Rongelap Atoll

The Marshall Islands, of which Rongelap Atoll is a part, were first settled by Micronesians.

The first sighting recorded by Europeans was by Spanish navigator Álvaro de Saavedra on 1 January 1528.Brand, Donald D. The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations. The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.121. Together with Utirik, Ailinginae and Toke atolls, they were charted as Islas de los Reyes (Islands of the Three Wise Kings in Spanish) due to the proximity of Epiphany. Fourteen years later it was visited by the Spanish expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos.Sharp, Andrew. The discovery of the Pacific Islands. Oxford, 1960, p. 23.

Rongelap Atoll was claimed by the German Empire along with the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1885.{{cite journal |last1=Churchill |first1=William |author-link1=William Churchill (ethnologist) |date=1920 |title=Germany's Lost Pacific Empire |jstor=207706 |journal=Geographical Review |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=84–90|doi=10.2307/207706 |bibcode=1920GeoRv..10...84C }} After World War I, the island came under the South Seas Mandate of the Empire of Japan. The base became part of the vast US Naval Base Marshall Islands. Following the end of World War II, Rongelap came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

From 1946 through 1958 the United States military conducted numerous atmospheric nuclear weapons tests, including hydrogen bomb tests, primarily at Bikini Atoll, about {{convert|120|km|sp=us}} from Rongelap Atoll. On March 1, 1954, the testing of the Castle Bravo hydrogen device produced an explosion that was 2½ times more powerful than predicted, and produced unexpected amounts of fallout{{Cite book|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK236608|title=Radiological Assessments for Resettlement of Rongelap in the Republic of the Marshall Islands|last=United States National Research Council Committee on Radiological Safety in the Marshall Islands|chapter=Introduction |publisher=National Academies Press|year=1994|pages=Introduction}}{{cite news|title=The Bikini Atoll Survey "Operation Crossroads," 1946-47|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/onehundredyears/expeditions/bikini.html|access-date=8 August 2013|archive-date=2 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502185526/http://www.mnh.si.edu/onehundredyears/expeditions/bikini.html|url-status=dead}} that resulted in widespread radioactive contamination.{{cite web | url = http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/MuhammadKaleem.shtml | title = Energy of a Nuclear Explosion | year = 2000 | last = Kaleem| first = Muhammad | work = The Physics Factbook | access-date = 2007-07-22| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070810132732/http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/MuhammadKaleem.shtml| archive-date= 10 August 2007 | url-status= live}}Lorna Arnold and Mark Smith. (2006). Britain, Australia and the Bomb, Palgrave Press, p. 77.John Bellamy Foster (2009). The Ecological Revolution: Making Peace with the Planet, Monthly Review Press, New York, p. 73. The mushroom cloud contaminated more than {{convert|7000|sqmi}} of the surrounding Pacific Ocean including some of the then inhabited surrounding islands including Rongerik Atoll, Rongelap Atoll ({{convert|120|km|sp=us}} away) and Utirik Atoll.{{cite book |last= Titus |first= A. Costandina |title= Bombs in the Backyard Atomic Testing and American Politics |location= Reno |publisher= University of Nevada |year= 2001 |isbn= 9780874173703 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eQfG-U5iAPYC }}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Irradiated debris fell up to {{convert|2|cm|sp=us|1}} deep over the island. A United States military medical team visited the island with geiger counters the day after the fallout, but left without telling the islanders of the danger they had been exposed to. Virtually all the inhabitants experienced severe radiation sickness, including itchiness, sore skin, vomiting, diarrhea, and fatigue. Their symptoms also included burning eyes and swelling of the neck, arms, and legs.Isobelle Gidley and Richard Shears (1986). The Rainbow Warrior Affair, Unwin, p. 155. The inhabitants were forced to abandon the islands, leaving all their belongings, three days after the test. They were relocated to Kwajalein for medical treatment.Gerald H. Clarfield and William M. Wiecek (1984). Nuclear America: Military and Civilian Nuclear Power in the United States 1940-1980, Harper & Row, New York, p. 207. Six days after the Castle Bravo test, the U.S government set up a secret project to study the medical effects of the weapon on the residents of the Marshall Islands.{{cite web | work=James Reeves to Frank D. Peel | title=Establishment of Program 4 and Project 4.1 in Castle | date=11 March 1954 | url=http://worf.eh.doe.gov/ihp/chron/F15.PDF | access-date=16 June 2020 | archive-date=27 September 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927225402/http://worf.eh.doe.gov/ihp/chron/F15.PDF | url-status=dead }}

The United States was subsequently accused of having used the inhabitants in medical research (without receiving consent) to study the effects of nuclear exposure. Until that time, the United States Atomic Energy Commission had given little thought to the potential impact of widespread fallout contamination and health and ecological impacts beyond the formally designated boundary of the test site.

