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Enewetak
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Map of the central and western Pacific Ocean highlighting the location of Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Enewetak is marked in orange text within the cluster of islands northeast of Papua New Guinea and southeast of Japan, with surrounding countries and major bodies of water labeled for geographic context. U.S. hydrogen bomb test in the Marshall Islands Thematic map and chart illustrating Pacific nuclear testing from 1946 to 1996. The globe highlights test sites across the Pacific, such as Bikini Atoll, Enewetak Atoll, Mururoa Atoll, and others, with site names and locations labeled. A table lists the number of nuclear tests at each site, and a bar graph below shows the number of tests per year, color-coded by country: United States, United Kingdom, and France. A summary box notes total tests by country, with France conducting the most.
View footage of the first test of a hydrogen bomb carried out by the United States in the Marshall Islands
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Island, New Caledonia.
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Also spelled:
Eniwetok
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Map of the central and western Pacific Ocean highlighting the location of Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Enewetak is marked in orange text within the cluster of islands northeast of Papua New Guinea and southeast of Japan, with surrounding countries and major bodies of water labeled for geographic context.
Enewetak, Republic of the Marshall Islands

Enewetak

atoll, Marshall Islands
Also known as: Eniwetok
Written and fact-checked by
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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Enewetak, atoll, northwestern end of the Ralik chain, Republic of the Marshall Islands, in the western Pacific Ocean. Circular in shape (50 miles [80 km] in circumference), it comprises 40 islets around a lagoon 23 miles (37 km) in diameter. During World War II it was captured from the Japanese by U.S. forces (February 1944), and its fine anchorage was made into a naval base. Its inhabitants were evacuated to other atolls after it was designated, with Bikini atoll, a testing ground for atomic weapons. Tests were held in 1948, 1951, 1952, 1954, and 1956. In 1980, after the island’s contaminated topsoil was removed, Enewetak was declared decontaminated, and its people were given an opportunity to return. Their first crops grown were found to be too badly contaminated, and, as at Bikini atoll, the people had to be removed again. Pop. (1999) 853; (2011) 664.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Andrew Pereira.
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