25 methods of fishing. [4] The islanders raised ducks, pigs, and chickens for food and kept dogs and cats as pets. Animal life in the atoll was severely affected by the atomic bomb testing. Existing land species include small lizards, hermit crabs, and coconut crabs. The islands are frequented by a wide variety of birds. [19]

To allow vessels with a larger draft to enter the lagoon and to prepare for the atomic bomb testing, the United States used explosives to cut a channel through the reef and to blow up large coral heads in the lagoon. The underwater nuclear explosions carved large holes in the bottom of the lagoon that were partially refilled by blast debris. The explosions distributed vast amounts of irradiated, pulverized coral and mud across wide expanses of the lagoon and surrounding islands. As of 2008, the atoll had recovered nearly 65% of the biodiversity that existed prior to radioactive contamination, but 28 species of coral appear to be locally extinct. [17]


The islands are hot and humid. The temperature on Bikini Atoll is 80 to 85 °F (27 to 29 °C) year round. The water temperature is also 80 to 85 °F (27 to 29 °C) all year. The islands border the Pacific typhoon belt. The wet season is from May to December while the trade winds from January through May produce higher wave action. [19]

Resident and non-resident population

When the United States asked the islanders to relocate in 1946, 19 islanders lived elsewhere. The 167 residents comprising about 40 families [20] who lived on the atoll voluntarily moved to Rongerik Atoll, and then to Kwajalein Atoll, and once again in November 1948 to Kili Island, when the population numbered 184. They were later given public lands on Ejit and a few families initially moved there to grow copra. In 1970, about 160 Bikini islanders returned to live on the atoll after they were reassured that it was safe. They remained for about 10 years until scientists found an 11-fold increase in the caesium-137 body burdens and determined that the island wasn't safe after all. The 178 residents were evacuated in September 1978 once again. [12]

Since then a number of descendants have moved to Majuro (the Marshall Islands' capital), other Marshall Islands, and the United States. In 1999, there were 2,600 total individuals; 1,000 islanders living on Kiji, 700 in Majuro, 275 on Ejit, 175 on other Marshall Islands or atolls, and 450 in the United States. Of those, 81 were among those who left the atoll in 1946. [21] In 2001, the population of the dispersed islanders was 2,800. [22]

As of February 2013, there were 4880 living Bikini islanders: 1,250 islanders living on Kili, 2150 on Majuro, 280 on Ejit, 350 on other Marshall Islands, and 850 in the United States and other countries. Of that number, 31 lived on Bikini in 1946. [19] The resident population of the atoll is currently 4–6 caretakers, [1] [22] including Edward Maddison. Maddison has lived on Bikini Island since 1985. His grandfather was one of the original residents relocated in 1947. [23] He also helps the U.S. Department of Energy with soil monitoring, testing cleanup methods, mapping the wrecks in the lagoon, and accompanying visitors on dives. [24] He is also the divemaster of Bikini Atoll Divers. [24]


The Bikini islanders were historically loyal to a king, or Irojj. After the Marshall Islands separated from the United States in the Compact of Free Association in 1986, its constitution established a bicameral parliament. The upper house is only a consultative body. It consists of traditional leaders ( Iroijlaplap ), known as the Council of Irooj, who advise the lower house on traditional, cultural issues. [25] As of 2013, there are four members of the Council.

The lower house or Nitijela consists of 33 senators elected by 24 electoral districts. Universal suffrage is available to all citizens 18 years of age and older. The 24 electoral districts correspond roughly to each Marshall Islands atoll. The lower house elects the president who, with the approval of the Nitijela, selects a cabinet from among members of the Nitijela. [26] [27]

Local government

Four district centers in Majuro, Ebeye, Jaluit, and Wotje provide local government. Each district elects a council and mayor and may appoint local officials. The district centers are funded by the national government and by local revenues. There are two political parties. Elections are held every four years. In 2011 Nishma Jamore was elected mayor of the district representing the Bikini people. Council members are elected from two wards on Ejit Island (three seats) and Kili Island (12 seats). [26]

U.S. liaison

The local government works with a U.S. paid Liaison Officer for Bikini Atoll Local Government, Jack Niedenthal, who is acting Bikini/Kili/Majuro Projects Manager. He is also the Tourism Operations Manager and oversees Bikini Atoll Divers.


