Ujelang's first European visitor was Álvaro de Saavedra on 21 September 1529 shortly before his death, in his second attempt to return from Tidore to New Spain.

[6] It was the private property of German trading companies from 1880, who maintained copra plantations on the largest island, also called Ujelang.

The inhabitants wanted to return to Enewetak and a highly publicized meeting was held at Ujelang in 1979 to discuss the issue.

The meeting gained national attention because the CBS television show 60 Minutes went along and publicized the islanders’ desire to return to Enewetak with an extended film segment that ran several times.

Hundreds of new coconut trees were planted and vast amounts of sediment and other material contaminated by radioactivity were entombed under a giant concrete dome.