In 1957, three years later, the United States government declared the area 'clean and safe' and allowed the islanders to return,{{Citation|last=McCool |first=Woodford C. |publication-date=1957-02-06 |title=Return of Rongelapese to their Home Island - Note by the Secretary |publisher=United States Atomic Energy Commission |url=http://worf.eh.doe.gov/ihp/chron/A43.PDF |access-date=2007-11-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070925185914/http://worf.eh.doe.gov/ihp/chron/A43.PDF |archive-date=September 25, 2007 }} though they were told to stick to canned foods and avoid the northern islets of the atoll. US scientists noted that "The habitation of these people on the island will afford most valuable ecological radiation data on human beings."{{Cite journal |last= Johnson |first=Giff |date= February 1979 |title= Micronesia: America's 'strategic' trust |journal= The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=15|doi=10.1080/00963402.1979.11458582 |bibcode=1979BuAtS..35b..10J }} Contrary to the US government's assurances, evidence of continued contamination mounted, as many residents developed thyroid-tumors, and many children died of leukemia. Rates of miscarriages and stillbirths in Rongelap were twice the rate of unexposed women in the Marshall Islands.{{Cite journal|last=De Ishtar|first=Zohl|author-link=Zohl de Ishtar|date=May 2003|title=Poisoned Lives, Contaminated Lands: Marshall Islanders Are Paying a High Price for the United States Nuclear Arsenal|url=https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1442&context=sjsj|journal=Seattle Journal for Social Justice|volume=2|issue=1|pages=291}} The magistrate of Rongelap, John Anjain, whose own son died of leukemia, appealed for international help, without significant response.

In 1984, Marshall Islands senator, Jeton Anjain approached the environmental group Greenpeace to seek their help in relocating the people of Rongelap and in 1985, 'Operation Exodus' took place. In three trips, the Rainbow Warrior moved approximately 350 people and {{convert|100|t|sp=us}} of building material. to the islets of Mejato and Ebeye on Kwajalein atoll, approximately {{convert|180|km|sp=us}} away. The operation took 10 days, moving everyone from 80-year-olds to newborns, as well as their homes and belongings. Ebeye is significantly smaller than the islands of Rongelap, and joblessness, suicide, and overcrowding have proven to be problems following the resettlement.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}

In September 1996, the United States Department of the Interior signed a $45 million resettlement agreement with the islanders, stipulating that the islanders themselves will scrape off a few inches of Rongelap's still contaminated surface. However, this is an operation deemed impossible by some critics.{{According to whom|date=March 2011}} In recent years, James Matayoshi, the mayor of Rongelap, claimed that the cleanup was successful and envisioned a new promising future for the inhabitants and for tourists.{{cite web|url=http://www.visitrongelap.com/ |title=Rongelap Atoll Local Government - Marshall Islands }} Scientific measurements made in August 2014 verified a safe level of radiation on Rongelap.{{cite web |last1=Lestch |first1= Corinne |title= Discovering Nuclear Studies Through the Marshall Islands |url= https://www.college.columbia.edu/about/stories/discovering-nuclear-studies-through-marshall-islands|website=Columbia College|publisher=Columbia University|access-date=18 November 2017}}

In 1991, the People of Rongelap and Jeton Anjain received the Right Livelihood Award "for their steadfast struggle against United States nuclear policy in support of their right to live on an unpolluted Rongelap island."

In 2012, the US government under the Barack Obama administration reasserted its position that it had satisfactorily compensated the Rongelap victims.{{Cite web|url=https://geneva.usmission.gov/2012/09/18/hrc-statement-on-u-s-efforts-to-address-the-impacts-of-nuclear-testing-in-the-marshall-islands/|title=U.S. Statement on the Report of the Special Rapporteur|website=www.geneva.usmission.gov|date=18 September 2012 }}

In 2019 Chinese investor Cary Lan leased a large part of the atoll for a proposed special economic zone, in what was seen as part of ongoing efforts by China to expand its reach into the Pacific and conduct chequebook diplomacy against Taiwan.{{cite news|newspaper=The Financial Times|title=Pacific islands: a new arena of rivalry between China and the US|date=9 April 2019|url=https://www.ft.com/content/bdbb8ada-59dc-11e9-939a-341f5ada9d40}} After his arrest in Thailand in 2020, the project was abandoned. He was deported to the United States in 2022 for allegedly bribing elected officials in this case.{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-62830548 | title=Marshall Islands: Chinese pair plotted 'mini-state' in Pacific nation | work=BBC News | date=8 September 2022 }}

Marshall Islands Public School System operates Mejatto Elementary School, which serves descendants of the community in Mejatto that resided in Rongelap Atoll."[http://pss.edu.mh/en/public-schools Public Schools ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180221144020/http://pss.edu.mh/en/public-schools |date=2018-02-21 }}." Marshall Islands Public School System. Retrieved on February 21, 2018.

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• [http://marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/html/atolls/ronglap.html Marshall Islands site]
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223043232/http://www.oceandots.com/pacific/marshall/rongelap.php |date=December 23, 2010 |title=Entry at Oceandots.com }}
• [http://www.visitrongelap.com/ Rongelap Atoll official site]
• [https://oliver-herbrich.wixsite.com/archiv/bikini-mon-amour Bikini - mon amour]: the film by Oliver Herbrich shows the Greenpeace evacuation and the resettlement on Mejato island 1987.
• [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093817/ Radio Bikini] : Oscar-nominated 1987 documentary on the 1946 atomic bomb tests on Bikini Atoll and the effects on the Bikinians as well as the US sailors who witnessed the tests.
• [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0860905/ Het Einde van de Wereld] The End of the World (1995/VPRO-TV/Theo Uittenbogaard) a Dutch documentary on the history of the people of the island Rongelap, who were evacuated due to fallout from the Bikini nuclear tests and their (inc. John Anjain) hearing by a Senate Committee in Washington DC

• {{cite journal|publisher=Congress, U. S. At. Energy, 86th Congress, 1st session, Washington, US GPO, 1959|title=Biological and environmental effects of nuclear war. Hearings before the Special Subcomm. on Radiation, Joint Comm.|date=1959 |url=https://purl.stanford.edu/vz111cx1358}}

{{Marshall Islands}}

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Category:Atolls of the Marshall Islands

Category:Ralik Chain

Category:Municipalities of the Marshall Islands