Human beings have inhabited the Bikini Atoll for about 3,600 years. [28] U.S. Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist Charles F. Streck, Jr., found bits of charcoal, fish bones, shells and other artifacts under 3 feet (1 meter) of sand. Carbon-dating placed the age of the artifacts at between 1960-1650, B.C. Other discoveries on Bikini and Eneu island were carbon-dated to between 1,000 B.C. and 1 B.C., and others between 400-1,400 A.D. [29]

Map of Bikini Atoll, taken from the 1893 map Schutzgebiet der Marshall Inseln, published in 1897. Langhans1897 map Bikini.jpg

The first recorded sighting by Europeans was in September 1529 by the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Saavedra on board his ship La Florida when trying to return to New Spain, and was charted as Buenos Jardines (Good Gardens in Spanish). [30] The Marshalls lacked the wealth to encourage exploitation or mapping. The British captain Samuel Wallis chanced upon Rongerik and Rongelap atolls while sailing from Tahiti to Tinian. The British naval captains John Marshall and Thomas Gilbert partially explored the Marshalls in 1788. [31]

The first Westerner to see the atoll in the mid-1820s was the Baltic German captain and explorer Otto von Kotzebue, sailing in service of the Russian Empire. He visited three times during 1816 and 1817. [32] He named the atoll Eschscholtz Atoll after Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, the naturalist of von Kotzebue's ship. [33] The Baltic Germans used the atoll to produce copra oil from coconuts, although contact with the native population was infrequent. The atoll's climate is drier than the more fertile southern Marshall Islands which produced more copra. Bikini islanders were recruited into developing the copra trade during the German colonial period. [15]

Christian missionaries arrive

Protestant missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions arrived on Ebon, in the southern Ralik Chain, in 1857. They first introduced the islanders to Christianity in 1857, which gradually displaced their native religion. [34] [35]

Spanish-German Treaty of 1899

The accidental explosion in Havana Harbor of the battleship USS Maine served as the fuse to the Spanish–American War in 1898. It resulted in Spain's losing many of its remaining colonies; Cuba became nominally independent while the United States took possession of Puerto Rico and Spain's Pacific colonies of the Philippines and Guam. This left Spain with the remainder of the Spanish East Indies in the Pacific, about 6000 islands that were tiny and sparsely populated. After the loss of the administrative center of Manila, the minor islands became ungovernable and, after the entire loss of two Spanish fleets in 1898, indefensible.

The Spanish government sold the islands to Germany. [26] The treaty was signed on 12 February 1899, by Spanish Prime Minister Francisco Silvela, and transferred the Caroline Islands, the Mariana Islands, Palau and other possessions to Germany. The islands were then placed under control of German New Guinea.

Japanese occupation

Bikini was captured along with the rest of the Marshall Islands by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1914 during World War I and mandated to the Empire of Japan by the League of Nations in 1920. The Japanese administered the island under the South Pacific Mandate, but mostly left local affairs in the hands of traditional local leaders until the start of World War II. At the outset of the war, the Marshall Islands suddenly became a strategic outpost for the Japanese. They built and manned a watchtower on the island, an outpost for the Japanese headquarters on Kwajalein Atoll, to guard against an American invasion of the islands. [36]

World War II

The islands remained relatively unscathed by the war until February 1944, when in a bloody battle, the American forces captured Kwajalein Atoll. There were only five Japanese soldiers on Bikini and they committed suicide rather than allow themselves to be captured. [36]

For the U.S., the battle represented both the next step in its island-hopping march to Japan and a significant morale victory, as it was the first time the Americans had penetrated the "outer ring" of the Japanese Pacific sphere. For the Japanese, the battle represented the failure of the beach-line defense. Japanese defenses became prepared in depth, and the battles of Peleliu, Guam, and the Marianas proved far more costly to the U.S.

