20 



KISTE 



Fig. 3 Aruo, a canoe builder and sailor, was lost at sea at 

 Enewetalc Atoll in 1983. [Photo was taken at Ujiland Atoll in 

 1977 by Janet Lamberson.] 



headquarters. Not until 1927 did a Protestant missionary 

 arrive to bring fundamental change to the people's world 

 view. The first missionary was an islander from Mokil Atoll 

 in the eastern Carolines, and he was followed by another 

 missionary from Kosrae. The outsiders did not remain 

 long, however, because within a few years a member of 

 the ri£neaieta/c community was trained to lead the spiritual 

 life of the people. 



The church took firm root. As in most places 

 throughout the Pacific, the pjcople fully embraced Chris- 

 tianity. Its teachings were mixed with traditional beliefs 

 about ancestral and nature spirits and other notions about 

 the supernatural, and the result was a hybrid that had 

 become an integral part of the local culture and society. 

 Work and play were tabu on Sundays. Other church ser- 

 vices were held during the week. Christmas and Easter 

 were the major holidays of the calendar year. 



COLONIAL HISTORY 



The Spanish explorer Alvaro de Saavedra is given 

 credit for the European discovery of Enewetak Atoll in 

 1529. After his initial contact, like many other islands 

 and atolls in the Marshalls and Carolines, Enewetak was 

 not visited again by Europeans for many decades. The 

 next known sighting of the atoll occurred in 1792, and 2 

 years later another European vessel called. In 1798, 

 Enewetak Atoll was mapped by a Captain Fearn in 

 command of the Hunter (Tobin, 1968). Although contact 

 with the outside world surely has made some impression 

 on the people, it seems somewhat odd that no accounts of 

 early Europ>ean visitors were found in the oral history of 

 the people. 



In 1898, shortly after the Germans had declared the 

 Marshalls to be a Protectorate, a German trading company 

 contracted the Enewetakese to extend their plantings of 

 coconut palms for the copra trade. Some of the people 

 traveled to Ujilang Atoll to work on the copra plantation 

 there under a German supervisor. German rule was brief, 

 however, and no German or other outsider actually took 

 up residence on Enewetak during German times. In fact, 

 the people were still adjusting to the European interlopers 

 when Japanese colonial rule replaced that of the Germans 

 in 1914 (Kiste, 1977). 



Because they are much closer to Ponap)e Island in the 

 eastern Carolines than the old colonial headquarters at 

 Jaluit Atoll in the southern Marshalls, Enewetak and 

 Ujilang Atolls were administered and visited by Japanese 

 vessels from Ponape during Japanese rule. Consequently, 

 the Enewetakese were separated even more from other 

 Marshallese. It was also during Japanese times that the 

 people lost some of their autonomy and lessened their con- 

 trol over their land. Japan began its rule with a show of 

 force by sending naval vessels to confirm Japan's author- 

 ity. In the early 1920s, a Japanese trader established him- 

 self on the atoll. He falsely claimed that the colonial 

 government had granted him p)ermission to acquire land 

 and develop coconut groves. He also claimed that the peo- 

 ple were required to assist him with the venture. Initially 

 the Enewetakese did not resist and worked for modest 

 rewards in trade goods, but as they became more familiar 

 with the Japanese, they realized they had been duped, and 

 the two chiefs filed a complaint with officials. The issue 

 was not resolved before the Japanese military began to for- 

 tify the atoll in the late 1930s as part of the preparations 

 that led to World War II. 



The war years brought tragedy. First, the Japanese 

 constructed an airstrip on Enjebi Island and evicted the 

 riEnjebi to a small corner at the eastern end of their island. 

 The American invasion in 1944 devastated and practically 

 denuded both the Enjebi and Enewetak Islands. Ten per- 

 cent of the local population was killed. At the end, both 

 communities were moved to two small islands in the east 

 side of the atoll. The Americans constructed a large mili- 

 tary base on Enewetak Island, and the people acquired 

 their third colonial master. When the Americans asked 



