Bikini Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands, was a quiet atoll until nuclear testing began in 1946. The largest US nuclear explosion, Castle Bravo, caused significant fallout and inspired the name of the bikini swimsuit.
Bikini Atoll is an atoll, or ring of islands, in the Pacific Ocean, considered part of the region of Micronesia and part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The atoll is made up of 36 islands around a 229.4 square mile (594.1 km2) lagoon. Between 1946 and 1958, 1981 atomic bombs were detonated there, as the atoll was part of the Pacific Proving Grounds, one of the first nuclear test sites in the world. Bikini Atoll is located in the northwestern region of the Republic of Marshall Islands, which gained nominal independence from the United States in XNUMX.
Between its initial colonization about 2,000 years ago and 1946, Bikini Atoll was a quiet, sparsely populated and peaceful atoll. In 1946, about 167 indigenous inhabitants were relocated to Rongerik Atoll, about 124 miles (200 km) east of Bikini Atoll, where most of them or their descendants remain today. Shortly thereafter, nuclear testing began with Operation Crossroads, which included the hits of Baker and Able, the world’s fourth and fifth nuclear explosions, respectively. These were the first nuclear explosions at sea and the first to generate acute radioactive fallout, which contaminated target vessels used for the exercise. The explosions generated so much energy that the underwater craters they created were made of sand too fine for crabs to walk on.
Bikini Atoll was the site of the largest nuclear explosion ever by the United States, Castle Bravo on March 1, 1954. This 15 megaton explosion was 2.5 times larger than expected and produced a crater over a mile wide , which can be seen in satellite images of the atoll. The explosion caused considerable nuclear fallout over a large area, including the atoll itself, but also nearby atolls and the crew of a Japanese fishing vessel, Lucky Dragon 5. This created a major scandal with the Japanese and the event it inspired the 1954 film Godzilla, in which a nuclear test awakens and mutates a massive reptilian monster, which subsequently attacks the Japanese mainland until defeated.
Bikini Atoll is also known as the atoll that inspired the name of the bikini swimsuit, which was created just days after the first atomic tests there. The swimsuit was given its name because the excitement it expected would equal the energy produced by a nuclear device.
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