Residents relocated

7 March 1946, 161 residents of Bikini Island board LST 1108 as they depart from Bikini Atoll Leaving-bikini.jpg
Bikini islanders arrive on Rongerik Atoll and unload pandanus for thatching the roofs of their new buildings. Operation Crossroads - Moving of Bikinians to Rongerik, March 7, 1946.jpg

After World War II, the United States was engaged in a Cold War Nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union to build bigger and more destructive bombs. [36]

The nuclear weapons testing at Bikini Atoll program was a series of 23 nuclear devices detonated by the United States between 1946 and 1958 at seven test sites. The test weapons were detonated on the reef itself, on the sea, in the air and underwater [17] with a combined fission yield of 42.2 Mt. The testing began with the Operation Crossroads series in July 1946. Shortly after World War II ended, President Harry S. Truman directed Army and Navy officials to secure a site for testing nuclear weapons on American warships. While the Army had seen the results of a land-based explosion, the Navy wanted to know the effect of a nuclear weapon on ships. They wanted to determine whether ships could be spaced at sea and in ports in a way that would make nuclear weapons ineffective against vessels. [38]

Bikini was distant from both regular sea and air traffic, making it an ideal location. In February 1946, Navy Commodore Ben H. Wyatt, the military governor of the Marshall Islands, asked the 167 Micronesian inhabitants of the atoll to voluntarily and temporarily relocate so the United States government could begin testing atomic bombs for "the good of mankind and to end all world wars." After "confused and sorrowful deliberation" among the Bikinians, their leader, King Juda, agreed to the U.S. relocation request, announcing "We will go believing that everything is in the hands of God." [36] Nine of the eleven family heads, or alaps, chose Rongerik as their new home. [39]

In February, Navy Seabees helped them to disassemble their church and community house and prepare to relocate them to their new home. On 7 March 1946, the residents gathered their personal belongings and saved building supplies. They were transported 125 miles (201 km) eastward on U.S. Navy landing ship 1108 to the uninhabited Rongerik Atoll, [39] which was one-sixth the size of Bikini Atoll. [39] No one lived on Rongerik because it had an inadequate water and food supply and due to deep-rooted traditional beliefs that the island was haunted by the Demon Girls of Ujae. The Navy left them with a few weeks of food and water which soon proved to be inadequate. [36]

Nuclear testing program

The Wilson cloud from test Baker, situated just offshore from Bikini Island at top of the picture. Crossroads baker explosion.jpg

The weapons testing began with the Operation Crossroads series in July 1946. The Baker test's radioactive contamination of all the target ships was the first case of immediate, concentrated radioactive fallout from a nuclear explosion. Chemist Glenn T. Seaborg, the longest-serving chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, called Baker "the world's first nuclear disaster." [40] This was followed by a series of later tests that left the islands of the atoll contaminated with enough radioactivity, particularly caesium-137, to contaminate food grown in the soil.

Strategic Trust Territory

In 1947, the United States convinced the United Nations to designate the islands of Micronesia a United Nations Strategic Trust Territory. This was the only trust ever granted by the U.N. [41] The United States Navy controlled the Trust from a headquarters in Guam until 1951, when the United States Department of the Interior took over control, administering the territory from a base in Saipan. [42] The directive stated that the United States should "promote the economic advancement and self-sufficiency of the inhabitants, and to this end shall... protect the inhabitants against the loss of their lands and resources..." [36]

Despite the promise to "protect the inhabitants", from July 1946 through July 1947, the residents of Bikini Atoll were left alone on Rongerik Atoll and were starving for lack of food. A team of U.S. investigators concluded in late 1947 that the islanders must be moved immediately. Press from around the world harshly criticized the U.S. Navy for ignoring the people. Harold Ickes, a syndicated columnist, wrote "The natives are actually and literally starving to death." [36]

Move to Kili Island

Kili Island is one of the smallest islands in the Marshall Islands. Kili Island - NASA Astronaut Photography.png

In January 1948, Dr. Leonard Mason, an anthropologist from the University of Hawaii, visited Rongerik Atoll and was horrified at what he found. One resident of Rongerik commented, [13]

We'd get a few fish, then the entire community would have to share this meager amount... The fish were not fit to eat there. They were poisonous because of what they ate on the reef. We got sick from them, like when your arms and legs fall asleep and you can't feel anything. We'd get up in the morning to go to our canoes and fall over because we were so ill... Then we started asking these men from America [to] bring us food... We were dying, but they didn't listen to us.

