Bougainville Island

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Bougainville Island (Template:IPAc-en, Template:IPAc-en;<ref>Template:Cite Dictionary.com</ref> Tok Pisin: Bogenvil)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Its land area is Template:Cvt. The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at Template:Cvt.

The much smaller Buka Island, Template:Circa, lies to the north, across the Template:Convert 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 Template:Convert 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 Template:Cvt south or southeast of Bougainville, and about Template:Cvt 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.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

History

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Early history

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.<ref name="braithwaite"/>

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.<ref name="braithwaite">Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1899, the German Empire laid claim to Bougainville, annexing it into German New Guinea. Christian missionaries arrived on the island in 1902.<ref name="braithwaite"/>

During World War I (1914-1918), Australia occupied German New Guinea, including Bougainville. It became part of the Australian Territory of New Guinea under a League of Nations mandate in 1920.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Template:Stack In 1942, during World War II, Japan invaded the island, but Allied forces launched the Bougainville campaign to regain control of the island in 1943.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

On 18 April 1943, in Bougainville Island, during the Pacific War, the Japanese admiral, commander-in-chief of Combined Fleet Isoroku Yamamoto, died after his plane was attacked by US fighter planes and crashed into the jungle.Template:Citation needed

Despite heavy bombardments, the Japanese garrisons remained on the island until 1945. Following the war, the Territory of New Guinea, including Bougainville, returned to Australian control.Template:Citation needed

Attempts at independence

In 1949, the Territory of New Guinea, including Bougainville, merged with the Australian Territory of Papua, forming the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, a United Nations Trust Territory under Australian administration.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 9 September 1975, the Parliament of Australia passed the Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975. On 11 September 1975, Bougainville declared itself the Republic of the North Solomons. Though it was later absorbed politically into Papua New Guinea.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Between 1988 and 1998, the Bougainville Civil War claimed over 15,000 lives. Peace talks brokered by New Zealand began in 1997 and led to autonomy. A multinational Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) under Australian leadership was deployed. In 2001, a peace agreement was signed, including the promise of a referendum on independence from Papua New Guinea. This referendum was held between 23 November and 7 December 2019, with results being declared on 11 December.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The referendum question was a choice between greater autonomy within Papua New Guinea or full independence. Of the valid votes, 98.31% were in favour of full independence. The vote is not binding; the Government of Papua New Guinea has the final say on the status of Bougainville.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Geography

File:Bougainville2022OSM.png
Map of Bougainville Island and Buka island

Bougainville is the largest island of the Solomon Islands archipelago. It is part of the Solomon Islands rain forests ecoregion. Bougainville and the nearby island of Buka are a single landmass separated by a deep Template:Convert wide strait. The island has an area of Template:Cvt, and there are several active, dormant or inactive volcanoes that can rise to Template:Cvt. Bagana (Template:Convert) in the north central part of Bougainville is conspicuously active, spewing out gas that is visible for many kilometres.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2013, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake was detected on the Bougainville Island; its epicenter was located 57 kilometers (35.4 miles) south of Panguna, a town on Bougainville Island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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Ecology

Bougainville Island is primarily forested. Copper mining on the island by a Rio Tinto-owned mining operation in Panguna was known for their environmental impacts due to heavy metals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> More recently, deforestation in order to feed the growing population has affected the flow of many rivers on the island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Better source needed The United Nations Environment Programme has offered to facilitate the cleanup of the Panguna mine and explore reopening it with more stringent environmental standards.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Climate

Bougainville Island has a tropical rainforest climate (Af on Köppen classification). The driest month is February.

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Economy

Bougainville has one of the world's largest copper deposits, which has been under development since 1972. The Panguna mine is estimated to have one billion tonnes of copper ore and 12 million ounces of gold.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was later shut down in a revolution against the Australian-run mine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Demographics

Religion

The majority of people on Bougainville are Christian,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> an estimated 75-80% being Roman Catholic as of 2015, and a substantial minority belonging to the United Church of Papua New Guinea and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Languages

There are many indigenous languages in Bougainville Province, belonging to three language families. The languages of the northern end of the island, and some scattered around the coast, belong to the Austronesian family. The languages of the north-central and southern lobes of Bougainville Island belong to the North and South Bougainville families.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Buka boys performing at a Buin folk festival.jpg
Buka men performing at a Buin folk festival

The most widely spoken Austronesian language is Halia and its dialects, spoken on the island of Buka and the Selau peninsula of Northern Bougainville. The larger languages, such as Nasioi, Korokoro Motuna, Terei, and Halia, are split into dialects that are not always mutually understandable. For general communication, most Bougainvilleans use Tok Pisin as a lingua franca. English and Tok Pisin are the languages of official business and government.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Other Austronesian languages include Nehan, Petats, Solos, Saposa (Taiof), Hahon and Tinputz, all spoken in the northern quarter of Bougainville, Buka and surrounding islands. These languages are closely related. Bannoni and Torau are Austronesian languages not closely related to the former, which are spoken in the coastal areas of central and south Bougainville. On the nearby Takuu Atoll, a Polynesian language is spoken, Takuu.<ref>Moyle, Richard (1980). Takuu Dictionary: A Polynesian language of the South Pacific. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. p. 428. Template:ISBN.</ref>

Non-Austronesian languages are spoken on the main island of Bougainville. These include Rotokas, a language with a very small inventory of phonemes, Eivo, Terei, Keriaka, Naasioi (Kieta), Nagovisi, Siwai (Motuna), Baitsi (sometimes considered a dialect of Siwai), and Uisai.

Human rights

Cut off from the outside world for several years by a Papua New Guinean blockade during the civil war (1988-1998), the islanders suffered many deaths from a lack of medical resources.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

A 2013 United Nations survey of 843 men found that 62% (530 respondents) of those have raped a woman or girl at least once, with 26% (217 respondents) of the men reported having raped a non-partner, whereas 9% (74 respondents) reported having committed gang rape. Additionally, the survey also found that 8% (67 respondents) of the men had raped other men or boys.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Coconut Revolution, a documentary about the struggle of the indigenous population to save their island from environmental destruction and gain independence, was made in 1999.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

An Evergreen Island (2000), a film by Australian documentary filmmakers Amanda King and Fabio Cavadini of Frontyard Films, showed the ingenuity with which the Bougainvillean people survived for almost a decade (1989–1997) without trade or contact with the outside world because of the PNG military blockade.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mr. Pip (2012) is a film by New Zealand director Andrew Adamson based on the book Mister Pip by New Zealand author Lloyd Jones. The film is set in Bougainville in the 1980s, during the civil war and blockades, and the cast is mostly Bougainvilleans.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

See also

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References

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Bibliography

Further reading

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  • Robert Young Pelton, Hunter Hammer and Heaven, Journeys to Three Worlds Gone Mad. Template:ISBN

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