Bougainville Island

History

Main article: History of Bougainville

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.

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.

In 1899, the German Empire laid claim to Bougainville, annexing it into German New Guinea. Christian missionaries arrived on the island in 1902.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

Geography

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 300 m wide strait. The island has an area of 9000 sqkm, and there are several active, dormant or inactive volcanoes that can rise to 2400 m. Bagana (1750 m) in the north central part of Bougainville is conspicuously active, spewing out gas that is visible for many kilometres. 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.

File:Bagana Volcano.jpg|Bagana volcano File:MtBalbiToreNASA.jpg|Northern part of the island File:Buka Passage NAN1Jan44.jpg|Buka Passage (1944)

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. More recently, deforestation in order to feed the growing population has affected the flow of many rivers on the island. The United Nations Environment Programme has offered to facilitate the cleanup of the Panguna mine and explore reopening it with more stringent environmental standards.

Climate

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

Retrieved on 24 November 2011.

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. It was later shut down in a revolution against the Australian-run mine.

Demographics

Religion

The majority of people on Bougainville are Christian, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In popular culture

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.

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.

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.

References

Bibliography

• Hobbs, J. (2017). Fundamentals of World Regional Geography (4th ed.). Boston, Massachusetts.

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