Остров Кили: История перемещения и жизни атолла Маршалловых Островов

Kili Island or Kili Atoll (Marshallese: Kōle, ) is a small, island located in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. As of 2021, 415 people lived on the island, many of whom were descended from islanders who originally lived on Bikini Atoll. They were relocated when they agreed to let the U. S. government temporarily use their home for nuclear testing in 1945. Kili Island became their home after two prior relocations failed. The island does not have a natural lagoon and cannot produce enough food to enable the islanders to be self sufficient. It is part of the legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. The island is approximately southwest of Jaluit. It is one of the smallest islands in the Marshall Islands.

Captain Thomas Dennet of the British vessel Britannia sighted the atoll in 1797 on route from Australia to China and named it Hunter Island. Kili Atoll was claimed by the German Empire along with the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1885. After World War I, the island came under the South Seas Mandate of the Empire of Japan. Following the end of World War II, it came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

Kili was uninhabited until November 2, 1948 when the United States government relocated the Bikini Atoll's indigenous population from Rongerik Atoll, where they had previously been relocated after their first relocation to Kwajalein Atoll failed. The islanders had consented to what they believed was temporary use of their island for nuclear tests, thinking they would be able to return to their island home within a few years. On Kwajalein Atoll, the islanders were living in tents on a strip of grass alongside the airport runway. In June 1948 the Bikini residents chose Kili Island as a long term home. The small island was uninhabited and wasn't ruled by a paramount king, or iroij. In June the Bikini community chose two dozen men to accompany eight Seabees to Kili to begin constructing a village. In November 1948, the residents, now totaling 184 individuals, moved to Kili Island, but soon learned that the new location was incompatible with their traditional diet and lifestyle based on lagoon fishing.

Marshall Islands Public School System operates Kili Elementary School. Students are zoned to Jaluit High School in Jaluit Atoll.

Kili does not provide enough food for the transplanted residents. In 1949 the Trust Territory administration donated a 40 feet (12 m) ship for transporting copra between Kili and Jaluit Atoll. But the ship was washed by heavy surf onto the Kili reef in 1951 and was lost.

Kili has two Christian churches: the Assembly of God and Protestant church. There is an elementary school on Kili for students from Kindergarten to eighth grade. There is a class for each age group, in addition to one class for students with special needs. Classes typically range in size from 6 to 18 students. Some of the teachers are native to Kili, some come from neighboring islands. The Dartmouth Volunteer Teaching Program has placed 2–4 American volunteer teachers at the school every year since 2000. The teachers provide English language instruction in addition to other curricula because there are few instructional materials or books written in Marshallese. The American volunteers stay and teach for one or more years. Toward the end of their eighth grade year, students must pass a standardized test to gain admission to public high school in Jaluit or Majuro.