Enewetak Atoll Travel Guide

Enewetak (or Eniwetok) is an atoll in the Marshall Islands of the central Pacific Ocean. Its land consists of about 40 small islets totaling less than 6 km², surrounding a lagoon, 80 km (50 mi) in circumference. It is located at making it the second westernmost atoll of the Ralik Chain. 1999 population was 820.
Technically a Spanish colony, Enewetak was not known to Europeans until visited in 1794 by the British merchant sloop Walpole, who called it "Brown's Range" (thus the Japanese name "Brown Atoll"). It was visited by only a dozen or so ships before the establishment of the German colony of the Marshall Islands in 1885. Along with the rest of the Marshalls, Enewetak was captured by Japan in 1914 and mandated to them by the League of Nations in 1920.
The Japanese mostly ignored the atoll until World War II. In November 1942, they built an airfield on Engebi Island, which was used for staging planes to the Carolines and the rest of the Marshalls. When the Gilberts fell to the US, the Japanese Army's 1st Amphibious Brigade came in to defend the atoll, January 4, 1944. They were unable to finish fortifying the island before the February invasion by the US, which captured all the islets in a week.
After the war, the residents were evacuated, often involuntarily, and the atoll was used for nuclear testing as part of the U.S. Pacific Proving Grounds. Some 43 nuclear tests were fired at Enewetak from 1948 to 1958. The first hydrogen bomb test, code-named Ivy Mike, was in late 1952 as part of Operation Ivy, and vaporized the island of Elugelab. This test included the use of B-17 Flying Fortress drones to fly through the radioactive cloud for the purpose of testing onboard samples. (...) more....

travel guide by Wikipedia edit this text

Latest Reviews for Enewetak Atoll

Be the first to write a review:

 You are currently not logged in. Login or register to write a review.