Mason requested that food be brought to the islanders on Rongerik immediately along with a medical officer. The Navy then selected Ujelang Atoll for their temporary home and some young men from the Bikini Atoll population went ahead to begin constructing living accommodations. But U.S. Trust Authorities changed their mind. They decided to use Enewetak Atoll as a second nuclear weapons test site and relocated that atoll's residents to Ujelang Atoll instead and to the homes built for the Bikini Islanders. [36]

In March 1948, 184 malnourished Bikini islanders were relocated again to Kwajalein Atoll. They were given tents on a strip of grass alongside the airport runway to live in. [41] In June 1948, the Bikini residents chose Kili Island as a long-term home. [36] The extremely small, 81 hectares (200 acres) (.93 square kilometres (0.36 sq mi)) island was uninhabited and wasn't ruled by a paramount iroij, or king due to its size. It also lacks a coral reef. In June, the Bikini community chose two dozen men to accompany eight Seabees to Kili to begin construction of a village. In November 1948, the residents, now totaling 184 individuals, moved to Kili Island, [36] at 0.93 square kilometres (0.36 sq mi), one of the smallest islands in the Marshall Island chain. They soon learned they could no longer fish the way they had on Bikini Atoll. Kili lacked the calm, protected, lagoon. [41] Living on Kili Island effectively destroyed their culture that had been based on fishing and island-hopping canoe voyages to various islets around the Bikini Atoll. Kili did not provide enough food for the transplanted residents. [13]

Failed resettlement

After their relocation to Kili, the Bikini residents continued to suffer from inadequate food supplies. Kili is a small island without a lagoon, and most of the year it is exposed to 10 to 20 foot (3.0 to 6.1 metres) waves that make fishing and putting canoes out difficult. Starvation ensued. In 1949, the Trust Territory administration donated a 40-foot (12 m) ship for transporting copra between Kili and Jaluit Atoll, but the ship was wrecked in heavy surf while delivering copra and other fruit. [36] The U.S. Trust Authorities airdropped food onto Kili. The residents were forced to rely on imported USDA rice and canned goods and had to buy food with their supplemental income. [36]

During 1955 and 1956, ships dispatched by the U.S. Trust Territory continually experienced problems unloading food because of the rough seas around the island, leading to additional food shortages. The people once again suffered from starvation and the shortages increased in 1956. The U.S. suggested that some of the Bikini Islanders move to Jaluit where food was more readily available. A few people moved. [41]

The United States opened a satellite community for the families on public land on Jaluit Atoll, 30 miles (48 km) north. Three families moved there to produce copra for sale and other families rotated living there later on. [36] Their homes on both Kili and Jaluit were struck by typhoons during 1957 and 1958, sinking their supply ship and damaging crops.

Return to Bikini Island

In June 1968, based on scientific advice that the radiation levels were sufficiently reduced, President Lyndon B. Johnson promised the 540 Bikini Atoll family members living on Kili and other islands that they would be able to return to their home. The Atomic Energy Commission cleared radioactive debris from the island, and the U.S. Trust Territory was in charge of rebuilding structures and replanting crops on the atoll. But shortly afterward the Trust Territory ended regular air flights between Kwajalein Atoll and Bikini Atoll which seriously impeded progress. Coconut trees were finally replanted in 1972, but the AEC learned that the coconut crabs retained high levels of radioactivity and could not be eaten. The Bikini Council voted to delay a return to the island as a result. [36]

Three extended families, eventually totaling about 100 people, moved back to their home island in 1972 despite the risk. But 10 years later, a team of French scientists performed additional tests on the island and its inhabitants. They found some wells were too radioactive for use and determined that the pandanus and breadfruit were also dangerous for human consumption. Urine samples from the islanders on Bikini Atoll showed low levels of plutonium-239 and plutonium-240. As a result, the Bikini community filed a federal lawsuit seeking a complete scientific survey of Bikini and the northern Marshall Islands. Inter-departmental squabbling over responsibility for the costs delayed the work for three years. [36] Then in May 1977 scientists found dangerously high levels of strontium-90 in the well water exceeding the U.S. maximum allowed limits. [43] In June, the Department of Energy stated that "All living patterns involving Bikini Island exceed Federal [radiation] guidelines for thirty year population doses." Later that year scientists discovered an 11-fold increase in the caesium-137 body burdens in all of the people living on the atoll. [36] In May 1978 officials from the U.S. Department of the Interior described the 75% increase in radioactive caesium-137 found as "incredible". [12]

Women were experiencing miscarriages, stillbirths, and genetic abnormalities in their children. [44] [45] [ better source needed ] Researchers learned that the coral soil behaved differently from mainland soil because it contains very little potassium. Plants and trees readily absorb potassium as part of the normal biological process, but since caesium is part of the same group on the periodic table, it is absorbed by plants in a very similar chemical process. The islanders who unknowingly consumed contaminated coconut milk were found to have abnormally high concentrations of caesium in their bodies. The Trust Territory decided that the islanders had to be evacuated from the atoll a second time. [46] [47]

