DRAFT iv HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Low-lying coral atolls and islands scattered over some 180,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean, the Marshall Islands have been home for the Marshallese people for over 2000 years. In recent times the situation of the Marshall Islanders has captured world attention because of the effects of United States nuclear weapon testing in the Marshall Islands. Although the Spanish navigator Alvaro Saavedra sighted the Marshalls in 1529, westerners showed interest in the Marshalls only after British naval captains explored someof these islands in the eighteenth century. The British named theislands after one of those exploring naval captains. As a result of agreements with island chiefs and Great Britain, Germany established a protectorate over the Marshalls in 1886. Japan seized the islands during World War | and in 1920 received a League of Nations mandate to administer them. Japanese troops used the islands during World WarII until 1944 when United States troops ousted them and occupied the Marshall islands. Meanwhile, during the final months of World WarII United States andAllied scientists successfully developed the atomic bomb, which the U.S. used against Japan. After the war ended, the United States sought a remote area with accessible ports and land for installations to test atomic weapons. In 1946 U.S.officials selected the Marshall Islands’ Bikini Atoll and obtained the consent of the Bikini chief to relocate his people elsewhere. The United States subsequently conducted two nuclear weapon tests at Bikini in July 1946. In 1947 the United Nations designated the United States as administrator of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, which included the _ Marshalls. The trust, agreement permitted the U.S. to close: off. the Marshall Islands for security reasons. Subsequently, the United States expanded its weapon testing area, which the government named the Pacific Proving Grounds. After reaching an accord with the Enewetak people and relocating them, the U.S. used Enewetak for nuclear weapontesting in 1948, 1951, and 1952. The U.S. nuclear weapon testing task force returned to Bikini for the 1954 Castle series. The first shot of the Castle series produced such extensive radioactive fallout that a third Marshallese group, the Rongelapese, was evacuated from its contaminated homeisland and relocated for several years. After Castle the Marshall Islanders petitioned the United Nations to stop the nuclear testing in their territory or, if the testing was essential, to exercise all precautions to safeguard the inhabitants and their possessions. The U.S. continued to test at Bikini and Enewetak in 1954, 1956, and 1958. By October 31, 1958, the U.S. had tested 66 nuclear devices in the Marshall Islands since 1946. tod CS Cc ca cn Since Castle Bravo the U.S. has conducted medical, environmental, and radiological safety activities in the Marshall Islands and has cared for inhabitants