From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Umboi Island

Island in Papua New Guinea

Summary

Island in Papua New Guinea

Field	Value
name	Umboi Island
image_name	UmboiNASA.jpg
image_caption	Space Shuttle image of Umboi Island (north to upper right)
image_map	Papua New Guinea location map showing Dampier Strait.jpg
map_caption	Umboi Island is to the west of New Britain
archipelago	Bismarck Archipelago
highest_mount	Mount Talo
area_km2	930
elevation_m	1335
country	Papua New Guinea
country_admin_divisions_title	Province
country_admin_divisions	Morobe Province
country_admin_divisions_title_1	LLG
country_admin_divisions_1	Siassi Rural LLG
coordinates

Umboi (also named Rooke or Siassi) is a volcanic island between the mainland of Papua New Guinea and the island of New Britain. It is separated from New Britain by the Dampier Strait, and Huon Peninsula and New Guinea by the Vitiaz Strait. It has an elevation of 1,335 m.

The Siassi Archipelago lies off the southeast coast of Umboi Island (a total of 18 islands, only seven are inhabited).

History

During the mid-1920s, the population of the Siassi Islands was a little over 700 people. It had more than doubled (to almost 1700 people) by the early 1960s, and then decreased to a little more than 1600 people by the early 1980s.

In 1936 a Lutheran mission was established on the island which was headed by Pastor P.H. Freund. in 1940 Freund was recruited by Lt. Commander Eric Feldt of the Royal Australian Navy to act as a Coastwatcher.

During 1943 the island was briefly occupied by 500 Japanese troops from the 51st Reconnaissance Regiment which was commanded by Col. Jiro Sato. By early December 1943, after several allied bombing runs, the Japanese withdrew from the island.

Inhabitants

The Siassi support themselves through traditional trade based on a barter system; they are important middlemen who deliver pigs, pots and ornate wooden bowls by sea in their canoes. The people of the Siassi islands continue to believe in witchcraft and consider it to be the root cause of unfortunate events such as illness or crop failure. The regional word for witchcraft is sanguma and the accused are often murdered.

Buildings

A majority of the buildings on the Siassi islands are constructed using vernacular architecture.

Languages

Languages are Papuan Kovai; and Austronesian: Mbula, Karanai, and Saveng languages.

Umboi Island seen from space. Also visible is [[Sakar Island]]. (false color)

Volcano

The volcano is described as a complex Holocene volcano and has no recorded eruptions.

Folklore

Local folklore claims that a large bioluminescent winged creature, referred to as a Ropen, can be observed flying around the skies of this and other surrounding islands. Modern Cryptozoologists are still searching for this creature and no definitive evidence has ever been discovered.

References

Freund, A. P. H.. (1989). "Missionary turns spy: Pastor A.P.H. Freund's story of his service with the New Guinea Coast Watchers in the war against Japan, 1942-43.". Lutheran Homes Inc.
[https://www.epfl.ch/labs/lasur/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/KAITILLA-v8n4.pdf The Influence of Overseas Trade on Housing Quality Among the Siassi of Papua New Guinea]
(2018-08-15). "Siassi Island Diary (Part 2: Discussions of "sanguma")".
(2018-01-21). "The 'black magic' belief behind a rising number of murders in PNG". ABC News.
(2010-12-14). "Language Contact and Change in the Austronesian World". Walter de Gruyter.
(2011-08-28). "Umboi".
Whitcomb, Jonathan David. (2007). "Searching for Ropens : living pterosaurs in Papua New Guinea". WingSpan Press.
Naish, Darren. (2016). "Hunting monsters : cryptozoology and the reality behind the myths".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

islands-of-papua-new-guinea volcanoes-of-papua-new-guinea subduction-volcanoes complex-volcanoes morobe-province

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Umboi Island — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report