Enewetak Atoll is the second westernmost atoll of the Ralik Chain of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific. It consists of 44 islets totaling 2.26 square miles and surrounding a lagoon of 387.99 square miles. The spelling “Eniwetok” was replaced in 1973 with “Enewetak,” which is closer to written Marshallese. Enewetak means “island which points to the east.”

Though there is no archaeological evidence concerning the first settlement of Enewetak Atoll, there are archaeological dates as early as the time of Christ in other parts of the Marshall Islands. According to Enewetak oral history, the Enewetakese have been there "since the beginning."

The first European discovery of Enewetak was in 1529 by the Spanish Explorer Alvaro de Saavedra. It was visited sparsely by Europeans until the late 1800s, when it was declared a protectorate of Germany. In 1914, the whole of the Marshall Islands was captured by Japan. In the 1930s, in preparation for World War II, the Japanese began to reinforce the atoll. The people of Enjebi Island were evicted and moved to a small corner of their island so that an airstrip could be built. In 1944, the United States invaded. The islands of Enewetak and Enjebi were devastated, and ten percent of the population was killed. The inhabitants of both islands were moved to the east end of the atoll, and large military base was constructed

While this project has scholarly aims, we hope that it may also be of interest to the lay public, particularly students, who may have an interest in coral reef science.

Enewetak’s remote location made it a desirable location for bomb testing. In (conflicting reports of year) Enewetak’s residents were evacuated, and Enewetak atoll, along with Bikini Atoll, became a part of the Pacific Proving Grounds, sites of the United States’ atomic weapon testing program. Between 1946 and 1958, 43 nuclear devices were tested at Enewetak. Those and subsequent events had a significant and lasting effect on society, culture, and the natural environment of Enewetak and other nearby atolls.

The nuclear testing program at Enewetak Atoll lead to the establishment of the Enewetak Marine Biological Laboratory on Medren Island in 1954. The EMBL was sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission, which was created by the United States Congress in the late forties, and was responsible for research, development, testing, and production of nuclear weapons. In the case of the EMBL, the focus was on the effects of nuclear testing on the marine environment.

* Ivy-Mike and Operation Ivy

EMBL

Clean up

Really cleaned up?

Resettlement in 1980, government programs

Embassy of the Republic of the Marshall Islands

Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal