Recent from talks
Bougainville Island
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Bougainville Island
6°14′40″S 155°23′02″E / 6.24444°S 155.38389°E
Bougainville Island (/ˈbuːɡənvɪl/ ⓘ, /ˈboʊɡənvɪl/ ⓘ; Tok Pisin: Bogenvil) is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Its land area is 9,300 km2 (3,600 sq mi). The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at 2,715 m (8,907 ft).
The much smaller Buka Island, c. 500 km2 (190 sq mi), lies to the north, across the 400–500 m (1,300–1,600 ft) wide Buka Strait. Even though the strait is narrow, there is no bridge across it, but there is a regular ferry service between the key settlements on either side. The main airstrip in the north is in the town of Buka. Buka has an outcropping that is 175 km (109 mi) from New Ireland. Among the large islands of Papua New Guinea, New Ireland is the closest to Buka.
Bougainville is the largest island in the Solomon Islands (archipelago). It was previously the main landmass in the North Solomons, which were associated with the German Empire. Most of the islands in this archipelago (which are primarily concentrated in the southern and eastern portions of it) are part of the politically independent Solomon Islands. Two of these islands—the closely connected Shortland Islands—are less than 9 km (5.6 mi) south or southeast of Bougainville, and about 30 km (19 mi) west of Choiseul, one of the settlements of which, Poroporo, faces Bougainville.
In a 2019 referendum, the citizens of Bougainville voted to become independent from Papua New Guinea by 2027, but the referendum was non-binding on the government of Papua New Guinea, which has not committed to this.
During the Last Ice Age, present-day Bougainville Island was part of a single landmass known as "Greater Bougainville", which spanned from the northern tip of Buka Island to the Nggela Islands. The earliest evidence of human settlement is at Kilu Cave on Buka Island, where the earliest remains are from 26,700 to 18,100 BCE. The first settlers were Melanesian people, likely related to modern Papuans and Indigenous Australians. In the 2nd millennium BCE, Austronesian people arrived, bringing with them domesticated pigs, chickens, dogs, and obsidian tools.
The first European contact with Bougainville was in 1768, when the French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville arrived and named the main island after himself.
British and American whaling ships visited the island for provisions, water, and wood in the 19th century. The first on record was the Roscoe in 1822, and the last was Palmetto in 1881.
Hub AI
Bougainville Island AI simulator
(@Bougainville Island_simulator)
Bougainville Island
6°14′40″S 155°23′02″E / 6.24444°S 155.38389°E
Bougainville Island (/ˈbuːɡənvɪl/ ⓘ, /ˈboʊɡənvɪl/ ⓘ; Tok Pisin: Bogenvil) is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Its land area is 9,300 km2 (3,600 sq mi). The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at 2,715 m (8,907 ft).
The much smaller Buka Island, c. 500 km2 (190 sq mi), lies to the north, across the 400–500 m (1,300–1,600 ft) wide Buka Strait. Even though the strait is narrow, there is no bridge across it, but there is a regular ferry service between the key settlements on either side. The main airstrip in the north is in the town of Buka. Buka has an outcropping that is 175 km (109 mi) from New Ireland. Among the large islands of Papua New Guinea, New Ireland is the closest to Buka.
Bougainville is the largest island in the Solomon Islands (archipelago). It was previously the main landmass in the North Solomons, which were associated with the German Empire. Most of the islands in this archipelago (which are primarily concentrated in the southern and eastern portions of it) are part of the politically independent Solomon Islands. Two of these islands—the closely connected Shortland Islands—are less than 9 km (5.6 mi) south or southeast of Bougainville, and about 30 km (19 mi) west of Choiseul, one of the settlements of which, Poroporo, faces Bougainville.
In a 2019 referendum, the citizens of Bougainville voted to become independent from Papua New Guinea by 2027, but the referendum was non-binding on the government of Papua New Guinea, which has not committed to this.
During the Last Ice Age, present-day Bougainville Island was part of a single landmass known as "Greater Bougainville", which spanned from the northern tip of Buka Island to the Nggela Islands. The earliest evidence of human settlement is at Kilu Cave on Buka Island, where the earliest remains are from 26,700 to 18,100 BCE. The first settlers were Melanesian people, likely related to modern Papuans and Indigenous Australians. In the 2nd millennium BCE, Austronesian people arrived, bringing with them domesticated pigs, chickens, dogs, and obsidian tools.
The first European contact with Bougainville was in 1768, when the French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville arrived and named the main island after himself.
British and American whaling ships visited the island for provisions, water, and wood in the 19th century. The first on record was the Roscoe in 1822, and the last was Palmetto in 1881.
Recent media