The Bikini Atoll—a series of limestone formations in the Pacific Ocean that comprise part of the Marshall Islands—is, or rather was, a tropical paradise. Between 1946 and 1958, the United States military detonated several nuclear bombs in the area, wiping out plants and wildlife, and leaving behind a toxic wasteland. That tumultuous history is now preserved in haunting photos, diaries, papers and studies, assembled by the University of Washington into the Lauren L. Donaldson Collection of Northern Pacific Ocean Radiological Surveys. These photos and documents are now free to browse on JSTOR.
The colonial history of the Bikini Atoll and the Marshall Islands is somewhat shorter than many other tropical nations. The first Christian missionaries arrived on the islands in 1857, the German traders in the 1860s, and the Japanese in 1914. Yet, up until the 1940s, the Bikinians remained relatively isolated. That changed in 1945, when the USA took over and designated the Marshall Islands for nuclear testing. The atoll inhabitants were forced to move.
On March 7, 1946, the 167 Bikinians living on the atoll placed flowers on their ancestors’ graves, bade them farewell, and left their homeland for good. They were initially relocated to the Rongerik Atoll, which they believed to be inhabited by evil spirits; after much hardship they were relocated once again to the Kwajalein Atoll and later to the Kili Island. On 1 July 1946, over 42,000 US military personnel and civilians on 242 naval ships, 156 planes and with 25,000 radiation recording devices watched the first Bikini Atoll nuclear test. Back then it was grandiosely described as a “terrifying pillar of water topped by an unfolding blossom of mist and radioactive debris.” About 5,400 experimental rats, goats, and pigs were brought along to study as part of the test program.
Four days after the initial test, Micheline Bernardini, a dancer from the Casino de Paris sported le bikini at the city’s public pool—a G-string with newspaper print. The name quickly made it into the fashion lexicon, despite the damage done to its namesake island chain.