Vitu Islands

Vitu Islands
Waters	Bismarcksee
archipelago	Bismarck Archipelago
Geographical location	4 ° 41 ′  S , 149 ° 20 ′  E Coordinates: 4 ° 41 ′  S , 149 ° 20 ′  E
Number of islands	10
Main island	Garove
Total land area	96 km²
Residents	13,734 (2000)

The Vitu Islands or Witu Islands (formerly also French islands or French Islands ) are an archipelago of eight volcanic islands , north of New Britain in the Bismarck Archipelago , to Papua New Guinea , Province of West New Britain include and cover an area of 96 square kilometers. The two largest islands are Garove and Unea ; Narage is the northernmost island in the group. The Mundua Islands with the main island of Mundua also belong to the Vitu Islands.

In the 2000 census, 13,734 inhabitants were counted on the Vitu Islands.

Islands

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

Island name	Alias	Coordinates	Area km²	Residents	annotation
Mundua Islands		04 ° 37 ′  S , 149 ° 21 ′  E	8th	1,315	Archipelago
Garove		04 ° 41 ′  S , 149 ° 29 ′  E	14th	3,617
Narage	Narega	04 ° 33 ′  S , 149 ° 07 ′  E	1.4	-
Unea		04 ° 53 ′  S , 149 ° 08 ′  E	33	8,802
Duaga		04 ° 53 ′  S , 149 ° 11 ′  E	0.007	-

history

The archipelago was discovered by Abel Tasman in June 1643 . In 1793 the islands were sighted again by Joseph Bruny d'Entrecasteaux and called French Isles, Isles francaises .

From 1885 to 1899 the Witu Islands belonged to the German Protected Area and from 1899 to 1914 to the German New Guinea colony . During the German colonial era, the New Guinea Company's cocoa and coconut plantations existed here . In 1914 the islands were occupied by Australian troops, and after the war they were administered as a mandate of the League of Nations of Australia. Since 1975 they have been part of the independent state of Papua New Guinea.

The islands are one of the main growing areas of copra in Papua New Guinea. The German plantation owner Karl Vieweg got lost here from November 23 to 25, 1908. The book Big Fellow Man , published by his son Burkhard Vieweg, reports on this .

literature

• Burkhard Vieweg (Ed.): Big Fellow Man. Shell money and South Sea ghosts. Authentic reports from German New Guinea 1906–1909. Markgraf, Weikersheim 1990, ISBN 3-8236-1189-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ French Isles . In: Heinrich Schnee (Ed.): German Colonial Lexicon . Volume 2: H - O. Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1920, p. 661.
2. ↑ Michael Bourke and Tracy Harwood: Food and Agriculture in Papua New Guinea, 2009 , p. 49: Garove 3.614, Mundua Islands 1.316, Unea 8.802

Web links

• Map of the Vitu Islands and the Mundua Islands