The islanders received US$75 million in damages in 1986 as part of a new Compact of Free Association with the U.S. and in 1988, another $90 million to be used specifically for radiological cleanup. In 1987, a few Bikini elders traveled to Eneu island to reestablish old property lines. Construction crews began building a hotel on Bikini, docks, roads, and installed generators, desalinators, and power lines. A packed coral and sand runway still exists on Eneu Island. The Bikini Atoll Divers was established to provide income. But in 1995, council learned that the US Environmental Protection Agency standard required reducing radiation levels to 15 millirems, substantially less than the US Department of Energy standard of 100 millirems. This discovery significantly increased the potential cost of cleanup and stalled the effort. [22]

Relocation to Kili Island

As a result of the military use of the island and the failed resettlement, the islands are littered with abandoned concrete bunkers and tons of heavy equipment, vehicles, supplies, machines, and buildings. [48] In September 1978, Trust Territory officials finally arrived to relocate the residents. The radiological survey of the northern Marshalls, compelled by the 1975 lawsuit, began only after the residents were removed [36] and returned to Kili Island. [36]

As of 2013, the tiny 0.93 square kilometres (0.36 sq mi) Kili Island supported about 600 residents who live in cinderblock houses. They must rely on contributions from a settlement trust fund to supplement what they produce locally. Each family receives 1-2 boxes of frozen chicken, 2-4 23 kilograms (51 lb) bags of flour, and 2-4 bags of rice 2-3 times per year. The islanders operate several small stores out of their homes to supply nonperishable food items like salt, Tabasco, candy, and canned items. A generator provides electricity.

Children attend elementary school on Kili through eighth grade. Toward the end of the eighth grade, students must pass a standardized test to gain admission to attend public high school in Jaluit or Majuro.

Beginning in 2011 the resettled residents of Kili Island began to experience periods of ocean flooding during king tides aggravated by the effects of global warming. The highest point of Kili Island is only 3 metres (9.8 ft) above sea level. Ocean waves have covered portions of the island at least five times from 2011 to 2015, contaminating the wells on the island. The runway servicing the island is unusable during and after rains and ocean flooding because it becomes extremely muddy. In August 2015, the Bikini Council passed a resolution requesting assistance from US government to modify terms of the Resettlement Trust Fund for the People of Bikini to be used to relocate the population once again, this time outside of the Marshall Islands. [22] [49]

Trust funds and failed claims

In 1975, when the islanders who had returned to Bikini Atoll learned that it wasn't safe, they sued the United States for the first time, demanding a radiological study of the northern islands. [50]


In 1983, the U.S. and the Marshall islanders signed the Compact of Free Association, which gave the Marshall Islands independence. The Compact became effective in 1986 and was subsequently modified by the Amended Compact that became effective in 2004. [51] It also established the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, which was given the task of adjudicating compensation for victims and families affected by the nuclear testing program. Section 177 of the compact provided for reparations to the Bikini islanders and other northern atolls for damages. It included $75 million to be paid over 15 years. [18] On 5 March 2001, the Nuclear Claims Tribunal ruled against the United States for damages done to the islands and its people. [36]



In 2001, the Nuclear Claims Tribunal awarded the islanders a total of $563,315,500 after deducting past awards. However, the U.S. Congress has failed to fund the settlement. The only recourse is for the Bikini people to petition the U.S. Congress to fund the payment and fulfill this award. The United States Supreme Court turned down the islanders' appeal of the United States Court of Appeals decision that refused to compel the government to fund their claim. By 2001, of the original 167 residents who were relocated, 70 were still alive, and the entire population has grown to 2800. [13] Most of the islanders and their descendents lived on Kili, in Majuro, and in the United States.

