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Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
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The Bikini people had lived or? their atoll generations. They and their fellow I,iarsha+llese came under the domination of foreigners less than one hundred years ago. The Ger.nan regime was succeeded by that of the Japanese at the onset of World War 1. The Japanese rule was terminated .by the Contact with the Outside World The people of Bikini Atoll v:ere not the isolated twentieth century “Stone Age primitives” as described by sensationalist news reporters and other ~ournalist3. They were and are> howeverj less sophisticated than other more acculturated IMrshallese, but they had been in contact with the rest of the Marshall Islands, and h,ad been exposed to at least some of the a3pect3 of Western cufture. Every two months a Japanese schooner visited Bikini to Every six mont Some of the M and to sell food, clothin~, and other goods. ]s a Japanese official made a visit to the atoll. [Ini people visited Gther atolls, married out, and attended school elsewhere. Other Wrs},allese visited
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The small Bikini community had developed a close In-group feeling durin~ the years of relative isolatior~ prior to the coming of the white man and found satisfaction and sec’urity in their closely knit personal relationships and communal life. World War 11 and the Bikini ?eople The Bikini people were directly affected by World War 11 in that three of their younE men who had been attena‘ing the Japanese goverment sc:nool on Jaluit Atoil ‘were drafted as laborers and sent to Enewetak Atoll. They were later killed there in the American bombing and bo~Lbararlerjt soldiers at Bikini, however; wireless station operator8 also manned the am..upltion stores. These men were all killed by however, and the Bikini people were muc~i better off than ~~here ‘neavy fighting occurred. The Bikini people suffered as did the other Marshallese, from the cut-off of supply lines from Japan with the resultant ce3sation of imports of necessary stored and wartime h.ardshiip~were alleviated when the American serious hardships of the Eikini people were ‘yet to come however.
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Evecuetlon of Bikini ~ EarlY in 19~16 it was decided that Blklnl Atoll was the most suitable location for the testing of atomic weapor~a. The E1.kinl people were asked to leave and, as r(@jit have been expected of a people of their historical cor~ditior,ingto obedlence2 especially after more than a quarter of a ceritury of autocratic Japanese rule, agreed to leave their ancestral home. T~l~ Possibilitle~. of resettlement in the Narskalls w’ere very Iim.ited becaluse land is scarce (only about 74 square mile~) and very little of it is available for settleme~t. The Xar:hailese jealously guard their land rights and will rot willingly part with tkiem, The ]66 Bi.kl.qi.ansfie~e offered the choice of moving to either Ujae, Lae, or Ron.gerik, all atol13 in the noXhwestern who had land rights on the atoll. These people visited Rongerik_ ......_...___------ ,. J to make copra, to fish, and to gather other foods. $or this ree.son, presumably, as well as Lhe fact that it was :he closest to Bikini., the Bi!{lnl people opted to go to Rongerik~rather than Ujae or Laev i A village was built on Rongerlk by Navy Seabees;,and a gncup of Bi’kj.nimen> and all of the Bikini people were m,oved to t’nat
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j. has a lagoon area of 55.38 square miles. This is mucfi ~~al~~r lagoon area of Bikini, with its 36 islands The attempt to settle at Ron~;erik W2G a failure, allegedlY due to the inaufftcierlt natural re20urces. A Zoard of Investigation convened by the Navy on June 2, 1947, recorm.ended that the displaced Bikinians be moved again. . The Blkifiians through their leader ‘tKing” Juda, as he was panied by three leaders (dab) of Bikini, inspected Rongeri’x, Kili, Ujilangj Wotto and Ujae to t~ to find a suitable place in which to relocate their people. The Bikini people were interested in getting back to their ancestral home as rapidly as possible and had alle~cdly regarded the past and~future resettlements as only temporarj. \ . The period from June 2, 1947, to September 1, 1947, was spent in inspecting these possible resettlement areas. On i (trarlslation): “TO the Office at Kwajaletn: } to find the ‘oeot place to go to. , we have been ~ to some other places to inspect ana have coni sidcrcd tk;err..In movln~ we find it quite a , problem. The place we all agreed to stay on