Shortland Islands
| Shortland Islands | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Waters | Solomon Lake | |
| archipelago | Solomon Islands | |
| Geographical location | 6 ° 55 ' S , 155 ° 53' E | |
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| Number of islands | more than 100 | |
| Main island | Alu (Shortland Island) | |
| Total land area | 414 km² | |
| Residents | 3703 (2009-11-23) | |
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The Shortland Islands are a group of islands in the northwest of the Pacific Solomon Islands .
geography
The Shortland Islands are off the island of Bougainville to the southeast. They form the "natural borderline" between the northern Solomon Islands (especially the islands of Bougainville and Buka ), which belong to Papua New Guinea , and the southern Solomon Islands, which have been the independent island state of Solomon Islands since 1978 .
The Shortland Islands consist of over 100 small islands of volcanic origin, which form a chain of almost 65 km in length. The predominantly flat islands , some of which are planted with coconut palms, have a total land area of 414 km².
Not all islands in the group are inhabited. The two largest inhabited islands are Alu ( Shortland Island ) in the southwest and Fauro in the northeast.
The Shortland Islands include the following islands (from southwest to northeast):
In 1986 the islands were inhabited by around 3,100 people, mostly Melanesians .
history
The Shortland Islands were discovered and named for Europe in 1788 by Royal Navy Captain John Shortland (the Younger).
Until the Berlin Samoa Treaty of November 14, 1899, the German Empire raised claims to the islands as part of German New Guinea . With the treaty, islands, along with the provinces of Choiseul and Isabel, were transferred to Great Britain, which had previously administered the southern Solomon Islands. Only Bougainville and Buka remained in the German protected area .
The Shortland Islands were occupied by Japanese troops in early 1942 and liberated by Allied forces in late 1943 .
tourism
The islands are visited by cruise ships from time to time . One of their destinations is the island of Pirumeri .
There is an airfield ( Balalae Airport ) on the small, uninhabited island of Ballalae between Alu and Fauro .
Web links
- Brief information (aluminum) with map ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
