skip to page content - Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands was
the scene of the first post-World War II atomic tests, carried
out by the United States to determine the effects of nuclear
weapons on naval ships. This photograph, part of the record of
the operation made by the U.S. Army Air Forces, shows
inhabitants of the island gathered around a thatched-roof
building in a palm grove. Before the tests, all 167 residents of
Bikini were evacuated from their home island. Because of the
high levels of radiation caused by the explosions over Bikini,
neither they nor their descendants were ever able to return.
After World War II, the Marshall Islands were part of the Trust
Territory of the Pacific Islands, administered by the United
States under a United Nations mandate. In 1986, the Republic of
the Marshall Islands became an independent country under a
Compact of Free Association with the United States. Type of Item