The Hawaiian Trust Fund for the People of Bikini was liquidated as required by law in December 2006. The value of The Resettlement Trust Fund for the People of Bikini as of 31 March 2013 was approximately $82 million and The Bikini Claims Trust Fund was worth approximately $60 million. In 2006, each member of the trust received about $500 a year. [18] In 2012, the trusts produced about US$6 to $8 million annually in investment income, and the trusts paid out less than US$15,000 per family each year in benefits, with little money left available for cleanup. [22]

Representatives for the Bikini people expect this process to take many years and do not know whether the United States will honor the terms of the Compact of Free Association. [18]

World Heritage Site

Because the site bears direct tangible evidence of the nuclear tests conducted there amid the paradoxical tropical location, UNESCO determined that the atoll symbolizes the dawn of the nuclear age and named it a World Heritage Site on 3 August 2010. [53] [54]

Bikini Atoll has conserved direct tangible evidence ... conveying the power of ... nuclear tests, i.e. the sunken ships sent to the bottom of the lagoon by the tests in 1946 and the gigantic Bravo crater. Equivalent to 7,000 times the force of the Hiroshima bomb, the tests had major consequences on the geology and natural environment of Bikini Atoll and on the health of those who were exposed to radiation. Through its history, the atoll symbolises the dawn of the nuclear age, despite its paradoxical image of peace and of earthly paradise. [53] [55]

Visitor access

Bikini Atoll is open to visitors aboard vessels that are completely self-sufficient if they obtain prior approval. They must also pay for a diver and two local government council representatives to accompany them. The local representation is required to verify that visitors don't remove artifacts from the wrecks in the lagoon. [56]

Bikini Lagoon diving

In June 1996, the Bikini Council authorized diving operations as a means to generate income for Bikini islanders currently and upon their eventual return. The Bikini Council hired dive guide Edward Maddison who had lived on Bikini Island since 1985 and Fabio Amaral, a Brazilian citizen at the time, as head divemaster and resort manager. [57] The tours are limited to fewer than a dozen experienced divers a week, cost more than US$5,000, and include detailed histories of the nuclear tests. The operation brought in more than $500,000 during the season from May to October during 2001. [58]

On-shore facilities

To accommodate the dive program and anglers, the Bikini Council built new air-conditioned rooms with private bathrooms and showers. They included verandas overlooking the lagoon. There was a dining facility that served American-style meals. The head chef Mios Maddison also prepared Marshallese dishes featuring fresh seafood. Only 12 visitors were hosted at one time. [24] Because of the lingering contamination, all fruits and vegetables used for the Bikini Atoll dive and sport fishing operation were imported. [21] In September 2007, the last of Air Marshall Islands' commuter aircraft ceased operations when spare parts could not be located and the aircraft were no longer airworthy. A half dozen divers and a journalist were stranded for a week on Bikini Island. [41] The Bikini islanders suspended land-based dive operations beginning in August 2008.

Live aboard diving program

In October 2010, a live-aboard, self-contained vessel successfully conducted dive operations. In 2011, the local government licensed the live-aboard operator as the sole provider of dive expeditions on the nuclear ghost fleet at Bikini Atoll. The dive season runs from May through October. As of 2013, the 12-day dive trip costs US$5,100 per person.Visitors are still able to land on the island for brief stays. [19]

Because the lagoon has remained undisturbed for so long, it contains a larger amount of sea life than usual, including sharks, which increases divers' interest in the area. [1] Visibility depth is over 100 feet (30 m). The lagoon is immensely popular with divers and is regarded as among the top 10 diving locations in the world. [24] As of 2016, the dive program was managed by Indie Traders. [59]

Dive visitors receive a history lesson along with the dive experience, including movies and complete briefings about each of the ships, their respective histories, and a tour of the island and the atoll. [58] Divers are able to visit the USS Saratoga. [58]

As of 2016, Air Marshall Islands operates one Bombardier Dash 8 Q100 aircraft and one 19-seat Dornier Do 228. [60] Only vessels that are fully self-contained who make prior arrangements can currently visit the atoll. [61]


Bikini Island authorities opened sport fishing to visitors along with diving. Although the atomic blasts obliterated three islands and contaminated much of the atoll, after 50 years the coral reefs have largely recovered. The reefs attract reef fish and their predators: 30 pounds (14 kg) dogtooth tuna, 20 pounds (9.1 kg) barracuda, and bluefin trevally as big as 50 pounds (23 kg). Given the long-term absence of humans, the Bikini lagoon offers sportsmen one of the most pristine fishing environments in the world. [22]


Shipwrecks in the lagoon include the following: [62]

