Ebeye is the most populous island of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, as well as the center for Marshallese culture in the Ralik Chain of the archipelago. Settled on only 80 acres (360,000 m²) of land, it has a population of more than 12000. With crowded living conditions, inadequate school system, and scarce clean water, Ebeye is also known by the unofficial and unfortunate title of "Slum of the Pacific".
Refuge from nuclear fallout
Some of the residents of Ebeye are refugees or descendants of refugees from the effects of the cataclysmic 15 megaton "Bravo" nuclear test at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954. The detonation rained nuclear fallout and two inches (50 mm) of radioactive snow on nearby Rongelap Atoll, causing widespread radiation sickness, and the birth of tragically malformed infants called "jellyfish babies". The American authorities promptly evacuated Rongelap, and Ebeye was the final destination for many of them.
Spelling and pronunciation of Ebeye
When Christian missionaries first arrived in the Marshall Islands, they introduced Latin script writing and orthographized the Marshallese language. Originally, Ebeye was called and written Ebeje, but the colonial German administration mispronounced the J a if it were German language pronunciation, and foreign observers phonetically recorded the name as Ebeye. After World War II, the Americans took possession of the regional mandate from Japan, and mispronounced the name once again as "ee-bye". Because most of the modern Marshallese residents of Ebeye don't have family roots on the island, the American pronunciation has stuck, and everyone uses it, even in Marshallese.
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