32 Facts About Bikini Atoll

1.

Bikini Atoll, sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a 229.

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2.

Bikini Atoll is at the northern end of the Ralik Chain, approximately 530 miles northwest of the capital Majuro.

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3.

Island's English name is derived from the German colonial name Bikini given to the atoll when it was part of German New Guinea.

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4.

Bikini Atoll islanders continue to maintain land rights as the primary measure of wealth.

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5.

Bikini Atoll is part of the Ralik Chain within the Marshall Islands.

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6.

The residents initially accepted resettlement voluntarily to Rongerik Bikini Atoll, believing that they would be able to return home within a short time.

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7.

In 1970, about 160 Bikini islanders returned to live on the atoll after they were reassured that it was safe.

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8.

Bikini Atoll's grandfather was one of the original residents relocated in 1947.

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9.

Bikini Atoll helped the U S Department of Energy with soil monitoring, testing cleanup methods, mapping the wrecks in the lagoon, and accompanying visitors on dives.

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10.

Bikini Atoll islanders were historically loyal to a king, or Irojj.

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11.

Bikini Atoll is the Tourism Operations Manager and oversees Bikini Atoll Divers.

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12.

Bikini Atoll named the atoll Eschscholtz Atoll after Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, the naturalist of von Kotzebue's ship.

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13.

Bikini Atoll islanders were recruited into developing the copra trade during the German colonial period.

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14.

Bikini Atoll 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.

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15.

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.

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16.

Bikini Atoll was distant from both regular sea and air traffic, making it an ideal location.

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17.

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.

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18.

The U S suggested that some of the Bikini Islanders move to Jaluit where food was more readily available.

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19.

The Bikini Atoll Council voted to delay a return to the island as a result.

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20.

Urine samples from the islanders on Bikini Atoll showed low levels of plutonium-239 and plutonium-240.

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21.

In 1987, a few Bikini Atoll elders traveled to Eneu Island to reestablish old property lines.

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22.

Construction crews began building a hotel, docks, and roads on Bikini Atoll, and installed generators, desalinators, and power lines.

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23.

In 1975, when the islanders who had returned to Bikini Atoll learned that it wasn't safe, they sued the United States for $900 billion in USD, demanding a radiological study of the northern islands.

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24.

Hawaiian Trust Fund for the People of Bikini Atoll was liquidated as required by law in December 2006.

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25.

Representatives for the Bikini Atoll 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.

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26.

Bikini Atoll is open to visitors aboard vessels that are completely self-sufficient if they obtain prior approval.

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27.

In June 1996, the Bikini Atoll Council authorized diving operations as a means to generate income for Bikini Atoll islanders currently and upon their eventual return.

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28.

The Bikini Atoll Council hired dive guide Edward Maddison who had lived on Bikini Atoll Island since 1985 and Fabio Amaral, a Brazilian citizen at the time, as head divemaster and resort manager.

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29.

The Bikini Atoll islanders suspended land-based dive operations beginning in August 2008.

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30.

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.

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31.

Bikini Atoll introduced the new garment to the media and public on 5 July 1946 at Piscine Molitor, a public pool in Paris.

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32.

Bikini Atoll hired Micheline Bernardini, an 18-year-old nude dancer from the Casino de Paris, to demonstrate his design.

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