Bikini Atoll Shipwrecks Map Bikiniatoll.jpg
Bikini Atoll Shipwrecks Map

Current habitable state

In 1998 an IAEA advisory group, formed in response to a request by the Government of the Marshall Islands for an independent international review of the radiological conditions at Bikini Atoll, recommended that Bikini Island should not be permanently resettled under the present radiological conditions. [63]

The potential to make the island habitable has substantially improved since then. A 2012 assessment from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory found that caesium-137 levels are dropping considerably faster than anyone expected. Terry Hamilton, scientific director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Marshall Islands Dose Assessment and Radioecology Program, reported that "Conditions have really changed on Bikini. They are improving at an accelerated rate. By using the combined option of removing soil and adding potassium, we can get very close to the 15 millirem standard. That has been true for roughly the past 10 years. So now is the time when the Bikinians, if they desired, could go back." [22]

As of 2013, about 4,880 Bikini people live on Kili and other Marshall Islands, and some have emigrated to the United States. Bikini Island is currently visited by a few scientists and inhabited by 4–6 caretakers. [1] [64] The islanders want the top soil removed, but the money is not there for the cleanup. The opportunity for some Bikini islanders to potentially relocate back to their home island creates a dilemma. While the island may be habitable in the near term, virtually all of the islanders alive today have never lived there. Most of the younger generation have never visited. As of 2013, unemployment in the Marshall Islands was at about 40 percent. The population is growing at a four-percent growth rate, so increasing numbers are taking advantage of terms in the Marshall Islands’ Compact of Free Association that allow them to obtain jobs in the United States. [22]


No longer can I stay, it’s true
No longer can I live in peace and harmony
No longer can I rest on my sleeping mat and pillow
Because of my island and the life I once knew there
The thought is overwhelming
Rendering me helpless and in great despair.


Mondo Cane shows the effects of the nuclear tests on the wildlife.

Television shows

The Nickelodeon series SpongeBob SquarePants primarily takes place in Bikini Bottom, [65] [66] named after Bikini Atoll. [67]

Swimsuit design

On 5 July 1946, four days after the first nuclear device (nicknamed Able) was detonated over the Bikini Atoll during Operation Crossroads, [68] Louis Réard introduced a new swimsuit design named the bikini after the atoll. Réard was a French mechanical engineer by training and manager of his mother's lingerie shop in Paris. He introduced the new garment to the media and public [69] on 5 July 1946 [70] at Piscine Molitor, a public pool in Paris. [71]

He hired Micheline Bernardini, an 18-year-old nude dancer from the Casino de Paris, [72] to demonstrate his design. It featured a g-string back of 30 square inches (200 cm2) of cloth with newspaper-type print and was an immediate sensation. Bernardini received 50,000 fan letters, many of them from men. [71] [73] Réard hoped that his swimsuit's revealing style would create an "explosive commercial and cultural reaction" similar in intensity to the social reaction to 1946 nuclear explosion at Bikini Atoll. [74] [75] [76] [77] Fashion writer Diana Vreeland described the bikini as the "atom bomb of fashion". [78]

Ironically, the bikini's design violates the Marshall Islanders' modern customs of modesty because it exposes a woman's thighs and shoulders. [9] [10] However, before contact with Western missionaries, Marshall Island women were traditionally topless and still do not sexually objectify female breasts as is common in much of Western society [6] which the bikini does cover. Marshall Island women swim in their muumuus which are made of a fine polyester that dries quickly. [10] Wearing a bikini in the Marshall Islands is mainly limited to restricted-access beaches and pools like those at private resorts or on United States government facilities on the Kwajalein Atoll within the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site. [79] [80]

See also

Related Research Articles

History of the Marshall Islands aspect of history


Majuro Capital city

Majuro is the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak (Sunrise) Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll has a land area of 9.7 square kilometres (3.7 sq mi) and encloses a lagoon of 295 square kilometres (114 sq mi). As with other atolls in the Marshall Islands, Majuro consists of narrow land masses.

Kwajalein Atoll atoll

Kwajalein Atoll is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents often called by the shortened name, Kwaj. The total land area of the atoll amounts to just over 6 square miles (16 km2). It lies in the Ralik Chain, 2,100 nautical miles (3900 km) southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii.

Enewetak Atoll atoll of the Marshall Islands

Enewetak Atoll is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 664 people forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. With a land area total less than 5.85 square kilometres (2.26 sq mi), it is no higher than 5 meters and surrounds a deep central lagoon, 80 kilometres (50 mi) in circumference. It is the second-westernmost atoll of the Ralik Chain and is 305 kilometres (190 mi) west from Bikini Atoll.

Jaluit Atoll atoll

Jaluit Atoll is a large coral atoll of 91 islands in the Pacific Ocean and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is 11.34 square kilometres (4.38 sq mi), and it encloses a lagoon with an area of 690 square kilometres (270 sq mi). Most of the land area is on the largest islet (motu) of Jaluit (10.4 km²). Jaluit is approximately 220 kilometres (140 mi) southwest of Majuro. Jaluit Atoll is a designated conservation area and Ramsar Wetland.

Arno Atoll marshalien atoll


Ebeye Island island in the United States of America

Ebeye is the most populous island of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, as well as the center for Marshallese culture in the Ralik Chain of the archipelago. Settled on 80 acres of land, it has a population of more than 1500. Over 50% of the population is estimated to be under the age of 18.

Rongelap Atoll atoll

Rongelap AtollRONG-gə-lap is a coral atoll of 61 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is 8 square miles (21 km2). It encloses a lagoon with an area of 1,000 square miles (2,600 km2). It is historically notable for its close proximity to US hydrogen bomb tests in 1954, and was particularly devastated by fallout from the Castle Bravo test. The population was evacuated from Rongelap following the test due to high radiation levels, however according to the most recent census in 2011 it has begun to recover with about eighty people living on the atoll.

Rongerik Atoll atoll


Kili Island coral island

Kili Island or Kili Atoll is a small, 81 hectares island located in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is the temporary home of 548 inhabitants who are descended from islanders who originally lived on Bikini Atoll. They were relocated when they agreed to let the U.S. government temporarily use their home for nuclear testing in 1945. Kili Island became their home after two prior relocations failed. The island does not have a natural lagoon and cannot produce enough food to enable the islanders to be self-sufficient. It is part of the legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. The island is approximately 48 kilometers (30 mi) southwest of Jaluit. It is one of the smallest islands in the Marshall Islands.

Utirik Atoll atoll

Utirik Atoll or Utrik Atoll is a coral atoll of 10 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only 2.4 square kilometres (0.94 sq mi), but it encloses a lagoon with an area of 57.7 square kilometres (22.29 sq mi). It is located approximately 47 kilometres (29 mi) east of Ujae Atoll. The population of Utirik Atoll is 435 as of 2011. it is one of the northernmost Marshall Islands with permanent habitation.

Ailinginae Atoll atoll

Ailinginae Atoll is an uninhabited coral atoll of 25 islands in the Pacific Ocean, on the northern end of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only 2.8 square kilometres (1.1 sq mi), but it encloses a lagoon of 105.96 square kilometres (40.91 sq mi). It is located approximately 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) west of Rongelap Atoll. The landscape is low-lying with only the top 3 metres above sea level. The two entrances into the lagoon are 'Mogiri Pass' and 'Eniibukku Pass'. These are 0.9 and 0.3 miles wide respectively.

Pacific Proving Grounds

The Pacific Proving Grounds was the name given by the United States government to a number of sites in the Marshall Islands and a few other sites in the Pacific Ocean at which it conducted nuclear testing between 1946 and 1962. The U.S. tested a nuclear weapon on Bikini Atoll on June 30, 1946. This was followed by Baker on July 24, 1946.

The flag of Bikini Atoll, a member of the Marshall Islands, closely resembles the flag of the United States and was adopted in 1987. The flag is symbolic of the islanders' belief that a great debt is still owed by the United States to the people of Bikini because in 1954 the United States government detonated the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb on the island, poisoning islanders and others with nuclear fallout.


Kataejar Jibas Marshallese politician

Kataejar Jibas was a Marshallese-Bikinian politician who served as the Mayor of Bikini Atoll from November 2007 until 2008.

Index of Marshall Islands-related articles Wikimedia list article

The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Lijon Eknilang was a Marshallese activist and nuclear fallout survivor. Eknilang advocated on behalf of residents of Rongelap Atoll, who were victims of nuclear fallout stemming from the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll in 1954.

Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll

The nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll program was a series of 23 nuclear devices detonated by the United States between 1946 and 1958 at seven test sites on the reef itself, on the sea, in the air and underwater. The test weapons produced a combined fission yield of 42.2 Mt of explosive power.



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