The Duke of York Islands (formerly german: link=no, Neu
lauenburg
Lauenburg (), or Lauenburg an der Elbe ( en, Lauenberg on the Elbe), is a town in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the northern bank of the river Elbe, east of Hamburg. It is the southernmost town of Schleswig-Holstein ...
) are a group of islands located in
East New Britain Province
East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely d ...
, Papua New Guinea. They are found in StGeorge's Channel between
New Britain and
New Ireland islands and form part of the
Bismarck Archipelago. The Duke of York Islands were named in 1767 by
Philip Carteret
Rear-Admiral Philip Carteret, Seigneur of Trinity (22 January 1733, Trinity Manor, Jersey – 21 July 1796, Southampton) was a British naval officer and explorer who participated in two of the Royal Navy's circumnavigation expeditions in 176 ...
to honour
Prince Edward, son of
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales, (Frederick Louis, ; 31 January 170731 March 1751), was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George and Queen Caroline. Frederick was the fa ...
and younger brother of
George III of the United Kingdom.
History
In the 1870s and 1880s German commercial firms began to site trading stations in
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...
. Agents of
J. C. Godeffroy & Sohn reached the Bismarck Archipelago from the
Caroline Islands
The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the ce ...
in 1872 and had established a trading post on the Islands from 1876.
The wreck of
HMAS ''AE1'', lost in 1914 possibly due to a diving accident,
was located near these islands in December 2017 after 13 search missions. The submarine was found at a depth of and was seen to be well preserved and in one piece. The exact location of the wreck was not announced by the Australian government at the time of discovery, to protect it from "unauthorized salvage attempts". The government's stated position is that the wreck will be treated as a war grave.
Geography
The Duke of York islands consist of a total of 13 islands and cover in area. The largest island of the group is
Duke of York Island, and other islands include
Makada,
Kabakon
Kabakon or Kaka Kon Island is a small island in group of Duke of York Islands in the Bismark Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. August Engelhardt chose Kabakon as the island to establish his Sun-worshipping sect, notable for only eating coconuts
...
,
Kerawara,
Ulu
An ulu ( iu, ᐅᓗ, plural: ''uluit'', 'woman's knife') is an all-purpose knife traditionally used by Inuit, Iñupiat, Yupik peoples, Yupik, and Aleut women. It is utilized in applications as diverse as skinning and cleaning animals, cutting a c ...
,
Mioko, and
Mualim.
The island group lies in a seismic active zone, where two tectonic plates push upon each other. Earthquakes and tsunamis are not uncommon for inhabitants of the islands.
The islands are low-lying, and are threatened with inundation due to
rising sea levels
Rising may refer to:
* Rising, a stage in baking - see Proofing (baking technique)
*Elevation
* Short for Uprising, a rebellion
Film and TV
* "Rising" (''Stargate Atlantis''), the series premiere of the science fiction television program ''Starga ...
. On 28 November 2000 the evacuation and resettlement of one thousand inhabitants to New Britain was announced.
See also
*
Duke of York Rural LLG
References
External links
Photo from the Duke of York Islands
{{authority control
Islands of Papua New Guinea
East New Britain Province